A WIRRAL couple surprised their friends and family when some unusual guests made an appearance at their wedding.
Kerrilea Keilty, 38, and Joey Keilty, 36, from Upton tied the knot surrounded by loved ones on May 5 at The Old Palace in Chester.
However, As the ceremony progressed, the moment for exchanging rings arrived, but it was marred by a comedic twist orchestrated by the best man, Daniel Welch.
Pretending to have misplaced the rings, Welch dashed out of the ceremony hall in a panic, followed closely by groomsman Craig Hindley, who claimed to know their whereabouts.
Amidst a few tense moments and a scolding from the mother-in-law, Ann Mcnerlin, the two returned, carrying a small bucket of fish, accompanied by Widget the penguin with a ribbon loosely looped around him, proudly bearing the rings.
The unexpected entrance evoked tears from the bride and joyful reactions from the guests.
Joey told the Globe: “Kerrilea’s favourite animals are penguins and so to lead up to the wedding I took her to Chester Zoo to feed the penguins for Valentine’s Day.
“It gave me the idea to research penguins at weddings to see if it was possible to surprise her.
“When I looked I found out it was a thing and found a company who rents animals for films and weddings and contacted them and then they came up with the idea for the groomsman to run out.”
Following the ceremony, the penguin, affectionately dubbed Widget, sat on the table as the newlyweds signed their wedding license, further cementing their special role in the day's festivities.
In total, four penguins made an appearance, delighting guests with photo opportunities, cuddles, and strokes, before frolicking around the venue's grounds.
Joey added: “Everyone’s reactions were amazing, especially from our daughters and nieces. Kerrilea thought it was really cute and was made up. She had tears in her eyes.
“It was really cool and something you don’t expect at a wedding so I just thought even though it’s expensive it’s a once in a life time thing and she loves penguins and everyone will talk about it in the future the wedding where they got to cuddle a penguin.
“The day was absolutely perfect but just having the penguins made it that little more special.”
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