Danish couples keen on a church wedding but without all the religious trappings will soon be able to tie the knot in a converted church, dressed however they wish and saying ‘yes’ to the music of their choice.
“Civil weddings take about six minutes and that’s it. Not very romantic,” said Erik Frodelund, proud owner of the former church in the tiny island village of Lohals.
“Here they will be able to have a ceremony among all the trappings of a church, with music – basically whatever they want – without the religious content.”
Purchased from an Evangelical-Lutheran congregation a year ago, the church sports statues of Christ, a baptismal font, an original altar with railings, crosses and original pews and candlesticks.
Luxury wine vandal arrested
Italian police yesterday arrested a former employee at a prestigious Brunello di Montalcino winery for pouring out barrels worth millions of euros in a case that has shaken up the tranquil Tuscan hills.
Andrea Di Gisi was caught after police bugged his car and heard him telling his nephew he had washed off wine stains from the jeans he wore the night he broke into the cellar at the Case Basse chateau and carried out the deed.
They said that De Gisi had acted out of revenge after several reprimands and after the chateau’s manager allocated some housing to another employee.
Japan PM in Obama-Bush gaffe
Japan’s presumptive premier Shinzo Abe got his US leaders mixed up when he told business chiefs he had been speaking to “President Bush” after a phone call from Barack Obama.
The gaffe came in one of Abe’s first speaking engagements since his landslide victory in weekend polls that saw his Liberal Democratic Party returned to power.
Abe, who was prime minister in 2006-7 during the final years of George W. Bush’s presidency, quickly realised his error when assembled journalists and business leader began chuckling.
The 58-year-old corrected his verbal misstep and told officials from the Keidanren, Japan’s business lobby, that he and Obama had agreed on the importance of the Japan-US security alliance.