Jennifer Wilbanks' Ex Ties the Knot

John Mason, the general manager for a family medical facility who became famous due to runaway bride Jennifer Wilbanks, finally tied the knot but, it was not to Jennifer.

People Magazine has reported that last Saturday, March 15, John Mason married Shelley Martin, who is in pharmaceutical sales. The wedding, small and held in his father's backyard in Duluth, Georgia, went off without all the extra elements that Jennifer offered. There was no kidnapping, sexual assault, no missing people, no trips to Mexico, no kidnapping, and no lies.

Just a simple ceremony performed and officiated by his father who is a Municipal Judge in Duluth, Georgia. It seems while Jennifer was doing her community service and probation he went out to find love, but not before he sold the rights to his story, bought a house, and kicked her out. I wonder if because of what Jennifer did to him, he was nervous about Shelley running, too.

The case of the Runaway Bride has always plucked a nerve in me and angers me everytime I see headlines about this woman. I am only glad that John moved on and has found someone new. Someone who is unlike Jennifer, who has such disregard for other people and their feelings. I completely understand having wedding jitters but claiming temporary insanity because of it? Temporary insanity should be reserved for the marriage and thank goodness John opted out.

I remember when I was 13 and my sister told my mother that she wanted to marry her boyfriend. From a child's perspective; I was being shuffled around from dress shop to dress shop, was ignored from my parents who were busy, was pushed aside, all the while watching my mother stress over money, the flowers, the church, the dress, and the food.

My sister's wedding was what I consider to be every little girls dream and I would have wanted the same when I became engaged but frankly, the whole process scared me and even though my parents had been married for 20 some years at that point, and I had been with my now husband since the 7^th grade, it took him three proposals for me to say yes. There was no method to my madness and no rhyme or reason. I just flat out could not handle the stress and I stressed even thinking about it. While I know that having a big wedding is a milestone in a girl's life, I opted out or maybe it was that I chickened out. The one thing I am sure of though is that I didn't go temporarily insane.

Instead of having a huge wedding, I married my husband at the 3^rd Annual St. Valentine's Day Mass Wedding that was thrown by a local radio station named Eagle 97, in Virginia Beach, Virginia. All we had to do was apply for a marriage license and show up and so we did; 13 years ago. It took turning the alarm off several times and my mother yanking me out of my bed but I did it. Now looking back, I know why I was hesitant and it is because of the stress but more from the belief that I have; that marriages are sacred and not disposable despite popular belief. I was scared out of my mind that my marriage would fail on the basis that "childhood sweethearts never last". However, I have proven myself wrong and everyone else too.

Doubts can come from anywhere and stress can add more problems however, these problems should be talked out with someone close to the person or even with the person to whom they are marrying. Running away from any problem is not the solution, nor is bringing other people into it for that matter.

As a criminal justice graduate, I have to look at all the resources that were pulled to find her and help her and be angry at the fact that she is greedy and will never pay full restitution. I think that John having been married last Saturday shuts a chapter in this book and while Jennifer was found criminally responsible; now I believe that karma is taking care of the moral responsibility.