Lorraine Wright, Marriage Celebrant

We’ve all heard the expression, “something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue”, right?
I think that last phrase could easily be changed to “something out of the blue“. Because for all the planning that goes into making a wedding come to life, you can bet on something quite unexpected happening at some point during your big day.
And my advice? Try to go with the flow. Sometimes those unexpected moments make the best memories. Yeah, okay, sometimes they totally suck, but even the sucky ones can give you a great story to share in years to come.
So let me tell you about the unexpected thing that happened on my wedding day. True. Story.
I stayed with friends the night before my wedding, so my car was parked on the street near their place in Balmain. Nothing unusual about that… I’d done the same many times before.
But the night before my wedding, some youths on their way home from a big night out (and up to no good), decided (… actually, decided might be the wrong word, as it implies some level of consideration and evaluation of options). Anyway, let’s go with ‘decided’ to vandalise my car, smashing in both windows on the driver’s side. They were spotted by neighbours and reported to the police. Thankfully, I was blissfully unaware of all of this in the middle of the night.
First thing the next morning, (ie. the day of my wedding), two police officers knocked on the door of my apartment, asking for my whereabouts. Can you imagine how shocked my fiance and parents must have been at this point in time? It was not a good start to the day for them!
The police officers couldn’t pass on much detail, but I think they managed to get across that it was my car that was damaged, hopefully not me.
Meanwhile, I’d had a lazy start to the day sipping coffee with my friends, before heading down the road to have my nails done… First job on the beautification check list for the day.
On my way, I walked past my car, and couldn’t believe my eyes! Two windows were shattered, shards of glass were strewn in every nook and cranny inside the car, and it was in the process of being dusted for fingerprints by two crime scene investigators. I’m. Not. Kidding.
The police officers at the scene asked if this was my car, and I said, “Yes, what happened?’ and they said, ‘Neighbours reported seeing some kids smashing the windows last night’, and I said, ‘Oh my goodness… do you know who they are?’ and they said, ‘We think one of them lives on this street. Can you notice anything missing?’ I had a quick look, said ‘No I don’t think so’, then realised the time and said, ‘Umm, it’s my wedding day, and I have to go and get my nails done. Can I talk to you later?’ They said, ‘Oh wow, it’s your wedding day? Helluva thing to happen on your wedding day.’ And I said, ‘You could say that.’
So off I trotted to the nail salon, all the while feeling a strange thrill of adrenaline at the shock, mixed with annoyance at the inconvenience of not having a car to get from my nail appointment to my hair appointment. This was NOT on the beautification checklist at ALL!
Of course, I had no idea that while this was happening, my poor fiance and parents were stressing out, because police officers had landed on the doorstep!
And do you know what? Everything was fine. Totally fine.
My car was repaired the following week; the culprit was full of remorse (once his hangover passed) and paid for the repairs; I got to where I needed to go by borrowing my friends’ beemer (noice!), making it to all my appointments and achieving desired beautification.
And the biggest inconvenience in all of this? I discovered I couldn’t do ANYTHING with those long, fake nails! Buttons? Nope. Zippers? Nope. Earrings? Nope. Sign my name? Nope. Nope. Nope.
Oh, and
‘chicken fillets’ (you know the kind I mean!) on a hot summer’s day make you sweat… a lot.


Turns out these are things you shouldn’t try for the very first time on your wedding day.
I guess the moral to this story is that things happen – things that are totally outside of your control. And when they do, try not to let them get in the way of the big picture. Just enjoy the moment, and think of all those opportunities you’ll have to share your story in future!
What came ‘out of the blue’ on your wedding day? I’m dying to hear!
Here are a few funny moments from some of my beautiful clients’ weddings.

There was that time the flower girl (and daughter of the bride) yelled out ‘Err yuck!’ as the bride and groom kissed!

And the time the groom forgot to silence his phone – or put it aside for the ceremony. He received a text message IN THE MIDDLE OF HIS VOWS, and better still… his alert tone was a fart noise! (Not even kidding!)

Another time, the best man and groomsman accidentally switched suits… those guys were NOT the same height!

And then there was the two year old flower girl who ‘flashed’ the groom’s party, after reaching the front of the aisle!

And let’s not forget the 18 month old page boy who got distracted half way down the aisle at his parents’ wedding, and ran off to chase birds near a lake!