A Melbourne court annulled a marriage after the bride testified that she thought the wedding was a social media stunt to boost the groom’s Instagram popularity.
In a judgment issued in October and released on Thursday, the family court annulled the December 2023 marriage saying the bride “believed she was acting in a social media event” rather than a legally binding wedding.
The couple had met three months prior.
The bride testified in court that after three months of staying in contact, the groom invited her to a “white party” in Sydney in December 2023. She was surprised to find that he had “organised a wedding”.
When she asked him what was going on, the groom said it was “a simple prank”. “When I got there, and I didn’t see anybody in white, I asked him, ‘What’s happening?’” she told the court.
“He told me that he’s organising a prank wedding for his social media. To be precise, Instagram, because he wants to boost his content and wants to start monetising his Instagram page.”
The groom, who had 17,000 followers on the platform, denied these claims.
Footage showed the couple exchanging vows and rings during the ceremony.
The woman told the court she had to act to “make it look real”.
It was “all an act”, she said.
The bride discovered the “sham” wedding was legally binding when the groom asked to be added to her permanent residency application. He admitted he was not a permanent resident and had “organised the marriage to help him”.
The groom claimed it was an intimate ceremony before an official wedding at a later date but the court rejected his argument, finding inconsistencies and ruling in the bride’s favour.
The judge said the groom’s claims were “so bereft of detail as to be near meaningless”.
He also found it “impossible to accept” that the bride would have a wedding ceremony without a single friend or family member present.
“She was religious,” the judge said. “Precisely why she would participate in a civil marriage and not in a church marriage ceremony went unexplored. It made no sense to me that she would.”
