Thousands of Ronaldo fans mistakenly attended someone else's wedding
Near a church on the Portuguese island of Madeira, thousands of mobile phones tried to capture a precious moment. But it ended in disappointment for fans and shock for the newlyweds.
The wedding of footballer Cristiano Ronaldo and Georgina Rodriguez is shrouded in mystery, but fans cling to any hint to see the ceremony.
On Saturday, August 8, at around three o'clock in the afternoon, hundreds of people began gathering near Funchal Cathedral on the Portuguese island of Madeira, where, according to rumors, Ronaldo might be. The ceremony was slightly delayed: as is customary, the bride arrived last and was still absent, writes Euronews.
Outside, about two thousand people with raised mobile phones tried to capture the precious moment. Many succeeded, but when they realized that the bride was not Georgina Rodriguez, but Nicole, and those who entered the church saw that not Ronaldo but Fabio stood at the altar, they were undoubtedly disappointed.
For this expatriate couple, now living in France, the ceremony turned out to be extremely lively. "We feel like celebrities," joked one of the guests in a conversation with Diário de Notícias da Madeira.
Some came to Madeira specifically to attend what could have been the most high-profile wedding of the year, had the rumors spread by British tabloids been confirmed.
Last week, the press claimed that Ronaldo and his fiancée were going to get married at the Quinta da Regaleira estate in Sintra on Saturday, August 2. This week, The Sun reported that the ceremony would take place on August 8 at Funchal Cathedral at 3 PM, and the banquet would be held at the Savoy Palace hotel — after it was revealed that on this very day, the luxurious hotel had booked two floors for a private event.
The pressure from international media was so strong that the Diocese of Funchal decided to publish photos of Fabio and Nicole's Saturday wedding to help clear the church courtyard.
"After much confusion on the street with so many journalists and tourists, we finally managed to close the church and hold the ceremony," the diocese wrote on Facebook.