To me, the story of “runaway bride” Jennifer Wilbanks, who grabbed a bus from Atlanta to Las Vegas and beyond rather than face the groom at the altar, is the ultimate in Bride-zilla-ism. First you invite 600 guests to your wedding. Then you line up no fewer than 14 apiece of bridesmaids and ushers. Then, to really pound it into people’s heads that this is “your day,” you stage a fake kidnaping that sends the whole town into a frenzy of searching for you. Then, when you run out of money in Alburquerque and the police haved tracked you down, you say, “So sorry,” and stroll back into town with a colorful towel over your face. Talk about getting publicity for your nuptials!
Frankly, I think criminal prosecution is in order for Wilbanks, whose wedding-day stunt has reportedly cost Atlanta taxpayers some $60,000–especially since evidence is surfacing that Wilbanks had planned her getaway well in advance. If Martha Stewart had to serve five months in prison for lying to law enforcement, alleged fibster Wilbanks ought to be looking at a honeymoon in the hoosegow herself–as well as repaying the cost of the search. She is, after all, no teen-ager who impulsively said “yes” to an engagement ring; she’s 32 years old. That’s high time to think before you act and to take responsibility for the consequences of your deeds.
Meanwhile, the jilted groom, John Mason, says he still wants to go ahead with marrying Wilbanks, even though he’s currently the laughingstock of the nation. As the Arizona Republic reports today:
“‘Just because we haven’t walked down the aisle, just because we haven’t stood in front of 500 people and said our “I do’s,” my commitment before God to her was the day I bought that ring and put it on her finger, and I’m not backing down from that,’…Mason said Monday in an interview with Fox News’ Hannity & Colmes show.”
If I were Mason, however, I’d be thinking twice about vowing to spend the rest of my life with–and having as the mother of my children–a woman capable of carrying out the grand-scale nutty and costly deeds of Jennifer Wilbanks.