• iconNews
  • videos
  • entertainment
  • Home
  • News
    • UK News
    • US News
    • Australia
    • Ireland
    • World News
    • Weird News
    • Viral News
    • Sport
    • Technology
    • Science
    • True Crime
    • Travel
  • Entertainment
    • Celebrity
    • TV & Film
    • Netflix
    • Music
    • Gaming
    • TikTok
  • LAD Originals
    • Say Maaate to a Mate
    • Daily Ladness
    • Lad Files
    • UOKM8?
    • FreeToBe
    • Extinct
    • Citizen Reef
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • UNILAD
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
Snapchat
TikTok
YouTube

LAD Entertainment

YouTube

LAD Stories

Submit Your Content
77-year-old woman marries herself and wears the wedding dress of her dreams

Home> News

Published 05:45 18 May 2023 GMT+1

77-year-old woman marries herself and wears the wedding dress of her dreams

After all, the most important person you could ever love is yourself.

Rachel Lang

Rachel Lang

Featured Image Credit: YouTube/KCENNews

Topics: Good News

Rachel Lang
Rachel Lang

Rachel Lang is a Digital Journalist at LADbible. During her career, she has interviewed Aussie PM Malcolm Turnbull in the lead up to the 2016 federal election, ran an editorial campaign on the war in Yemen, and reported on homelessness in the lead-up to Harry and Meghan’s wedding in Windsor. She also once wrote a yarn on the cheese and wine version of Fyre Festival.

X

@rlangjournalist

Advert

Advert

Advert

Some girls around the world dream of their wedding day and plan everything down to the very last detail.

Dottie Fideli was one of those girls and has been dreaming of her ultimate wedding day her entire life.

Now at age 77 she's said 'sod it' to waiting around for a man and has married herself in the ultimate act of self-love at her Ohio retirement home.

Speaking to NBC local affiliate WLWT5, the grandmother revealed she finally had the chance to have the wedding she had always dreamed of.

Advert

"This is something I’ve always wanted," she said.

"I wanted to get married and have a happy life but things didn’t work out that way and now I have a second chance in doing something that’ll make me happy."

Donna Pennington

"I told my daughter, I said, ‘This is the best thing that I’ve ever had, outside of having you kids'," told the Today show.

Ms Fideli had been married once before, back in 1965.

Advert

But the ill-fated nuptials were never meant to be.

After she and her ex-husband exchanged vows at a courthouse, 'he went to work and I went home'.

"I wore a black dress, so I was doomed before I got started," she revealed.

But she had always dreamed of having her own 'big wedding', but was dismayed at the idea it was 'too late' for her.

Her daughter, Donna Pennington, was determined to make her mother's dreams come true.

Advert

They set about decorating the community room of O’Bannon Terrace Retirement Home in Goshen, Ohio, with balloons and her daughter cooked all of the food.

Family, friends, and loved ones turned out to see Fideli in her dream white dress with sheer long sleeves and a silver belt.

She also wore a white veil with an embellished headband.

Donna Pennington

Like any blushing bride, Fideli was 'nervous' leading up to the big day.

Advert

But, when the sun set on her dream wedding day, she ended up 'really happy' after marrying herself.

In her hand as she said her vows to herself, she held a white lily as a symbol for self-love.

"I said, 'Everybody takes this outside lily. And they live their life and they think they’re happy and everything’s going to be hunky-dory, but they don’t consider the inside, the little petals inside'," she told Today.

"The inside is what’s important. That’s where God’s love flows. That’s where he gives you wisdom and he gives you hope. And nobody ever takes time to think about that."

She added: "So that’s what I’ve done, and I’d appreciate it if all of you people would do it and think of it that way."

Advert

Good for you, Dottie.

Now that is one woman who don't need no man. Not now, not ever.

  • Bride shot dead at her own wedding in 'mafia-style execution' with 13-year-old among injured
  • Horrifying true story behind movie Orphan that saw 33-year-old woman pose as 13-year-old to infiltrate family
  • Woman on Ozempic reveals why she gave her 11 year old daughter weight loss jabs
  • Adopted girl accused of being 22-year-old woman broke down in tears after finding out her real age

Choose your content:

an hour ago
2 hours ago
  • an hour ago

    Former Burger King employee who ran entire restaurant on her own for 12 hours speaks out after fundraiser reaches $90k

    Nykia was sacked from her job as donations flood in from around the world

    News
  • an hour ago

    Viral Judge Frank Caprio's most heartwarming moments remembered after his death aged 88

    Caprio became famous for his compassionate conduct in the courtroom

    News
  • an hour ago

    Husband issues heartbreaking plea after botched BBL surgery means wife will never be able to talk or walk again

    A lawsuit has been filed against the doctor who carried out the surgery after Daidys Pena Garces was left fighting for her life

    News
  • 2 hours ago

    Burger King responds after employee who ran entire restaurant on her own for 12 hours is fired

    Nykia Hamilton ran a Burger King by herself for an entire shift, but she got fired

    News