Marriage blessing abuse - "I pronounce you infidel and swine"
To jet off to paradise and get married is something many couples dream of when winter is approaching. But getting married in a country where you don’t speak the language can have somewhat embarrassing consequences, as this Swiss couple found out after tying the knot in the Maldives.
The couple who were “blessed” in both English and the local language Dhivehi by the staff celebrant at the Vilu Reef Hotel, were repeatedly but unwittingly abused by the staff.
"You are swine," the couple were told. "The children that you bear from this marriage will all be bastard swine.
"Your marriage is not a valid one. You are not the kind of people who can have a valid marriage. One of you is an infidel. The other, too, is an infidel and, we have reason to believe, an atheist."
The wife, wearing a white dress and carrying a bouquet and her husband are seen smiling shyly through the ceremony, which was to renew their marriage vows at a cost of $1,300.
Maldivian police spokesman Ahmed Shiyam said the celebrant, who conducted the ceremony in the local language at an upmarket resort fringed by white sand and turquoise water, had been arrested with another hotel employee on Thursday.
