Four years on from spotting an unknown guest in her wedding pictures, a bride has finally solved the mystery.
Michelle Wylie, 38, had always wondered about the ‘random stranger’ who appeared in the photos of their November 2021 nuptials, standing in the aisle and at the very back of her and husband John’s group shot.
Although the couple tried several times over the years to work out who the man was, none of her family, friends or suppliers, had any idea.
However, after years of unsuccessful pleas, a recent Facebook appeal has now revealed the true and hilarious story behind her ‘wedding crasher.’
He was identified as Andrew Helliman, who responded to a post confessing he was meant to be at a different wedding with his partner that day – but was given the wrong venue.
Andrew only knew the bride and his partner – who was in the bridal party for the event he was supposed to be at – so he had no idea he was in the wrong place and only released his error when he saw Michelle walking down the aisle.
Under a post from YouTube and Scottish television star Dazza, 33-year-old Andrew, a painter and decorator from South Ayrshire, explained: ‘My partner was acting as bridesman (male bridesmaid) for his friend Michaela’s wedding and I’d been invited as his plus one.
‘For some reason he told me it was at the Carlton hotel in Prestwick at 2pm when it was actually being held at the Great Western hotel in Ayr. He had already left in the morning to help with whatever it is bridesmen do and left me to make my own way to the wedding.’
When he pulled up to the Carlton, he saw wedding guests and a piper and assumed he was in the right hotel.
‘The fact that I didn’t recognise a single person in this place didn’t raise any alarm bells,’ said Andrew.
‘Then the music started. Everyone stands up and turns around to watch the bride walk down the aisle and “OMG that’s not Michaela!”
‘I was at the wrong wedding! You can’t exactly stand up and walk out of a wedding mid ceremony so I just had to commit to this act and spent the next 20 minutes awkwardly sitting there trying to be as inconspicuous.’
Once the nuptials were complete, he quietly headed out and made his way to the correct wedding, adding: ‘I was almost as popular as the actual bride and groom and spent most of the night retelling that story to people.’
But it became a far bigger story after Michelle and John got their wedding pictures back, noticing the mystery man ‘straight away’
‘We all said “do you know who that is?” We were asking around the family and friends and no-one had any idea,’ recalled Michelle, a digital facilitator for the NHS, from Kilmarnock, East Ayrshire.
‘No-one remembered him being there on the day and we now know he slipped away straight after the ceremony.’
Despite the fact her searches ‘had never got far’ in the past, she was looking through photos of her big day recently when she decided to give it one more crack.
Michelle said: I just thought I’m going to message someone with a lot of followers and ask if they can share. Daz put it up and within two hours we had found it.’
Although Andrew had long been nervous ‘if this would ever make its way back to [him]’, the couple whose wedding he’d accidentally crashed found his mix-up hilarious.
‘It is unbelievable,’ said Michelle. ‘I just could not stop laughing when I heard the story…You just don’t hear about things like this happening.’
She was also overjoyed ‘finally’ reveal his identity, adding: ‘It was always in the back of my mind – who was that and why was he there – so to find out eventually after all this time is quite something.’
After Andrew revealed what happened, the pair met for the first time to exchange their version of the stories in person.
Michelle said: ‘It was great. He is such a nice guy and we will definitely keep in touch. It is such a good laugh and I’ll be telling people about it for a long time.
‘Our wedding day really was the perfect day. But this adds another great story to it that gives us even more special memories.
‘I had thought that he should have stuck around so at least we could have met on the day. But then we wouldn’t have had all of this. It just worked out the way it was supposed to.
‘It has certainly put a lot of smiles on people’s faces.’
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