Brides Charged Fee For Turning Up Late To Wedding

It's the bride's prerogative to be late. Isn't it? We spend our whole lives being on time, for everything every day, but if there's one thing where we can be just a little bit late it's for our very own wedding. Right?

Not so, if you happen to be getting married at the Holy Cross church in Bearsted, Kent anyway.

Rev. John Corbyn, vicar of the Holy Cross and St Mary the Virgin in Thurnham, has a policy of charging brides a fee if they turn up to the church more than ten minutes late.

That's right – a fee. Of £100. So not an inconsiderable amount...

How it works is the happy couple have to give a £100 deposit before the wedding takes place. A cheque for the same amount is presented back to the newly-weds upon their marriage if they abide by the imposed time restrictions.

Thoughts on this?

A bit outrageous? How unfair!? What if there's a crisis? The bouquet goes missing? The car breaks down? There's a contouring-and-hair-drying emergency...?

It might seem a bit alarming, but on closer inspection, the vicar's reasoning makes perfect sense. A couple of years ago, he had been away in Uganda and returned to find his church had had to manage two delayed weddings in a row – of up to 25-minutes each, with no valid excuses.

'My team was feeling a bit ill-used,' he told The Times.

'The £100 is distributed among the local actors, like the organist, verger, bellringers and the choir,' he added.

Apparently, he got the idea from a cathedral he was visiting in Uganda – St. Paul's Cathedral Namirembe in Kampala – where many weddings are performed one after the other in quick succession and couples are offered 'incentives' to arrive on time.

His interpretation of this was a fine, and actually, isn't that kind of ok? We wouldn't expect to work extra hours for no extra pay just because it was 'tradition' for the 'boss' to turn up late...

Adding to that, as members of the congregation more often than we are the show's starring role, isn't it a bit boring – read: very tedious – waiting hours and hours for the bride to make her grand entrance? After all, haven't WE all rushed to make it there on time?

Here's hoping this ingenious idea takes on and the days of the delayed bride are over. For good. About time too!

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