6 . A couple had to put their wedding on hold after a barn owl (仓枭) called Darcy which had been chosen to deliver the rings fell asleep in the roof of the church. The bride had secretly arranged it. But what happened was out of her expectation.

Rev Bryan, who was in charge of the ceremony between Sonia Cadman, 46, and Andrew Mettle, 49, said: “It would have been absolutely excellent — if it worked. It was a lovely idea and it was supposed to be really stunning. When it dived over the heads of the guests, they’d all feel the air rushing from its wings and would get a big surprise.

“The groom is an amateur falconer (训鹰人) and so it was secretly arranged for two falconers to suddenly appear at the moment when the best man was about to hand over the rings. One of them stood at the front of the church next to us with a gauntlet (金属护手) on, as another appeared at the back of the church with a box. The owl came out and paused for a little bit. Then it saw the gauntlet and took off but instead of landing on the arm of the man and delivering the rings, it went up over our heads, landed in the roof space and fell asleep then.”

Rev Bryan added: “We all laughed about it, and then we tried to get it down, but it didn’t come. It probably thought ‘I’m a barn owl and this is like a barn, so I’ll take a rest’. It is said that never work with animals because they don’t always do as they’re told! So we had plan B — a back-up pair of rings. After a few minutes, we gave up trying to get it down and carried on. It was nice to be able to have a bit of a laugh. It’s important that people realize that a church wedding doesn’t just come as a package of things you have to do. I’m all for including something of the personality and individuality of the couple getting married. It was such a magical wedding and full of emotion.”

“Luckily the service was able to go ahead and the groom was able to hold the bird (after it woke up) and have some really nice pictures taken after the ceremony. ”