Ignoring her parents' entreaties, Oakville woman opts for marriage in bizarre radio contest
Sep 28, 2007 04:30 AM
Lauren Mentjox
Special to the Star
AUcKLAND, N.Z. – When Oakville native Chantelle Swanson moved to New Zealand three years ago, the plan was to go to teacher's college, maybe get a job.
The last thing that was probably on her mind – and most certainly her parents' – was getting married. To a man she didn't know. After meeting him, sort of, on a live, on-air, radio reality show.
But it happened. All of it.
"It's crazy," Swanson, 26, admitted yesterday. "But it's very exciting, and I am so happy."
Well, her mother sure doesn't think so. A Toronto business executive, Ginny Swanson yesterday just didn't want to talk about it.
"Yes, she did tell us she was doing this," she said, her head peeking out from behind the imposing door of the family's sprawling lakefront mansion on Oakville's Bel Air Dr.
"Of course I'm upset," she added. "Other than that, I don't really want to talk about it.
"I'm sorry," Ginny Swanson said, a plastic brace fastened around her shirt. "I have a broken back and I just can't deal with this now."
Mom's reaction couldn't have come as much of a surprise to daughter Chantelle – or to the countless New Zealanders who were listening to the radio program Three Strangers and a Wedding, a seven-week promotion for radio station The Edge.
When they heard about the plot – their only daughter, now a middle school teacher in Auckland, was about to pick one of two potential grooms who were waiting for her at the altar, neither of whom she'd met – the parents did what parents do.
They objected. They offered bribes. A ticket back to Canada. A house.
Instead, Swanson picked Paul Court, a 29-year-old horse trainer, and rejected 29-year-old Dave Logan, a courier company team leader, within moments of meeting the two men yesterday.
"I was always hoping for a big proposal and stuff, so this has happened in a very different way," Swanson told the New Zealand TV program 20/20, which followed the radio promotion.
The Edge promotion, which began with three potential grooms before an elimination round left two, drew more than 100 wannabe brides and a score of eligible bachelors for the chance to marry a stranger, live, on air.
Minor detail: the choice of mate was based solely on telephone conversations with the potential groom and meeting his family and friends. Swanson said she "loved" meeting Court's parents.
"They're great, and I know they will stand by me even if my family won't. It's about him and I, making it work."
Why Court? Swanson said she felt "more of a connection" during her telephone conversations with him while the groom, evidently a man of few words, allowed as how he was "stoked" to win Swanson's hand.
"It's bloody great," he said. "Chantelle is nothing short of stunning and I am very, very lucky."
Friends were gushing, too.
Bridesmaid Lauren Massie, who flew from Toronto for the wedding, gave an emotional speech while best man Andrew McPherson said Swanson would probably get the best seat at the (horse) races now.
Emma Anso, a Torontonian living in New Zealand, said she hadn't eaten for four days because she was so nervous for Swanson.
"But when I saw Chantelle together with Paul I knew they were right for each other so it put me at ease again. It was awesome."
This was not the first time the radio station had put its hand to matchmaking.
The Edge made headlines across New Zealand and around the world in 1999 and in 2003 for pairing off complete strangers.
Eight years on, Paula and Zane are happily married with two children while Steve and Kersha have been married for four years, with one child and a second on the way.
This being the station's first Kiwi-Canuck match-up, it remains to be seen what the future will hold for Mr. and Mrs. Court.
ukratko vjencali se naslijepo
nikad se nisu vidjeli do pred samo vjencanje 
njeni u kanadi se naravno ibrete, mama je ostala bez teksta....sta vi mislite? da li biste se ikad upustili u nesto takvo? ili kontakte: ja budala? 
razici ce se u roku od 24 sata 
