Owl meant to deliver wedding rings, falls asleep instead (PHOTO)

Owl meant to deliver wedding rings, falls asleep instead

A romantic wedding service in at the Holy Cross Church in Wiltshire, England had to be temporarily halted when one of its more innovative features backfired in spectacular fashion.

If things had gone exactly according to plan, a snowy white owl would have descended down from the roof beams of the church, carrying in its claws both of the wedding rings which were destined to be used for the ceremony.

However, this particular bird didn’t seem inclined to be as punctual or reliable as other members of its species, featured prominently in the “Harry Potter” series of movies, are made out to be. Instead, the unapologetic owl stayed in its perch up in the rafters of the roof, and promptly went to sleep.

Darcy belongs to Phil Voller, who runs Wings Over Wiltshire which promotes the bird as ‘a ring-bearer’ for weddings.

Bride Sonia Cadman said the bird seemed distracted:

‘The owl is a ring bearer so the idea is that it’s meant to fly in with the rings attached to some ribbon and deliver them.

‘When the owl flew in though it seemed really distracted, I’m not sure if maybe it was spooked by something, but he just wasn’t concentrating.

‘It’s meant to fly straight into the glove of a falconer who then takes the rings off, but instead the bird disappeared into the rafters.

‘It probably felt really at home because the inside of the church is a little like the inside of a barn, so it just ended up sleeping.’

She added: ‘We waited for about 15 minutes for the bird to come down but it didn’t come.

Church employees attempted to coax the bird down, but it persisted in its nap. The Reverend Chris Bryan continued the wedding service with a pair of temporary back up rings. Eventually, the snowy sleeper did descend from its perch, carrying the genuine rings unharmed in two red ribbons attached to its claws, and the wedding concluded.

Rev Chris Bryan, who conducted the ­ceremony  said: “The idea was for it to swoop over the heads of the guests – and they’d all feel the air rushing from its wings.

“It would have been amazing, but it didn’t quite work like that. In fact it fell asleep.

“It presumably thought ‘I’m a barn owl, this is like a barn’. They say never work with animals.

“But we all had a laugh and in the end they got a long ladder to get Darcy down.”

No word has come from either of the newlyweds as to whether the owl would be invited to share their honeymoon accommodations.

In 2009 when England and Manchester United footballer Rio Ferdinand married fiancee Rebecca Ellison in, an owl swooped down to deliver the rings.

Ollie, a barn owl, carried the rings in a velvet pouch to the best man who was  wearing a falconer’s glove for her to perch on during the vows the moment the the registrar asks the 30-year-old centre back: “Do you have the rings?”

So the gimmick does work sometimes!