4 Adults Arrested After Man Tried To Marry 9-Year-Old Girl in Ceremony at Disneyland Paris

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A preplanned wedding at Disneyland Paris quickly led to several arrests after Disney cast members noticed something strange. The groom, a 22-year-old man from the United Kingdom, allegedly attempted to marry a 9-year-old girl in front of a crowd of 100 guests at the park. When police arrived, the man reportedly said it was all a joke for social media. Unfortunately for him, the authorities didn’t think it was funny and placed him under arrest.

According to The Times, organizers put together an elaborate scheme to film a video for social media. They reportedly booked the park outside normal operating hours under the guise of a real wedding ceremony. The schemers allegedly recruited their guests online, seeking 200 adults and 100 children between ages 5 and 15 to pretend to be guests at a “rehearsal” for a wedding at Disneyland Paris.

Approximately 100 people responded to the invitation and waited for the ceremony to begin at dawn on June 21, 2025. A trio played the violin, and a stage set with flowers awaited the couple. But the guests apparently had no idea what they’d gotten themselves into.

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“We were not told at any time that it was about a film shoot. We all thought we were going to be part of a wedding. Everyone was stunned. No one expected this. Disneyland does things very well,” a witness told Le Parisien per The Times. “They immediately canceled when they understood that the bride was a kid. We were sickened by that.”

Guests loaded onto buses early in the morning, and organizers gave them pink bracelets that said bride and groom to wear at the ceremony.

“I saw a little girl dressed in white. I saw her hair prepared with curls and a lady picking her up in her arms,” a guest named Yeleen said. “At that moment, I was shocked. I realized when I saw the child. It was atrocious.”

The Times reported the elaborate scheme cost approximately $174,000, per BFM TV. In total, police arrested four people for various crimes.

“Four people were arrested and questioned: the groom, who was believed to be the organizer of the event and is presumed to be British and aged 22; the mother of the child, a 41-year-old Ukrainian woman; and two Latvian nationals aged 55 and 24,” shared Alexandre Verney, assistant prosecutor for the Seine-et-Marne département.

Investigators released the child’s mother and the older Latvian national after a medical examination proved no one harmed the child or held her against her will. Per prosecutors, the organizer and other Latvians remain in custody over possible money laundering and fraud offenses, The Times reported.

“It wasn’t a wedding but a staged wedding that was to be filmed with a hundred extras,” Verney said. “They privatized Disneyland, claiming that it was a real marriage.”