Italian Woman Marries Herself In ‘Fairytale Without Prince’
“I firmly believe that each of us must first of all love ourselves,” said Laura Mesi, a 40-year-old fitness trainer. “You can have a fairytale even without the prince.”
The ceremony carries no legal weight.
But Ms Mesi is part of a growing trend for self-marriage – dubbed “sologamy” – in countries around the world.
Proponents of such ceremonies say it is about self-love and acceptance, and claiming the social affirmation normally reserved for couples who wed.
Laura says the idea of a solo wedding came to her two years ago, after a 12-year relationship ended.
In Japan, a travel agency began offering bridal ceremonies for single women in 2014.
Reports of people marrying themselves go as far back as 1993. It has spawned a number of books and been a theme of episodes of Sex and the City and Glee.
In the US, a website called I Married Me offers self-wedding kits. In Canada, an agency called Marry Yourself Vancouver which has been running for more than a year attributes the rise in solo weddings to the growing numbers of single people.
Last month, British self-wedder Sophie Tanner told BBC Three some people called her “a sad feminist”.
Ms Mesi has brushed off the catty comments, saying “nothing and no-one can turn off my smile”.
But in media interviews she acknowledges that solo weddings might not be for everyone. To marry yourself, she says, you need a certain amount of money, the support of those around you, and – above all – “a pinch of madness”.