Couple who wanted a barn owl to deliver their rings at the altar are forced to put ceremony on hold.... after it flew into the eaves and fell asleep

Sonia Cadman, 46, and Andrew Mattle, 49 got married at the Holy Cross Church in Sherston, Wiltshire



The bride hoped the bird would swoop down with the rings attached to its feet by tassels during the ceremony



Instead, it flew into the rafters to enjoy an hour-long nap

Rev Chris Bryan was forced to use a set of pair of back-up rings



A couple had to put their wedding on hold after an owl which had been chosen to carry the rings fell asleep in the roof of the church.



The bride had secretly arranged for the bird to swoop down to the altar with the wedding bands attached to its feet by tassels.



But the spectacular stunt failed when the barn owl, called Darcy, took to the rafters to enjoy an impromptu snooze.



Bird brain: This was the moment a church wedding had to be halted because an owl chosen to carry the rings fell asleep

It remained perched high inside the 900 year-old Holy Cross Church in Sherston, Wiltshire, for an hour after falling asleep .



Rev Chris Bryan, who was in charge of the ceremony between Sonia Cadman, 46, and Andrew Mettle, 49, tried to coax the animal down but his efforts were in vain, so he decided to continue the service by using a back up set of rings.

He said: 'It would have been absolutely superb - if it worked. It was a lovely idea and it was supposed to be really stunning.

'It was a complete surprise to the groom, although the bride was in on it. It was the bride’s mother’s idea.



'The groom is into falconry as a bit of a hobby and so it was secretly arranged for two falconers to suddenly appear at the moment when the best man hands over the rings.



'This chap popped up at the front of the church next to us with a gauntlet on, as another chap appeared at the back of the church with a box.



'The owl appeared, and took a bit of coaxing to take to flight i t paused for a little bit, eventually saw the gauntlet, and then took off.

Halted: The Church of the Holy Cross in Sherston, Wiltshire, where the wedding was briefly stopped as the owl took to the rafters for an ill-timed snooze

'But instead of landing on the arm of the man by us and delivering the rings it went up over our heads and landed up in the roof space.



'The idea was it would be amazing and would swoop over the heads of the guests, and they’d all feel the air rushing from its wings, but it didn’t quite work like that.'



Rev. Bryan added: 'We all had a bit of a laugh about it, and then we tried to get it down, but it didn’t come.



'In fact it fell asleep. It presumably thought ‘I’m a barn owl, this is like a barn’.



'We had a plan B. They say never work with animals, so we had a back-up pair of rings.



'After a few minutes, we gave up trying to get it down and carried on. It was actually rather nice when we went up for prayers and the owl was right above us.

' The couple, from Oxfordshire, had left the chuch by the time dozy Darcy was finally brought back down.

'The chaps were there for probably an hour, and in the end had to get a long ladder to go up and get it down.



'I thought it would be a really beautiful and interesting thing to do at a wedding.



'It’s important that people realise that a church wedding doesn’t just come as a package of things you have to do, and there’s no room for creativity.



'I’m all for including something of the personality and individuality of the couple getting married.'

Darcy was booked to deliver the rings to Mr Mattle and Miss Cadman as they tied the knot.



Sonia, a mother-of-two, said: 'Andrew is a twitcher, so the owl delivering the rings was a surprise gift from my mother.

High up: The bird was in the roof of the 900-year-old church for an hour before it flew away

'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.



'Instead we went ahead with plan B, we had back up rings ready because they don't always do as they're told - a bit like all animals and children really!



'I'm glad that the bird didn't come actually, it didn't ruin the big day at all, in fact it added to the humour.



'It was such a magical wedding and it was so full of emotion, it was nice to be able to have a bit of a laugh.



'Luckily the service was able to go ahead and my husband was able to hold the bird and have some really nice pictures taken after the ceremony.'



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



His website says: 'In the recent months we have added to our collection of birds of prey.



'Darcy the Barn Owl came to us as a four week old ball of fluff and has settled in p erfectly.

'Darcy was hand reared and is now ready to embark on the many ideas we have for her.'



The site adds: 'Why not forget the traditions and have the beautiful Darcy fly the wedding rings over the congregation to the alter? It is a stunning performance to make your day extra special.



'After the ceremony, if you would like, we would be part of the photographs or entertain the guests with our other birds.

