You get to see all sorts in this line of work. (Readers of a certain age will say ‘That’s a Dire Straits lyric’. Readers of a different age will say ‘Who’s Dire Straits’? But that is a rabbit hole we don’t need to go down…)

As a Shropshire wedding Photographer, I’ve had several dogs run down the aisle bringing the couple’s rings to them. I’ve even had an owl swoop in to bring a groom his wife’s wedding ring. Outside I’ve had llamas and/or alpacas (well they are pretty much of a muchness!), horses, horses and carts, eagle owls, once a goat. But I have to be honest penguins and reindeer were a new one on me.

I met Jen and Tom in Birmingham for our pre-wedding meeting and pre-shoot and they seemed normal enough. Fun loving, slightly left field, but generally normal. And we had a great meeting talking through their plans for the day and an even better shoot where they came across as naturals in front of the camera - confident, taking direction well, knowing what they wanted, game to try anything but…pretty normal.

And then about a week before their wedding I got a message from Jen saying something along the lines of ‘Oh, we are having some penguins at the wedding’…

I was a bit taken aback and asked in all innocence ‘what, REAL penguins, what waddle and eat fish and shit?’
‘Yep’, she messaged back, ‘we are hiring two as ring bearers - but no-one will know about it. My brother will pretend to have forgotten the rings and run out and then come back in with the penguin and it will have the rings round it’s neck. But none of the guests will know…’

So, yeah. This happened.

The ceremony got underway as normal. The registrar did his spiel as normal. He asked for the rings. The Brides brother looked at the grooms sister. She opened the ring box, it was empty. He checked his pockets - they were empty. They looked at each other and then they both ran out. To a touch of laughter from the guests.

And then the doors opened. And Adam came back in with a bucket. Of fish. And behind him was a penguin. I don’t really know what sort - it must have been a fairly posh one, it was wearing a suit (sorry) - and the people at the back laughed. This made the guests at the front turn around and look back and then they laughed! It was most definitely a penguin. With a ribbon around it’s neck, and the rings hanging there. It waddled in, stood and surveyed the crowd and played it for laughs.

He - Pringle - the penguin then waddled in a bit and seemed to get distracted by The Mill Barn’s lake outside the window and wandered off towards it. A fish was offered and then the…handler…I guess she’d be a handler - I mean what else would you call someone who does brings penguins to a wedding? - the handler picked Pringle up and carried him down the aisle to the raucous laughter of the guests and plonked him a few feet from the top of the aisle.

More fish were offered and Pringle relinquished his rings and had a quick waddle about milking the attention and generally loving life. Photos were taken, short videos of the scene were shot, people laughed and joked and said ‘of course Jen and Tom would have a penguin at their wedding. Of COURSE they would.’ And after a few moments they settled down and watched as Jen and Tom exchanged rings, sealing their marriage with a smashing first kiss. As normal.

Then as they sat down to sign the document (a sheet of A4 paper, that passes as the register nowadays), Pringle reappeared at the front on the desk they were sitting at. Well I guess he WAS a witness to the whole thing.
After the ceremony Jen and Tom walked down the aisle to confetti thrown by their guests and they left the ceremony barn to host a meet and greet with Pringle and his best mate Widget, in the bar area of the Mill Barns.
Apparently Jen has a thing for Geese, and they had initially wanted a goose to do this job, but anyone who has spent anytime anywhere near a goose knows that they aren’t quite the right sort of bird for this sort of gig. They can be a bit…antsy…and have a rather vicious streak whereas a penguin is a bit like a dog; inquisitive and they don’t mind people, and welcome being handled and touched and stroked. But with a MUCH shorter attention span…hence the bucket of anchovies…

So after a few selfies, everyone decamped outside for more pictures with the penguins, and two reindeer who were outside too! I was, of course in photo heaven, thinking how I am going to leverage these images on my Shropshire Wedding Photography Instagram, but even more, Jen and Tom were loving not only the feeling of being newly married, but also the fun and laughter that their family and friends were having with the animal visitors.

Of course we got the penguins in on some portraits with Jen and Tom - and Pringle and Widget photobombed a group shoot of all the guests on the footbridge in front of the entrance to The Mill Barns. And of courser there were millions of selfies with them all. And eventually Pringle and Widget has to leave because all the attention might make they get a bit to big for their little webbed feet…

And the wedding went back to ‘normal’.

Apart from a swan shaped the ice sculpture with a built in Vodka luge, and the seemingly unlimited fruity ciders in a bucket by the bar.

And the guests having a table carvery with the ‘head’ of the table donning an apron and a chefs hat to carve massive joints of beef for the rest of the guests.

Totally normal.

Even up to the point of Jen and Tom performing their first dance in matching white trainers - with light up LEDs in the soles…and then a massive, fuck off party that lit up Mill Barns for hours…

I just hope that Jen and Tom had just as good a day as I did. Cos I had a bloody blast! I want ALL my weddings to be as normal as Jen and Tom’s was.