Marriage prank turns sour

The Candlelight Wedding Chapel, where the two wed

A Bristol University student has lost his girlfriend - after getting married for a joke in Las Vegas.

James Cripps, 21, wed another girl he had met just days before.

He said he had hoped his girlfriend, fellow student Abi, would understand.

Now he is trying to get the marriage annulled, on the grounds that he and his bride were too drunk to consummate it at their honeymoon youth hostel.

James, a third-year economics student, had been touring America with a friend during the summer holidays.

James Cripps got married with a copper ring

He met Australian traveller Kristy Ladzik at a Las Vegas youth hostel.

During an all-day drinking session, he suggested they get married in one of the famous Las Vegas wedding chapels - favoured by celebrities such as Noel Gallagher and Chris Evans.

The pair took a limousine to a 24-hour courthouse to collect a marriage licence.

Then they headed for the Candlelight Wedding Chapel.

James wore a scruffy shirt and trousers and with a borrowed copper ring.

£150 wedding

He said: "It was just one of those stupid things. I just thought it might be quite funny.

"If you go to Las Vegas, you drink, you gamble, and you get married, which is what I did."

About 10 guests attended the £150 wedding, with James's travelling companion Gareth Wilcock, 22, acting as best man.

My dad just laughed, but my mother cried a lot

James Cripps, bridegroom

They held a brief reception, with Twinkies (sponge cakes) and champagne.

The newly-weds then went back to the youth hostel - and straight to sleep.

The next day James left to return to England, and Kristy, his new wife, returned to Australia - never expecting to see each other again.

James told his girlfriend two days after he got back.

Dad 'laughed'

To his dismay, she ended their relationship and refused to speak to him again.

He said: "My dad just laughed, but my mother cried a lot, which is one of my main regrets.

"It was funny for a while, but now my ex-girlfriend is never going to talk to me again, and with good reason.

The chapel charged £10 for the wedding

"That is what I regret most - upsetting her.

"It is a great story to have, but it's not worth the grief I will get."

He has even had to register at university as a married man.

The Reverend Jo Frehner married the pair but could not remember much about the ceremony.

He said: "I marry so many people. I vaguely remember the couple but I don't remember if they were alone or if they had been drinking.

"I marry 5,200 couples a year and since then I have married 550 couples so I really couldn't tell you.

"I put everything I have got into the couple for the five or six minutes they are with me and then I move straight on to the next couple."