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Bride's wedding destroyed by pyramid scheme

One woman’s fiancee wants to use their wedding day to sell her products. Photo: Getty Images
One woman’s fiancee wants to use their wedding day to sell her products. Photo: Getty Images

Many brides will have had nightmares of catastrophic events ruining your big day; a jealous ex, terrible makeup, or a cyclone might spring to mind.

But until you’ve considered the potentially deadly consequences of a multi-level marketing scheme on a wedding day, you’ve never courted true disaster.

One future bride took to Reddit to share her tale of the danger she knows all too well.

In the post she shared that when they first met, her fiancee was working at a call centre – a job she hated.

After the women got engaged, the fiancee wanted to focus on planning their special day.

“She asked if she could drop down to part time to plan the wedding,” the desperate fiancee wrote. “I have a very good job so I said yes, I can cover bills and have a fair amount in savings.”

Here is where the story got a bit whacky. The woman says her wife-to-be signed up for a multi-level-marketing scheme and things predictably went downhill from there.

Multi-level marketing involves a company engaging employees that only earn commission, rather than a salary, on items they sell from their homes.

They also earn commission if they sign up new sellers, a fact that – at least in this tale – turned the employees into a tight-knit web of sellers.

“It became her whole life very fast. She quit doing part time so she could sell (the products) full time,” the desperate bride wrote.

“I found out about two hours ago that we won’t be having a family party,” she said, disclosing that her future wife decided the space should be used for her and her friends to sell their products to their guests on their wedding day.

Oh My God Wow GIF - Find & Share on GIPHY
Oh My God Wow GIF - Find & Share on GIPHY

“So the big wedding hall is booked is now apparently a massive meet up of local woman who sell items from their homes,” the woman shared.

Torn, the woman asked for users advice on whether to call off the wedding altogether.

“It feels wrong to be to tell them (family and friends) that this is our wedding when really it’s a bunch of people trying to sell them stuff,” she wrote.

The bride’s fiancée wanted to use their wedding venue as a marketplace. Photo: Getty Images
The bride’s fiancée wanted to use their wedding venue as a marketplace. Photo: Getty Images

The response was almost unanimous.

“Does she want a wedding or a craft fair?” wrote one user. “If it is just a craft fair, she doesn’t need you there and I would tell her that.”

“Just explain you are happy to support her any other day apart from your wedding day,” another user wrote. “Your wedding day is about the both of you and not about her business.”

Many were scathing of the multi-level marketing strategy, which some compared to a ‘pyramid scheme’.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission says in order for a venture to be considered a pyramid scheme it must derive their funding from recruitment.

“The promoters at the top of the pyramid make their money by having people join the scheme. They pocket the fees and other payments made by those who join under them,” the website explains.

The overarching advice was to postpone any wedding plans until the mess was sorted.

It’s not the first time plans for a smooth wedding have gone awry.

Last week a jealous ex-girlfriend crashed a wedding in a white gown to the horror of the bride and groom.

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