A court in Australia has annulled a 2023 marriage after the bride testified she thought the wedding was just a prank to help the groom monetize his Instagram account, The Guardian reported. The couple—whom the court did not identify—met on a dating app in fall 2023 and stayed in touch for a few months, the woman said. In December, the man invited her to a “white party” in Sydney. When she arrived, she was shocked to discover he had organized a wedding. He assured her it was just a stunt meant to boost engagement on his Instagram account, which had 17,000 followers, so she went along pretending to get married. She was in her mid-20s and he was in his late 30s, and neither was originally from Australia. Later, when the woman was filling out an application for permanent residency, her partner asked her to add his name to the application. He then admitted that was the real reason he had organized and filmed the wedding. The husband tried to convince the court it was real, but the judge didn’t believe that the woman—who was religious—would have intentionally married in a civil ceremony without friends or family present.
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