Wild animals & weddings...

People love to get married in South Africa because of our beautiful landscapes, our African hospitality and our wild animals. Just keep in mind though that wild animals will always surprise you...

Elephant surprise

The bride walked down the aisle, the cameras were flashing and the stage was set for another beautiful outdoor wedding.

The game reserve where the wedding took place designated certain safe areas close to the ceremony where the animals of the reserve would be fed in order to ensure that there would be plenty of game around for the guests to enjoy. Unfortunately the enclosure to the elephant camp was not closed (as it usually would have been for a wedding)...

When the bride and groom stood in front of me I tried to make eye contact with them but noticed that they were looking behind me (this was odd as most couples don't daydream staring into the distance when they stand in front of me). I had just welcomed them and asked the guests to take a seat and still they were not looking at me. By this time I became curious and decided to take a quick peak over my shoulder only to see a huge male elephant standing right behind me.

I glanced over at the ranger standing a few meters away from me as if to say "what do I do now?" - Her eyes were stretched wide open and I could tell that she knew that an animal of that size could not be controlled.

Looking back at the elephant I saw that he had started casually walking towards me as if to get to the other side of me. Clearly I was too small for him to care about as he brushed me aside with his trunk. All the guests started panicking and made a gap in the middle of the area for the elephant to pass through and luckily he did.

I always tell couples that as soon as the ceremony starts I am in total control and that they do not have to worry about anything. This was one time when I felt that I have absolutely no control. The morel of the story for me is that weddings and wild animals do not go well together and if you want to do something special in your ceremony (whether it includes animals or not) make sure that there is a contingency plan.