Woman spends £4k marrying herself with no guests after Valentine's Day proposal
A woman spent more than £4,000 when she married herself in a solo ceremony after proposing on Valentine’s Day.
Andria Johnson had been 31 when she wed her husband, 45, in Las Vegas in 2015 but the pair divorced in 2018. Blaming the 14-year age gap for its end, she visited a therapist and after several years “reached a breakthrough” and knew she had to marry herself.
After a Valentine’s Day proposal, the now 39-year-old travelled from her home in Hanover, Maryland, to Tulum, Mexico, where she married herself. During the ceremony, she read aloud vows to herself before she placed a £30 ring on her finger in front of a local officiate.
Andria travelled from her home in the US to Mexico for the event (mediadrumimages/ Emilia Blackbox)
Andria had been married before but it did not work out (mediadrumimages/ Emilia Blackbox)Andria said: “I wanted to celebrate my new relationship with myself by doing what I should have done years ago, in my first marriage, I made the mistake of dedicating myself to loving someone else unconditionally without giving myself that same love first.
“Because I spent the majority of my life trying to satisfy other people, I decided to do this for myself. I wanted the ceremony to reflect me and not conform to society’s standard of a wedding, but I still wanted to be a bride. I used elements of a typical Christian wedding (dress, hair, makeup, ring) and some of my own, like baptism, spiritual vows and an acknowledgement of my love for myself alone in nature.
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“This ceremony was deeply personal to me, so I wanted to say my vows out loud to myself, but I didn't need the ‘official’ pomp and circumstance of the traditional wedding. I went to a cenote for a photoshoot symbolising the rebirth of myself and emerging into the new version of myself.”
Andria's £30 wedding ring gift (mediadrumimages/ Andria Johnson)
Andria was described as "crazy" by workmates (mediadrumimages/ Andria Johnson)While her family and friends supported her decision, her colleagues saw it as an unusual move and struggled to accept it. After the wedding, the backlash from her colleagues did not subside, and she eventually had to quit her job. Johnson created an anonymous survey to get feedback on what the people in her office thought, and she received some unsavoury replies.
She added: “I saw a three-paragraph comment outlining my mental instability for marrying myself. This person attacked my social media page, called me insulting names, and told me to stay in Mexico and leave my craziness there. There were a lot of comments made to me and behind my back about me being pathetic, crazy, lonely, starved for attention, and a whole slew of other things. Some employees anonymously reported me to the HR department and initiated an investigation at work around my mental stability. It was really a tough time.”
“They said no one would call me Mrs because it was not legally binding. I was used to getting comments like that from strangers, but it really hit hard because it came from someone who knew me personally. So now I do not care what other people think of me because I know people are going to think what they want to think about you, so you might as well do what you want.
”Being married to myself has taught me many things. I've learned I cannot bring anything to a relationship if I cannot love myself. I've also learned self-love isn't just bubble baths and massages and now, I put my relationship with myself above everything and work on it constantly."
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