Wedding called off over fake eyelashes

Manama: An engagement ceremony in Saudi Arabia was called off at the last minute after the bride’s family discovered that the groom wore fake eyelashes.

The ceremony was on schedule in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, when the unexpected decision was taken.

“It was a terrible evening for us all because of the stupidity of my brothers,” Nada, the groom’s sister, said. “They had challenged the groom to wear fake eyelashes in his engagement ceremony, and as he did not want to lose the challenge, he did it. In the beginning, everything proceeded normally and nobody noticed it,” she was quoted as saying by Saudi news site Al Marsad on Thursday.

However, the bride’s brother became aware that the groom was having problems with his eyes and that while they were glistening with tears, he did not try to rub them or wipe away the tears.

“The bride’s brother was puzzled and started to think there was something wrong, so he approached my brother and asked him about the situation,” Nada said. “So my brother removed the eyelashes and put them in his pocket. He explained in a light tone that it was a challenge by his brothers and that he went along with it, putting on the eyelashes, exactly like the bride did. However, the brother-in-law did not look amused, became very upset and swore that the engagement would be called off. My brother tried to calm him down and to explain that it was merely a joke. However, the bride’s brother lapsed into silence and left the hall. He came back a few minutes later alongside his father and brothers and asked my brother to show the fake eyelashes,” she said.

The groom in good faith took the eyelashes out of his pocket, and the bride’s father and brothers asked him to leave the hall despite the presence of the marriage officers and guests.

“My family was not aware of what happened, but when we told our mother, she felt so bad that we had to go to a hospital. We have lost a bride because of the fake eyelashes challenge,” she said.

Most online users criticised the two parties of their “foolish” attitudes.

“It was a silly behaviour of the two parties at a time when wisdom was required,” a user writing under the moniker of Sparkling posted. “The groom should have not been so imprudent as to take on such a stupid challenge during an august ceremony. The brother was incredibly impulsive and should not have rushed into ruining his sister’s wedding. He should have been much more careful in dealing with the situation,” Sparkling posted.