A GREEK Cypriot groom who skipped a New York wedding to go off on the honeymoon alone has telephoned his jilted bride to apologise. Now he hopes to see her again.
“My timing stank,” Tassos Michael admitted to The Times in an interview from the Tahitian hotel where he and Greek-American Nicole Contos were meant to honeymoon.
The 35-year-old lawyer said he had tried to postpone the wedding and finally decided it was better to leave Nicole standing at the altar rather than go ahead with the ceremony only to divorce her later.
He said his fiancée had been happy to hear from him and was still prepared to marry him.
“She would still like to take this further so there must be some forgiveness there, but whether someone who is left at the altar can really forgive, I don’t know,” Michael told the Times.
The son of a Greek Cypriot who emigrated to the UK in the 1960s, Michael fled to Los Angeles in his wedding suit and caught a flight to Tahiti, leaving his best man to break the news to Nicole and the 250 wedding guests.
Nicole, 27, the daughter of a wealthy Greek emigré to the US, went ahead with the $65,000 reception, taking to the dance floor when the band played Gloria Gaynor’s 1970s hit I will Survive.
“I explained to her that nothing will ever excuse my not being there, my timing was totally wrong, it stank. But I just did not feel comfortable on the day and did not feel that my concerns had been addressed,” Michael said.
He said that he and Nicole, who met on holiday in Greece a year ago, had discussed his doubts in the weeks before the planned wedding.
“We will see each other again. We have matters to resolve,” Tassos said, adding that he still had feelings for Nicole.
“I very much believe in marriage as an institution but she may see me and slap me in the face. Every girl dreams of her wedding day and my actions over the last few days do me no credit,” he added.
Nicole made no comment to the Times, but in an interview with American TV shortly after the wedding débacle she said she was still prepared to believe that Tassos was just suffering from pre-wedding nerves.
“I think he wanted to be alone for a while to think things over,” she said.
