As someone who’s photographed more than my share of weddings, I can tell you that the lead-up to getting hitched can be a stressful, particularly for the bride. When the big day finally comes — one she’s probably thought about since she was a little girl — it’s supposed to be all about her. So maybe it’s surprising that when something doesn’t go exactly as planned, more of them don’t go full Bridezilla. But even when they do, bloodshed is rarely a byproduct of the resulting meltdown. Sadly, that wasn’t the case with Christina George-Harvan . . .
The Pennsylvania newlywed had already completed her nuptials on Saturday and was letting loose at a local watering hole. That’s reportedly when the woman in white had a tiff with her niece, who apparently expected the bride to not only refrain from celebrating her own wedding with a glass of champagne, but to also be her own chauffeur.
From miamiherald.com:
Police say George-Harvan, of Conway, shot 21-year-old Katelyn Francis on Thursday as they left a bar in New Brighton, about 30 miles north of Pittsburgh. The wedding was held earlier that day.
Police say they were arguing about who would be the designated driver when the bride grabbed a gun from her husband’s truck and shot Francis, of Fairmont, W.Va.
If there was ever a better argument for springing for a limo or party bus to ferry the wedding party around after the ceremony, I haven’t heard it.
Sadly, Francis later died at a local hospital. And the newlywed’s attorney, the wonderfully named J. Lauson Cashdollar, claims that it was all an unfortunate accident, an example of bad Rule 2 discipline. His story is that George-Harvan was only trying to move the gun when it “went off.”
What really happened will no doubt be determined by a jury of her peers. In the mean time she’ll be getting an IGOTD award from her friends at TTAG. And it may be one of the few wedding gifts she doesn’t return to pay her legal fees.