April Fool?

In the town of Essex, a few miles from here, one romantic gentleman chose Friday night (April Fool's Day) to propose to his girlfriend. To his delight, she said yes. Good thing too! The very next morning, the newly-engaged girlfriend was awakened at 7:00AM. When she answered the door, she was greeted by the entire wedding party! They got married on April 2nd.

What I find amazing is that this man got the idea last December of proposing to his girlfriend, then marrying her the very next day. In order to do that, he had to plan an entire wedding, invite the guests, book the church, book the honeymoon, and buy a wedding dress, all without the knowledge of his girlfriend. The last element of the plan seemed like it would be the toughest.

To pull it off, this clever gentleman had a couple of his friends "pretend" that they were going to elope. When the friends went to buy their wedding attire, the "real" couple was invited to join them to offer advice. Just as the fake bride was to try on her wedding dress, she feigned illness, and the "real" bride (who is similarly sized) offered to try on the dress to help with the fitting.

By last week, the entire town knew what was going on, and the topic was discussed in gossip groups everywhere (without naming names). Fortunately, lover-boy managed to keep his girlfriend away from the main social hangouts, and the secret was preserved.

I've got to hand it to this guy. Not only does he become one of the few men to help with the planning of his wedding, he's probably the first to do it without the knowledge of his intended.