Cristiano Ronaldo responded with a laughing emoji after a wedding in Madeira was mistaken for his own, days of speculation having convinced roughly 2,000 people that the Portuguese forward was marrying Georgina Rodriguez there.
The crowd gathered Saturday outside Funchal Cathedral on the island of Madeira. A wedding did take place at three in the afternoon, but the couple exchanging vows was Fabio Ramos and Fatima Nicole Cunha Teixeira, who live in France and had returned to their home island to marry in the church in central Funchal.
Gray Rolls-Royce fuels the confusion
The mix-up held for much of the day. Camera crews and fans wearing number 7 jerseys packed the streets around the cathedral, some climbing walls and lampposts to see over the crowd, and several people said they had traveled to the island specifically hoping to witness the ceremony.
A gray Rolls-Royce carrying the bride struggled to reach the church door because of the crowd, and when it finally opened, relatives began shouting. Videos circulating online captured cries of "This isn't Georgina!" One guest, quoted by a British newspaper, said Fabio was not Cristiano Ronaldo, called the scene madness, and said he did not expect to forget his wedding easily.
Priest steps in to deny the rumor
The priest, Marcos Goncalves, who led the ceremony, ended up fielding questions from reporters gathered at the church entrance. He said he could assure everyone the event had nothing to do with Cristiano Ronaldo and that it was the only wedding taking place there that day, adding that no reservation existed under the footballer's name.
Access to the church had been restricted through the morning and early afternoon for the previously scheduled religious ceremony. A user on the platform X described a group of tourists bursting inside, shouting and climbing onto the pews, forcing the ceremony to pause. The cathedral later posted photos of the actual bride and groom on Facebook to clear up the confusion, writing that after a lot of confusion outside with so many journalists and tourists, they had finally managed to close the church and hold the ceremony.
Where the August 8 date came from
The misunderstanding built over a week of conflicting reports. The Sun had reported the ceremony would take place on August 8 at three in the afternoon at Funchal Cathedral, which is more than 500 years old, with a reception afterward at the Savoy Palace, where two floors had been reserved for guests. An earlier rumored date, August 1 at the Quinta da Regaleira in Sintra, had also circulated. Adding to the speculation, Ronaldo's sister Katia Aveiro arrived in Madeira that same Saturday to meet her mother, even though she had previously said no date had been set.
Ronaldo answers with an emoji
Ronaldo took the episode in stride. He interacted with a post from Jornal da Madeira on Instagram, leaving a laughing emoji without adding any comment on what had happened. His sister Elma Aveiro took a different tone, asking on the same platform why so many people assumed the wedding was happening when he had never announced it.
Georgina Rodriguez, meanwhile, kept the mystery alive on her own accounts with three posts: a photo of bacon toast with fried eggs set to the song "Corazon Partio," a story from her friend Ines de Gener showing two flower bouquets and a box of pastries, and a picture of herself at the beach.
A year of engagement, still no date
The anticipation has now run for twelve months. The couple announced their engagement in August 2025, when the model showed off her ring on Instagram with a short message saying she said yes, in this life and in every life to come. The two met in 2016 at a Gucci store in Madrid, made their relationship public in January 2017 at the FIFA awards gala, and now have five children together.
Ronaldo had previously said the wedding would come after the 2026 World Cup, and rumors on the island have multiplied since the tournament ended, fueled now by reports of a booking for 25 taxis with tinted windows. He is due to return to action with Al-Nassr on August 15 against Al-Fateh in the opening match of the Saudi league season, and neither he nor Rodriguez has confirmed when or where they will marry.
