Behind three weddings that captured attention online are deeply personal stories of loss, second chances and the enduring desire to have someone by your side.
In 2026, weddings involving grooms in their later years have captured widespread attention on social media. Each couple has a different story and set of circumstances, but they share the same desire to love, be cared for and have someone by their side, regardless of age.
68-year-old groom brings bride home in Mekong Delta after 10 years together
After living together for 10 years, Gan Liang Yu, 68, from Taiwan, China, and Pham Thi Be Muoi, 53, from Quoi An Commune in Vinh Long Province, finally celebrated their wedding in her hometown, surrounded by the blessings of family, relatives and neighbors.
Gan Liang Yu joyfully sets out to bring his bride home at the age of 68.Gan Liang Yu and Pham Thi Be Muoi celebrate a complete wedding ceremony after 10 years together.
The couple met a decade ago after both had experienced failed marriages. Muoi had moved to Taiwan for work to support her daughter, while Yu had two grown daughters. Their shared understanding of life's hardships and the emotional wounds of the past gradually brought them together.
Circumstances at the time did not allow them to hold a wedding, so they simply began building a life together. After years of companionship, caring for their children and creating a stable home, they decided to celebrate their marriage in late July.
Nguyen My Huyen, 24, Muoi's daughter, took charge of the wedding preparations. The 68-year-old groom also carefully prepared the traditional gifts required under Mekong Delta wedding customs.
The late-life wedding of Muoi and Yu was intimate but complete with traditional rituals, including the engagement ceremony, ancestral rites and the formal procession to bring the bride home. The moment Muoi was led by a family member and formally entrusted to the groom moved her daughter deeply. After years of waiting, her mother finally had the complete wedding she deserved.
Huyen said that throughout their 10 years together, her mother and stepfather had always loved and cared for each other, standing side by side through life's difficulties. Her stepfather once suffered a life-threatening accident, and it was her mother's devoted and persistent care that helped him recover.
For Huyen, the wedding was a beautiful ending to a long journey of love and companionship between her mother and stepfather.
71-year-old groom marries 66-year-old bride in Lao Cai
Nguyen Van Thuy, born in 1955, and Tran Thi Mai, born in 1960, both from Mau A Commune in Lao Cai Province, found love later in life. In April 2026, they decided to hold an intimate wedding with the wholehearted support and matchmaking encouragement of their 11 children and relatives from both families.
The wedding ceremony of 71-year-old Nguyen Van Thuy and 66-year-old Tran Thi Mai in Lao Cai Province.The couple's 11 children helped organize a full wedding celebration for their parents.
Mai and Thuy had experienced similar circumstances. Mai had been widowed for 17 years and has five children, all of whom are married. Thuy's wife died from a serious illness in 2021 after he had devotedly cared for her for 10 years. His six children had long hoped their father would find someone to share his later years with.
The two had known each other before, but it was not until 2025 that they began meeting and talking more frequently. After five months of getting to know each other, Thuy proposed, and Mai said yes.
When their children and grandchildren learned of the relationship, both families gave the couple their full support. Rather than holding the simple marriage announcement ceremony the couple had initially planned, their 11 children decided to give their parents a proper wedding, complete with a decorated wedding car, marquee and reception attended by relatives and friends.
On their wedding day, Thuy and Mai performed ancestral rites and officially became husband and wife in an emotional ceremony surrounded by their family. Since then, Thuy's life has become warmer with a companion by his side, while Mai has found happiness in a new home, with her children and grandchildren continuing to visit and care for her.
Groom in his 60s brings bride home in Thanh Hoa after six lonely years
After his wife died in 2020, Mung, born in 1961 and from Thanh Hoa Province, lived alone in his house in the countryside while his two children, both married, lived far away.
Whenever Trinh Thi Huyen, born in 1993 and Mung's daughter, checked the home camera and saw her father quietly eating meals alone, she could not help feeling heartbroken for him.
Mung happily brings his bride home in Thanh Hoa after six years of living alone.
In late 2025, Huyen was delighted when her father told her he had found someone he wanted to spend his life with. She was a woman from the same village, nine years younger than him. The pair had spent three months seriously getting to know each other and felt their relationship had grown strong enough for marriage.
Having long hoped her father would find a companion, Huyen wholeheartedly supported his decision.
In March 2026, Mung held a wedding complete with traditional ceremonies. Although his bride lived just one neighborhood away, he still hired a wedding car to bring her home because he did not want his new wife to miss out on any part of the occasion. Huyen and her family also prepared 10 banquet tables for relatives and friends to celebrate with her father.
During the wedding, Huyen was overcome with emotion as she watched her father and stepmother perform the ancestral rites. Seeing her father's joy on his wedding day brought her a sense of reassurance: from now on, he would have someone beside him to care for him and share the years ahead.
Vietnamnet.vn
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