Former Fiance of Runaway Bride Jennifer Wilbanks Gets Married Without a Hitch

Who wants to be forever known as the man once engaged to Jennifer Wilbanks, the runaway bride? What's nice to know is that the former jilted would-be husband of then fiance Jennifer Wilbanks was not jinxed or jilted when it came to heading up the aisle Saturday, March 15, 2008. In a ceremony at his parents house in Duluth, John Mason married Shelley Martin.

In 2005, John Mason's former fiance, Jennifer Wilbanks, in an act of total cowardice to avoid getting married to John Mason, the runaway bride disappeared shortly before the wedding. To cover up her pre-wedding jitters, she concocted an elaborate story of being kidnapped. All a misguided hoax by Jennifer Wilbanks just to avoid getting married. Jennifer Wilbanks was later sentenced to probation and community service.

If you're engaged and have even the slightest hesitation like Jennifer Wilbanks on whether you should get married or not, speak now or forever hold your peace. The closer it gets every day to your actual wedding date, the more expensive and emotionally traumatic things can get.

There is nothing more than I wanted in my 20s to get married. I'm sure, like Jennifer Wilbanks, many people are seduced by an engagement ring or the idea of getting married. But by the time you come to this realization, you're in it too deep, you are worried about hurting someone's feelings.

The first sign that something is wrong is when you start asking yourself the question: Is this the one? It doesn't really matter if you're a potential groom or bride. If you easily identify or sympathize with Jennifer Wilbanks, then you already know the answer to the question as to whether you should go ahead with your upcoming marriage or not. And that is a big no.

What girl doesn't wanted to have an engagement ring on her finger like Jennifer Wilbanks? I lived with someone for 6 years and wanted nothing more than to have an engagement ring and an elaborate wedding planned like Jennifer Wilbanks. But the guy never asked me until it was too late.

Somewhere along the line, I realized, although I loved him deeply and he was my first love, we simply weren't meant to be together. During our relationship, I realized I spent many nights crying. That should tell you something. Love shouldn't be so hard. I would cry because we would be arguing or I'd get the silent treatment. We had different communication styles.

Other things we would argue about would be money and finances. Our values were completely different but being so close to the situation, I just didn't see things clearly. I can see how Jennifer Wilbanks just wanted to run away to get some perspective.

When I finally got up the courage one day to leave, I had read an article in Cosmopolitan magazine that provided tips on how to leave a relationship. Their advice was to just keep the discussion brief and leave right away because there really is no more to discuss. If it's come to this point, you've probably argued about the same things many times over. As painful as this was and as corny as it seems to get advice from a women's beauty and fashion magazine, it was precisely sound advice.

Shortly after I left, the person who I cared about so deeply who I had patiently yearned for years to ask me to marry him, came to my parent's house where I had retreated, upset and in tears. Amidst all this pain and confusion, in sheer desperation, he then asked me to marry him.

If I wasn't sure before, I knew instantly this was not right and was sad but grateful that this marriage proposal had not come a moment sooner, otherwise I, not unlike Jennifer Wilbanks, might have been the runaway bride or worse, the runaway wife.