Everything That Could Go Wrong Did

Almost-groom Neil McArdle's mother was right all those years: It's really better to 'fess up and be honest when you've made a mistake — than say, call in a bomb threat because you forgot to turn in your wedding papers. Liverpool's McArdle just couldn't bear to break the news to his super-excited fiancee, Amy Williams, that he'd forgotten to turn in the documents they needed to tie the knot — namely, the booking for the appointment at the register's office.

He still hadn't told her at 4 a.m. the morning of, when Williams woke up and put on her gown. McArdle says seeing the bride in her gown before the ceremony only made him more terrified about his mistake.

"She looked amazing," said McArdle's defending attorney, Charles Lander. "He just could not get out the words to her to tell her what he had not done in relation to the forms."

So while Amy Williams was primping away for her big day, he went to a phone booth and called in a bomb threat at the venue. Like you do.

"This is not a hoax call," he said. "There's a bomb in St George's Hall, and it will go off in 45 minutes."

Except, you know, it was a hoax call. A hoax call made 11 days after the Boston marathon bombing.

What happened next is a scene out of a bad screwball comedy: Fiance, fiancee, friends, and family arrived at the hall to discover it covered in police. Williams' sister turned to McArdle and said, "You've probably done the bomb scare yourself."

It wasn't long before everyone found out no wedding had actually been booked. And that McArdle had, in fact, "done the bomb scare" himself.

"If it was not so serious, the facts of this case have all the markings of a comedy," Lander said.

McArdle was sentenced to a year in jail for the hoax. However, the couple is still together — and is presumably looking forward to giving it another go in 12 months.