Bride, groom arrested after brawl breaks out at bar
The bride and groom in Candada have started married life in handcuffs.
The couple — she in a gown, he in a tuxedo — were arrested Saturday night after a post-wedding brawl broke out in downtown Edmonton.
Matt Machado watched it all go down at the bar near Rogers Place. It started, he said, when about nine members of a wedding party walked in at around 10 pm.
He said it was like a scene from the Wild Wild West.
"They're getting drinks. They're just really, really super banged up," he said.
"And then all of a sudden we see the smoke pit doors just, like, blow open. Like, you know, in the old Western movies, when a big fight happens and the doors just explode open and everybody piles out? Then security's got this one guy in a headlock and they tumble down the stairs.
"The bride is just like following behind, just swinging."
Security got the brawl settled outside while about 100 people in the bar looked on. With the bride pinned against the wall by bouncers, the groom was led away in another direction, Machado said.
Soon after, police showed up, lights flashing and sirens wailing. A large crowd in the bar pressed against the windows for a better look.
"It's like the Oilers just scored a goal," Machado said. "Everybody's like, 'Yes!'"
Machado was sitting near the window with his friend, Ryan Bychkowski, who took a photo of the bride — standing in her white wedding gown with her hands cuffed behind her, while a police officer wrote her a ticket.
The photo later went viral on the internet.
"My buddy, over my shoulder, took the photo of the cop writing her up as she's sitting there in cuffs. Cops came into the bar, asked a couple people some questions, and just left with the bride," Machado said.
Edmonton police said Monday the bride, 36, was charged with assault.
The groom, 37, was charged with mischief. One person suffered minor injuries during the fight.
The bride and groom each have previous brushes with the law, according to court records. They were released on what police call a promise to appear, and left the bar together.
Bychkowski isn't sure what exactly spurred the altercation. But he thinks someone in the wedding party made physical contact with a staff member and punched a window. That's when bar security stepped in, and things escalated from there.
"I've seen the odd scrap but never one where there's a girl in a wedding dress bouncing around," Bychkowski said.
"I'm just glad nobody got really hurt. But it was pretty funny."
