A video of a groom celebrating his ‘I do’s’ by motorboating his bride at the altar has captured the internet, with an etiquette expert slamming the stunt as “highly inappropriate”.
The moment unfolded during the ceremony of newlyweds Adelina and Riley at Southwood Estate in Canada.
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In footage shared to TikTok by wedding officiant Nathan Grieve, the couple had already weathered unexpected rainfall before reaching their much-anticipated first kiss.
However, instead of a traditional embrace, Riley immediately buried his face into the bride’s chest, shaking his head, essentially motorboating her strapless bridal gown before pumping his fists to the crowd.
Adelina burst into laughter at the brazen display, though not everyone watching was quite as amused.
Officiant Nathan Grieve claimed he was caught completely off guard, captioning the post that he has “never seen” that happen before.
“Riley immediately celebrated his new wife in a way that will absolutely be remembered at family gatherings for years to come,” Mr Grieve captioned the TikTok video.
To cap off the ceremony, the planned exit music failed to play as the newlyweds made their way back up the aisle, replaced instead by a blaring car alarm from the nearby parking lot.
“Perfect timing. Perfect chaos. Perfectly Riley & Adelina,” Mr Grieve added.
Despite the couple’s good spirits, etiquette expert Jo Hayes gave the raunchy move a firm “thumbs down”.
“While it appears to be consensual in this clip — the bride doesn’t appear shocked or surprised, and doesn’t appear to try and stop him — this is a wedding ceremony,” Ms Hayes told news.com.au.
“Such sexually suggestive/sexual innuendo-type behaviour isn’t appropriate.”
Ms Hayes pointed out that a wedding crowd is rarely an adults-only audience.
“There are likely children in the audience, for whom witnessing such behaviour would be highly inappropriate,” she explained.
“And even for adults, witnessing such behaviour can make people uncomfortable.”
Suggesting the groom may have taken inspiration from Hollywood, Ms Hayes offered some blunt advice: “It’s highly likely he’s a fan of Wedding Crashers and thought such a stunt would be funny … darling, it’s really not”.
“Save it for the honeymoon.”
The video, which has amassed over 270,000 views, has since sparked plenty of chatter on social media, with many people saying the act would immediately instigate a divorce.
“This is at the centre of a Venn diagram of things you shouldn’t do at your wedding,” one person wrote on TikTok.
“That is such a red flag though. It shows a lack of respect for her and their families. My husband makes motor boating and other dirty jokes on a near-daily basis, but you will never ever catch him saying it in front of other people,” a second user commented.
“We’re definitely speechless,” a third chimed in.
“In front of the bride’s mother and father?! Yuck,” a fourth claimed
“Wait, is this real? How embarrassing and distasteful,” another user echoed.