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Outlook: Tales of modern marriage: My Big Fat Greek Wedding

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Greek-Canadian actress Nia Vardalos in front of the Erechteion Temple

03/05/2022 GMT

Tales of modern marriage: My Big Fat Greek Wedding

BBC World Service - Outlook, Tales of modern marriage: My Big Fat Greek Wedding

Nia Vardalos on how her own love story became a hit romantic comedy

My Big Fat Greek Wedding told the true - and hilarious - story of Nia introducing her non-Greek fiance into her large and at times overbearing family.

In today's Outlook, a selection of stories from the archive which look at modern marriage today. 

It's been 20 years since Nia Vardalos wrote and starred in the biggest grossing romantic comedy of all time. My Big Fat Greek Wedding told the true - and hilarious - story of Nia introducing her non-Greek fiance into her large, eccentric and at times overbearing family. She spoke to Mathew Bannister in July 2016 about the advice she'll be giving her own daughter about marriage.

Back in 2010, Chen Wei-yi, who goes by the name Only, had a most unusual wedding when she married herself in a ceremony in Taiwan. She was about to turn 30, and felt under increasing pressure to find a husband - not least because the Taiwanese government was worried about the low birth rate and was pushing a publicity campaign to encourage marriage and parenthood. Just ahead of her wedding Outlook's Cindy Sui went to meet her. This was first broadcast in November 2010.

Another unique wedding took place in 2017 in the city of Bangalore in the south of India. The couple involved said it was the country's first multi-religious transgender marriage ceremony. It came after the Indian government passed a law officially recognising transgender people as a "third gender". But despite this, people still faced discrimination and often married in secret. Mary-Rose Abraham went to meet the newlyweds Vasudev V and Akkai Padmashalli, in March 2017.

And finally, we hear from British couple Alex Pelling and Lisa Gant. When the BBC's Rayhan Demytrie caught up with them in Tblisi, Georgia in 2014, they'd already had 65 weddings in 50 countries, but were still not legally married.

Presenter: Jo Fidgen

(Nia Vardalos in front of the Erechteion Temple, Greece. Credit: Louisa Gouliamaki/AFP/Getty Images)

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