Barn Owl At Wedding Due to Deliver Rings Flies Off and Falls Asleep In Church Rafters

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Romantic Sonia Cadman booked an owl to fly down the aisle to deliver the rings at her wedding.

But Sonia’s touching gesture to thrill her birdwatcher groom Andreas Mantle hit a flight hitch – when barn owl Darcy flew up to the rafters and dozed off.

Both rings were dangling from the bird’s legs on ribbons.

Darcy was supposed to soar above 100 guests and land on a gauntlet worn by a falconer, who would appear at the altar then remove the rings.

But the ceremony had to be halted while keepers made a failed bid to coax Darcy down. ­

Eventually, the service was completed using replacement rings.

Mum-of-two Sonia, 46, said the owl’s appearance had been intended as a special present for Andreas, 49.

She said: “We waited for about 15 minutes for the bird to come down but it didn’t come.”

Sonia, from Witney, Oxon, wasn’t upset and insisted Darcy’s antics were a hoot.

Rev Chris Bryan, who conducted the ­ceremony at Holy Cross Church in ­Sherston, Wilts, 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.”