Groom sends tweets from altar

When Maryland resident Dana Hanna stood at the altar and looked lovingly into his fiancé’s eyes, all that he could think about was how he might tweet his marriage vows to his followers on Twitter. According to the hundreds of media reports generated by the less than orthodox wedding, the groom waited for the moment when the minister was about to pronounce Dana and Tracy husband and wife, before producing a Blackberry from his pocket and firing off a message to his Twitter followers and Facebook friends.

With the audience erupting into shocked laughter, the minister waited patiently until the groom sent off his tweet and Facebook status update, before actually confirming the couple’s marriage.

Hanna had reportedly discussed the stunt beforehand with the minister, but did not tell his fiancé or anyone else in the audience. As the groom typed away on his Blackberry, the minister asked everyone to be patient, noting that “Dana is updating his relationship status” on Facebook. To make this wedding exposure to social networking sites even more complete, a video of the groom’s less than traditional behaviour at the altar was posted on YouTube, where it has been viewed over 350,000 times.

But some bloggers and other commentators were horrified by Hanna’s decision to tweet his wedding directly from the altar. To his critics, Hanna has only one thing to say, which—not surprisingly—he also broadcast on Twitter and Facebook. The unconventional groom thinks that everyone should “loosen up” and just realize that it is not a crime to have “fun” at one’s own wedding.