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Teen revels in 'shotgun' wedding

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BOURNEMOUTH, England, Feb. 22 (UPI) -- Twenty police officers guarded and police cars escorted a British teen whose father reportedly threatened to shoot her if she persisted in getting married.

However, Antonio Martino denied he ever made such threats. He denounced the union of daughter Andrea, 17, and Zimbabwean Brian Elliott, 20, as a marriage of convenience, The Times of London reported.

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Guests and passersby were stunned when police -- some armed with machine guns -- surrounded Moordown St. John's Church in Bournemouth, England, Monday.

"Everyone thought it was a celebrity wedding at first until we realized there was something more sinister going on," one witness told The Mirror.

"It looked like a scene from a 'Godfather' movie," another witness said.

The teen bride insisted Elliott was the man for her and joked that the police presence made Monday's wedding more memorable.

"It was a real shotgun wedding," the bride told The Mirror.

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