And The Groom Was A Dead Man

A French woman has married her dead partner and the father of her two children a year after he died in a car crash.

Dozens of posthumous weddings take place in France every year and although this is a romantic notion, there are likely also a lot of problems resulting from this.

Under French law posthumous marriages are possible as long as evidence exists that the deceased person had the intention while alive of wedding their partner. According to Christophe Caput, the mayor who married Jaskiewicz, her request was “rock solid”.

Caput, visibly moved by the ceremony, said that the young bride had “become a widow at her wedding”. Jaskiewicz, who will now take the name of her late husband, wears his ring around her neck.

This is a beautifully romantic notion, even if a bit morbid. But one has to question the side-effects to the new widow’s mental health.

Yes, it is tragic that they were never married, and yes, of course it is lovely that they have the right to do this under the law, but allowing posthumous weddings would probably increase their grief and lead to a prolonged mourning period with a slower recovery time before they can move on with their life.

Beautifully, morbidly, romantic? Yes. But productive and healthy? Probably not. But then again, does it really matter how healthy this is?