No joke: Indonesian woman agrees to let fiance marry ex-gf after she turns up at their wedding ceremony

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One woman in Indonesia gave her blessing for her soon-to-be wedded husband to marry another woman, after the latter turned up unannounced at their wedding ceremony on July 20.

Believing what happened to be "destiny", the wife, 20-year-old Nur Khusnul Kotimah said the events unfolded after Yuanita Ruri, 21, went to look for her fiance, Korik Akbar, asking for him to marry her as well.

Yuanita is the ex-girlfriend of Korik, 20, and they had known each other since 2016, Harian Metro reported.

She had found out about the upcoming wedding through social media, as friends began to mistakenly congratulate her instead.

"Because of that, she asked to be his wife as well," said Khusnul, who added that she relented after Yuanita turned up uninvited at the couple's merariq ceremony.

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Merariq is a traditional "bride-napping" custom for the people of Lombok where the woman is spirited away by her husband before the wedding.

The kidnapping is part of an elaborate courtship ritual requiring consent from both sets of parents, but the tradition is often abused to justify early marriages, Reuters reported.

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Khusnul described how a few minutes after arriving at Korik's house, Yuanita showed up and asked to be married as well.

When questioned by the media, Korik expressed surprise at the turn of events and said he decided to marry the two of them after discussing the situation with his family.

"The dowry for both is also the same, which is 1.75 million rupiah (about $164)," he said.

However, he shared that the decision to marry both women comes with a fair bit of worry as he's currently unemployed and he now has two wives to support.

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candicecai@asiaone.com