English vicar slaps £100 fine on brides running late for wedding

Couples are asked to present the vicar with a £100 cheque before the service, which he gets to keep if the bride is late.

Fed up with repeated delays to wedding services because of brides arriving late, an English vicar is imposing £100 fines for a delay of more than 10 minutes, The Times reported on Friday.

Church of England vicar John Corbyn said he had introduced the policy at his two churches after two delayed weddings in a row. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Church of England vicar John Corbyn said he had introduced the policy at his two churches, Holy Cross in Bearsted and St Mary the Virgin in Thurnham, after two delayed weddings in a row.

“My team was feeling a bit ill-used... We worried that it was going to become normal practice,” he said.

Couples are asked to present the vicar with a £100 (€110, $135) cheque before the service, which he gets to keep if the bride is late and distribute to the organist, bellringers and choristers kept waiting.

The only exception to the fine is for delays caused by traffic jams or genuine mishaps, the paper said.

Corbyn said the fine was proving a success, pointing out that brides were now arriving 10 minutes early.

“It has had the desired effect,” he said.