Police Called to Disneyland Paris Over Staged 'Child Bride' Wedding

Newsweek

5 hours ago

Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
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Police were called to Disneyland Paris over a fake wedding involving a child dressed up as a bride.
Staff and security called law enforcement after they realized the wedding that had been booked for the resort on Saturday involved a child dressed as a bride. Police discovered that the wedding did not contain a legal ceremony but involved several actors and extras hired to make it appear to be a real wedding.
Investigators have not disclosed what the motivations were behind the "wedding."
Newsweek has contacted the Ministre de L'Intérieur and Disneyland Paris via email for comment.
Disneyland Paris on June 11, 2024.
Disneyland Paris on June 11, 2024.
Martin Sekanina/CTK via AP Images
The Context
Disneyland Paris is a highly popular wedding destination, where people can get married outside regular resort operating hours in front of the Sleeping Beauty castle.
According to local reporting, not only was the wedding ceremony fake, but the 100 guests present were hired actors. One of the actors told France Inter radio that she believed she was being hired to attend a real wedding and did not realize it involved a child until she saw the child in a wedding gown.
This might impact future wedding bookings at the resort, as resort staff believed this was a legitimate marriage ceremony until they saw the "bride" was a child in a bridal gown.
Four people have been taken into custody over the fake wedding, including a 22-year-old British man alleged to be the fake groom who organized the wedding, and 24 Latvian woman. Police have said they are under suspicion of fraud and money laundering.
What To Know
There is no publicly available data on the rate of child brides in France, according to Girls Not Brides.
The population most known for marrying below age 15 across the continent are Roma girls, also known as gypsies, in Eastern Europe. However, according to police, the girl involved in this "marriage" was Ukrainian.
According to police, who have not named any of the people involved, the girl did not suffer any "violence or constraint." Her mother, a 41-year-old woman, and a 55-year-old Latvian man were taken into police custody but have since been released.
What People Are Saying
An actor hired for the "wedding" told France Inter radio: "I saw the panic of the Disney people, then, through the window, I saw a small child with a wedding dress on. A woman was carrying her in her arms and that's when I understood that the child was really young."
A deputy local prosecutor told Agence France-Presse: "The event turned out to have been staged, the guests themselves were all actors. So it wasn't a wedding but the staging of a wedding, which was filmed with around 100 extras. They had privately hired Disneyland Paris claiming it was a real wedding."
What Happens Next
Two people remain in police custody and Disneyland Paris filed a legal complaint against the people involved in the "wedding," per The Guardian.