I was watching The Runaway Bride this weekend, you know the movie that stars Julia Roberts and Richard Gere. Roberts’ character attempted and fled from three separate wedding ceremonies to men she cared a great deal about. When we meet her, Roberts character is preparing to walk down the aisle for the fourth time, but in each of those relationships – she remade herself to be someone that would appeal to her partner and she wasn’t herself.
Runaway Brides
So why do brides run away? When Jennifer Wilbanks fled her wedding in 2005, she made up a story about being kidnapped and assaulted. Why? Because she got cold feet and was hard pressed to come up with a reason why she got cold feet. Then when she recanted the story, she faced charges for filing false charges with the police. After pleading no contest, she received a sentence of 2 years probation and had to perform community service. Not to add insult to injury, she and her fiancé then ended their engagement and filed lawsuits against each other.
Can it get any weirder?
Apparently it can, because now local theater in Duluth, Georgia is going to retell the Wilbanks’ Runaway Bride tale as a rock opera. Only for their story purposes, Wilbanks and her former fiancé are only bit players in the rock opera. The story will instead focus on the community and how they came together to search for Wilbanks and support each other.
After all, when a bride flees a wedding, she affects more than her own future and the future of her prospective spouse, but all the family and friends who gathered to support them on their wedding day. In Wilbanks’ case, no one knew what had happened to her and when she indicated kidnapping and assault, they sought to protect and shield the couple until the lie was revealed.
Why Do Brides Flee?
So why do brides flee their weddings? After all, isn’t a wedding the day a bride looks forward to all her life? Isn’t it the fairy tale ending to their courtship and the first chapter in their new lives together? Their reasons are usually related to cold feet. That feeling of doubt that pervades everything they are doing, when they suddenly question whether they are really ready to take that big step.
A wedding is a huge step and it’s natural to feel some nostalgia for the days when you were single. It’s a huge responsibility to take vows and pledge yourself to another person. Combine that fear with all the pressure associated with planning a wedding and even the most grounded person might consider just skipping all the hoopla.
But despite how funny they are made to appear in novels and movies (see above), runaway brides are not funny and thankfully, according to my research, they aren’t common.
Did you feel cold feet when you were ready to walk down the aisle?
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