Widneck Kaipa and Betty Nyirenda, together since 1986, had been meticulously planning their big day last Saturday since November last year.

But just hours before the couple exchanged vows, Kaipa was reported missing and failed to show up at his own wedding at the ZAOGA chapel at Thertford Farm in Mazowe.

In extraordinary scenes, the church pastor Langton Juma “suggested that the groom’s younger brother take his elder brother’s place, leaving guests baffled,” the Sunday Mail newspaper reported.

Citing sources, the Mail said Nyarenda appeared “unmoved” by the pastor’s suggestion and she went on to exchange vows with her would-be husband’s younger brother, Bernard Kaipa, who also proudly left the ceremony with a ring on his finger.

The wedding couple had shared a bed together on the eve of their wedding, and the groom showed “no indication that he was not keen on tying the knot”.

And an hour later, Kaipa was seen leaving the house where he was changing “but no one bothered to ask where he was going,” a relative said.

“At around 11AM, relatives gathered at the wedding venue, discussed the unfolding events and resolved to approach the pastor with a proposal for the wedding to be postponed or cancelled.

“They were shocked by the pastor’s suggestion that the groom’s younger brother — Bernard Kaipa — replace his brother on his wedding.

“The pastor said it was not a problem because the two were blood brothers. He said when the ‘original groom’ finally appears, he could then sign the marriage certificate.