Surprise Weddings Are Generally Not Cool

But in some cases, they may be the best thing.

Several years back, there was a "live" television special on a major broadcast network during which women surprised their guys with a surprise wedding. The guys supposedly didn't know – each woman explained the situation to the audience while the guy was in some isolation chamber, and then he was thrust out in front of a live audience, glaring lights, and television cameras, and presented with what amounts to an immediate ultimatum. I suppose that is better than finding yourself on the show of Connie Chung's husband or the former mayor of Cincinnati. I'm not sure how this was all supposed to work out from a legal standpoint – I would imagine if the guys actually wanted to get married and weren't just doing it for show, the couples obtained marriage licenses after the fact.

If I recall correctly, it was only women surprising men – not a single instance of a man surprising a woman with a let's go now wedding.

I would like to know how those couples are doing now.

I bring this up now because of this Associated Press story (complete with photo):

A woman in a wedding gown surprised her fiance by greeting him at a Texas airport along with a justice of the peace.

Robyn Moore and William Acosta exchanged vows Monday at Corpus Christi International Airport after he got off a plane arriving from Toledo, Ohio.

I don't know about you, but riding in a cramped commercial jetline usually doesn't put me in the romantic mood – with one exception. At the end of our last trip without a child with us, I decided to take advantage of the fact that my wife was wearing a short skirt and... let my fingers do the walking. Sure, there was some guy napping next to us, but we were subtle about it, making good use of blankets. My wife found it to be a major turn-on. Certainly made the flight more pleasant. I recommend this for married couples. But I digress.

Acosta, who was wearing jeans and a sweater, says he was speechless and thrilled by the wedding Moore planned.

What else was he going to say? Make a negative scene in the middle of the airport? Actually, it might not be a bad place to dump someone if they are abusive - lots of security, and no tolerance for threats.

But here's the important info:

The couple got a marriage license last week and planned to tie the knot this month, at a site to be determined.

In this case, it sounds like they were both actually planning to get married, which can make this move a very nice one for him. He didn't have to deal with all of the stress of a big ceremony and all of the lead-up, although she still gets to be the center of attention (even in the news) and I would expect that they'll still have a reception later, so they don't miss out on a party and still may get a lot of gifts. Not a bad idea, and a lot less expensive.

I wish them well.

In other cases, like the ones with the TV show, it isn't a good sign if a woman has to trick, badger, nag, beg, or manipulate her guy into marrying her. (If any of those couples secretly were already set to get married, but decided to trick TV producers into paying for their wedding and wedding video, then good for them.) Even with all of our feminist changes in our culture, men are still expected to pursue. It's nature. If a guy wants to marry you, he'll ask. He'll make it happen. If he already is unenthusiastic about being with you, that's a horrible way to go into marriage. Besides - it robs you of the challenge relished by so many Category 4 gals of breaking his spirit and driving him to despair from the heights of joy and optimism. It is much more fun when you can point out to him that he was eager to marry you. The look on his face as he tries to silently reconcile that fact with his misery should be priceless.

I would have like to have seen one of those guys on the TV show risk the boos of the audience and all of the TV talk-show and magazine trashing he would have received – by explaining exactly why he wasn't going to get married. The director of the show probably wouldn't have let him talk very long.