Wedding day disasters

PRE-READING:

Look at the title, headings and pictures and predict the main ideas of the article. What do you think went wrong with each ‘wedding disaster’?

WHILE READING:

Set a time limit to read this article. An average reader can read at the speed of 250 words per minute. Note down your reading speed regularly to check your progress.

SKIMMING:

Within the time limit, read and summarize the main ideas of the paragraphs with your own words. Do not worry about unfamiliar vocabulary.

Wedding Day Disasters

Harry and Kate recently had a fairytale wedding where everything seemed to go according to plan. And now they have just come back from a romantic honeymoon. We wish them a long and happy life together.

But what about when it all goes wrong?

Here is a selection of five of the most notorious or just downright bizarre wedding disasters around.

Three’s a crowd...

In 1981, watched by an estimated 750 million people, Harry’s Mum and Dad married in what seemed to be a fairytale wedding. Diana did stumble over saying his name at the ceremony (saying ‘Philip Charles Arthur George’ instead of ‘Charles Philip Arthur George’), but aside from that everything looked perfect.

However the marriage was doomed from the start, with Prince Charles never completely giving up his sweetheart, Lady Camilla Parker Bowles. Diana later famously said ‘there were three of us in this marriage.’ On their honeymoon Diana and Charles rowed when he wore a pair of cufflinks which Camilla had given him, with two intertwined C’s for Charles and Camilla.

The couple separated in 1992 and divorced in 1996. Charles married Camilla in 2005.

Oops…I did it!

A dream night out in Las Vegas with childhood friend turned superstar Britney Spears got even wilder for Jason Alexander, when out of the blue she suggested they get married. "We were just looking at each other and said, 'Let's do something wild, crazy. Let's go get married, just for the hell of it'."

In Vegas, anything is possible. Although it was the early hours, the couple obtained a licence and were married at the Little White Wedding Chapel on the famous Strip at 5:30 am on Saturday 3 January 2004. The bride wore torn jeans and a baseball cap.

The couple quickly realized that their spur of the moment decision was a mistake and 55 hours later, the marriage was annulled. The pair remained friends.

I feel the earth move…

At 2:28 pm on 12 May 2008, five wedding couples were standing near a picturesque 100 year old church in Sichuan, China. The photographer was busy taking photographs of their joint wedding when suddenly the buildings began to shake around them. It was the great Sichuan earthquake, which measured 8.0 on the Richter scale and claimed 70,000 lives. As the beautiful church and other buildings collapsed around them, a wedding photographer kept shooting and recorded some remarkable photographs. Miraculously, the wedding attendees escaped unhurt from the catastrophe.

Don’t stand so close to me…

And now for the groom who was arrested…for standing next to the bride!

Timothy Cole had been in and out of trouble with the police before. His girlfriend had a court order which forbade him from approaching her. However, she must have forgiven him because she agreed to marry him and they fixed the wedding for Friday, 7 November 2008.

At the wedding reception, Timothy quarrelled with a wedding guest and the police were called. They recognized him and realized he was still bound by the order of protection. Timothy was arrested for contempt and went to prison.

The way to a woman’s heart…

Not, strictly speaking, a wedding disaster, but we just had to include this one!

Reed Harris decided to make his proposal to fiancée, Kaitlin Whipple, romantic and unforgettable. So when the couple stopped by at an ice cream store with some friends, he slipped an engagement ring into her milkshake. Unfortunately, she decided to have an eating race with her friends. She had soon finished her milkshake, but there was no sign of the ring! An X-ray at the local hospital solved the mystery, and Reed proposed to Kaitlin holding the picture, which showed the ring inside her.

She said yes.

Word count: 623 words

SCANNING:

Use your notes to identify what went wrong at each wedding. Compare this to the predictions you made at the pre-reading stage.

POST-READING:

Glossary:

Pay attention to how the word is combined with other words in context. Do not learn the meaning of the word without sentences. Vietnamese should be the last resort after you have tried all the learning strategies.

• Notorious (adj): well-known for negative reasons (Tai tiến, khét tiếng)

• Bizarre (adj): extremely strange and unusual (Kì lạ, kì dị, kì quặc)

• To stumble (v): to hesitate/ make a mistake when speaking (Nói vấp, nói nhầm)

• To row (verb): to argue (Cãi nhau, tranh cãi ầm ĩ)

• Cufflink (n): metal pins used to fasten the cuffs of a man’s shirt (Bộ khuy măng-sét, khuy cài cổ tay áo sơ mi)

• Intertwined (adj): wrapped around each other (Lồng vào nhau)

• To annul (v): to declare a marriage invalid (Hủy bỏ, tuyên bố không còn giá trị)

• To shoot (v): to take photos (Chụp ảnh)

• Catastrophe (n): disaster (Tai họa)

• Court order (n): a legal decision by a court of law (Lệnh tòa án)

• Order of protection (n): a court order to stop someone threatening or abusing another, usually by ordering them to stay away from the victim (Lệnh cấm tiếp cận đối tượng)

• To bind someone (v): to force someone to do something by law (Đang thời hạn chấp hành lệnh)

• Contempt (n): a crime of not respecting the law (Xem thường luật pháp)

• (wedding) reception (n): a party to celebrate a wedding (Tiệc cưới)

• To quarrel (with someone) (verb): to argue (Tranh cãi)

• Proposal (n): a formal request to marry (Lời cầu hôn)

• To slip (something) (v): to quickly and secretly put something somewhere (Lén bỏ vào)

Idioms and expressions

• To be doomed from the start (of a project): to have serious problems at the beginning which will result in the failure of the project (Có dấu hiệu thất bại ngay từ đầu, không suông sẻ)

• Out of the blue: suddenly, with no warning (Đột ngột, bỗng nhiên)

• To do something for the hell of it: to do something exciting just because you want to (Làm việc gì đó chỉ vì thấy thích làm)

• The early hours: time in the morning after midnight but before dawn (Lúc mới rạng sáng)

• (on) the spur of the moment: (of a decision or action) made/done suddenly without being planned (Làm tùy hứng, vội vàng, không chin chắn)

• Strictly speaking: said in an exact or correct manner (Nói một cách chính xác)

• There is no sign of something: there is no indication of something, it cannot be seen at all (Không có dấu hiệu)

Grammar:

How many relative clauses can you see? Are they defining or non-defining relative clauses? If you need help, refer to Dr. Grammar.

Discussion:

Find a study friend to summarize your story. Try to use the vocabulary learned in the article in speaking and writing your summary.

Tell your friend (or write a paragraph) about a time when something went wrong (e.g. a wedding, a holiday, an exam etc.). Say

• what happened

• what you did about it

• what happened after

And say how you felt about it.

This material is provided by the Australian Centre for Education and Training (ACET).