Offering fake gold, groom runs away from wedding ceremony VietNamNet Bridge – At around 10 am on October 2, a very rare incident happened at a wedding in Thanh My 2 Hamlet, Thanh Duc commune, Long Ho District, Vinh Long Province. A wedding photo of groom Pham Hoang N. and bride Nguyen Be T. The incident took place on the morning of October 23 at the above address. The groom named Pham Hoang N., a resident of An Luong hamlet, Phu Duc commune, Long Ho District, went to the home of bride Nguyen Be T. in Thanh My 2 Village, Thanh Duc commune, Long Ho District, to bring her to his home. After the groom presented the bride some jewelry, the party began. While the party was very ebullient, the bride’s family found that the groom’s jewelry, including a pair of earrings, a necklace, a pair of wedding rings, and a bracelet are all fake gold. At this time, the groom quickly left the party, leaving the master of wedding ceremony, who was also the representative of the groom’s family, named Nguyen Van Nam, at the bride’s home. Nam said he was just hired by the bridegroom to represent his family at the bride’s home. Bride Nguyen Be T. said she and the groom had known each other for over 2 months. T. was completely ignorant of the groom and his family but she agreed to marry N. Mrs. Pham Thi Diem Phan, mother of the bride, said: "Before the wedding, the groom’s adoptive parents came here to see us to discuss the wedding. My daughter agreed so we approved the wedding. However, on the wedding day we did not see the groom’s parents, only a man who called himself the groom family’s headman and several people, so we began suspecting." According to Phan, suspicious signs were exposed when the groom presented gold jewelry to the bride: the jewelry was covered by a towel; the grooms presented the gold to the bride very promptly; and the offerings did not include VND 10 million ($500) of cash for the wedding party. After that, a bridesmaid named Tham detected that all the gold is fake. The groom hurriedly left the wedding on a motorbike taxi, leaving his fake relatives at the bride’s home. The bride’s family immediately reported the case to the police and local authorities. The bride’s mother, Mrs. Pham Thi Diem talked to reporters. Mr. Pham Dang Khoa, chief of Thanh My 2 Village, said: "Mr. Quang’s (the bride’s father) family is poor. They do not have land for production so they earn their living by working as hired laborers. The bride is the 2nd child in the family. She works for a nearby coffee shop. This is the first time Mr. Quang’s family held a wedding for their child, so the ceremony was attended by many people." According to neighbors, after the rare incident, the wedding was still underway until 8 pm. The bride was drunk so she could not see the police. A neighbor, Ms. Nguyen Thi Nam, 75, said: "I’ve lived my whole life to see such a thrilling story like this. From the groom to his patriarch and wedding gold are all fake." The real "groom" is a ... girl? According to the local people, representatives of the groom’s family included only six people, including groom Pham Hoang N, the headman of the groom’s family Nguyen Van Nam and four others – three of them were lesbians. When the truth was exposed, the groom ran away from the wedding. The groom’s family representative Nguyen Van Nam (a resident of Ward 4, Vinh Long city) claimed that he was hired to attend the wedding. He could not escape because he has an artificial leg. Others also fled from the wedding. According to Mr. Pham Dang Khoa, chief of Thanh My 2 Village said the groom named Nghia was also rented. The real "groom" was a girl who accompanied the groom, named Pham HC, a homosexual. The bride also admitted that she had known C. for more than two months, when she worked for a coffee shop in the city of Vinh Long. The authorities are investigating this rare incident. Compiled by M. Lan