Video shows 'guests' at Disneyland Paris wedding rehearsal ahead of 'fake' marriage of 'scared and confused' nine-year-old Ukrainian girl to a British man in his 20s before his arrest

Daily Mail​

23-06-2025

Eerie footage of an alleged 'wedding' between a 22-year-old Brit and nine-year-old girl at Disneyland Paris has been shared.
The fairy-tale Sleeping Beauty castle was the backdrop for the £111,000 'social media' stunt, accompanied with musicians, a cake and chairs for hundreds of guests.
The popular tourist attraction was hired out before it was open to the public early on Saturday morning but were not aware the event was allegedly being held for a minor.
Around 100 seated guests were waiting for the ceremony to start as a female violin trio played at dawn before a stage strewn with flowers.
A French broadcaster, BFM, shared the weird footage , as well as an image of a pink ribbon bracelet that read 'Margo & Jack 21st June 2025'.
The Brit was arrested after park staff were shocked to see the 'scared and confused' child turn up for the event wearing what was said to be a bridal dress and four-inch heels taped to her feet, according to French newspaper Le Parisien.
Her mother, who is believed to be of Ukrainian heritage and was later arrested, had reportedly said she wanted her daughter to feel like a Disney 'princess' for the day, according to DW.
The girl is said to have been carried around because she could not walk in the extravagant costume.
Alongside her family, 200 adult guests and 100 children aged five to 15 had been hired online for what was bizarrely advertised as a 'chic and elegant' 'rehearsal' wedding, Le Parisien reported.
They were allegedly paid €200 and had to 'enter the room, sit down, stand up, applaud, and participate naturally and elegantly in this event filmed in a festive and classy atmosphere'.
But organisers had booked the park for a function they said would be a genuine wedding ceremony.
Police arrived on scene and took the man into custody along with the girl's 41-year-old mother.
The 'groom' - who the mother allegedly said was a 'friend' - later told police the aim had been to make a video for social media.
A statement issued by the prosecutor's office in the nearby town of Meaux said: 'Four people were arrested and questioned: the groom, who was believed to be the organiser of the event and is presumed to be British and aged 22; the mother of the child, a 41-year-old Ukrainian woman; and two Latvian nationals aged 55 and 24.'
The 55-year-old has claimed he was recruited to play the role of the bride's father for 12,000 euros but discovered last minute she was nine years old, local news reports.
The prosecutor's statement added 'police custody of the British suspect and a Latvian national was also extended on charges of fraud and money laundering'.
Disneyland Paris was reportedly deceived about the nature of the event, with the organiser assuming the 'identity of a Latvian national' and using 'false documents to secure the conclusion of the contract for privatising the park', BFM TV reports.
The event costs the organisers $130,000 (£111,000), BFM added.
However, Le Parisien reported that the man had presented himself 'as a future Irish groom living in Germany'.
They highlighted that filming at Disneyland Paris is strictly forbidden and so 'the man may have devised this subterfuge to obtain images of the park'.
Disneyland Paris told Le Parisien the event was immediately shut down by its team and that guests were stopped from entering the premises.
The prosecutor's office confirmed today that a criminal investigation has opened.
Circumstances around the wedding remain unclear, but a medical examination of the young girl found she had not suffered any violence, the prosecutor's office said.
Officials added they were not ruling out that the event may have been a prank, with the guests attending as possible 'extras'.
The groom had said that he was the director of a production company and they were shooting a video, a police source later told Le Parisien.
A source who claimed to have been a wedding guest told Le Parisien: 'We all thought we were going to attend a wedding... Everyone was stunned, no one expected it. Disneyland did things very well.
'They cancelled everything as soon as they realized the bride was a child. We were shocked to see that.'
The extras said they had been driven from central Paris on buses at 5am and handed pink bracelets with the names of the 'bride and groom' printed on them.
'Guests' were told filming was to remain strictly confidential - white chairs, a large cake, musicians and a castle were in place to make the ceremony look realistic, BFM reports.
One extra, named Yeleen, who attended the ceremony with her daughter, said: 'I saw a little girl dressed in white. I saw her hair prepared with curls and a lady picking her up in her arms.
'At that moment, I was shocked. I realised when I saw the child. It was atrocious.'
The prosecutor's office later explained: 'So it wasn't a wedding, but a staged wedding filmed with around a hundred extras. They privatized Disneyland Paris, pretending it was a real wedding.'
The prosecution has charged the two suspects with 'fraud and breach of trust' against Disneyland Paris.
They will both be brought before the Meaux judicial court today as part of the opening of a judicial investigation.