The idea was the brainchild of 26-year-old publicist Martin Acerbi, who, a couple of years ago, organised a fake wedding with four of his friends in La Plata, about 32 miles away from Buenos Aires. "It all started two years ago with a group of friends: we realised we hadn't been to a wedding in a long time because hardly anybody is getting married anymore," Acerbi says.

 

To his surprise, the event was a huge success which got him thinking about a new business. The friends went on to found 'Falsa Boda', a fake wedding organising company, in November 2013. They rent out real wedding locations, hire caterers, florists³, and DJs, and make everything look like a real wedding. Except, there is no 'happily ever after'.

 

The bride and groom are hired too, as is a secret boyfriend or spurned⁴ lover who arrives unexpectedly to disrupt the ceremony. There's a fair bit of drama when the bride or groom abandons the wedding and elopes with the third actor. There's a different storyline for each event, and sometimes the 'bride' even throws her bouquet⁵ to the female guests.

 

"These wedding professionals have become our strategic allies, we organise² it like it's the real thing, except the marriage itself is fake," Acerbi said. "Our guests get all the fun of a wedding party with none of the commitment, or the problem of finding someone who is actually getting married."

 

Each fake wedding event can accommodate 600 to 700 guests, who all pay about $50 to attend. According to Acerbi, the events are mostly targeted at women, who end up buying the majority of the tickets. "The romanticism around weddings is clearly still alive, at least in that respect," he explained.

点击收听单词发音