Annie Reneau

Weddings are joyful occasions, but the moment a couple recites their vows is usually the most solemn, many would say sacred, part of the ceremony. However fun the rest of the event might be, the vows portion is usually quite serious.

That wasn't the case for Leigh Welsh and his wife, however. During their wedding, the officiant told Leigh to put the ring on the tip of his bride's finger just before reciting his vows. "Just the tip?" he asked. And just those three little words were enough to send his almost-wife into a giggle fit, which made it nearly impossible for Leigh to repeat the words.

For a few minutes, both bride and groom fought for their lives to keep it together, much to the delight of everyone present—with one exception. Granddad was not amused, which, for some reason, made it all the more funny.

It's clear the pair couldn't help but make each other laugh, and Leigh's desperate "Stop this!" was hilarious. They couldn't look at each other without losing it, which was apparently a sign of things to come, as Leigh wrote in the caption of the video, "Today is our 8 year wedding anniversary and we haven't stopped laughing since…"

"Not you saying “just the tip” and then telling her off for laughingggg 😂😭"

"I’d prefer this to seriousness personally."

"if my wedding isn't like this I don't want it 🤣🤣."

"Something tells me you’re going to have a long & VERY happy marriage 🥰"

"I would love my wedding to be like this full of love and laughter 😂."

A joyful couple at their weddingPhoto credit: Canva

Others shared how they had similar experiences at their own weddings:

"This was me, everyone said they could hear me crying but I was trying not to laugh and I don’t know why 🤣 maybe it was nerves 🤣"

"My husband and I got the giggles so bad at this point too 🤣🤣."

"This happened to me … it was horrendous, my sister pulled a face at me and I was uncontrollable all the way through. 😂"

"This was me on my wedding day, I couldn't contain myself 😆."

"I said for WETTER or burse instead of better or worse 🤣🤣."

People in the comments also took note of Granddad's disapproval, to which Leigh wrote, "Haha yeah, he was proper old school bless him - he was about 80 in this!" He may not have been thrilled with laughing through the vows, but what can you do? Had Grandpa really never gotten the giggles?

Bride and groom laughing on their wedding dayPhoto credit: Canva

Humor really can help a marriage last

Lots of commenters expressed that they thought Leigh and his wife's laughter was a good sign that their marriage would last. There's actually some science to back that up.

Catherine Sanderson, psychology professor and author of The Positive Shift: Mastering Mindset to Improve Happiness, Health, and Longevity, gathered the research on humor and relationships in her Medium article, "No Joke: Humor Can Save a Marriage." She says that the empirical data show a link between humor and relationship satisfaction, stating that "happy couples laugh together, and more often."

One study Sanderson highlights found a clear link between humor and satisfaction: "Study participants reported higher levels of relationship satisfaction on days with more humor with their partner," Sanderson writes. "Moreover, higher relationship satisfaction one day led to more humor the following day, meaning people who were happier in their relationship found their partner funnier and laughed more easily."

An older couple laughing together.Photo credit: Canva

In a longitudinal study at University of California, Berkeley, couples who had been married at least 15 years had conversations about areas of disagreement analyzed by researchers every five or six years. "Older couples, those married at least 35 years, were particularly likely to use good-natured teasing, jokes, and silliness to express affection," Sanderson writes. "So if you want to make your marriage last, find ways of using humor."

So it appears Leigh and his giggling bride really did have a great kickstart to their marriage, regardless of how Gramps felt about it.