NIGHTMARE MOMENT: Wedding Is Halted After Best Man Loses Bride's Wedding Band At Altar

Ping! The bride, groom and vicar hear best man Matt Aubrey drop one of the wedding rings. The ceremony had to be put on hold after members of the congregation failed to find the missing ring.


Forgetting the rings is the nightmare scenario for any best man.

So when Matt Aubrey reached into his pocket at his brother’s wedding and both were there, he thought he was home and dry. But as the service began a small ‘ping’ rang out through the church as he dropped one of them.

His brother Lewis, 31, and the bride Elizabeth Gray, 29, stopped the service as they tried to find it.

Flower displays were pulled apart and the carpets lifted as the red-faced best man and guests searched on hands and knees at St John’s Church in Redhill, Surrey, but the ring was nowhere to be seen.

Bridesmaid Kelly Love, 31, said: “Everything had been going so well. The bride and groom were there on time, the weather was lovely, the church was beautiful”. “The vicar had just started the service when all of a sudden I heard this ‘ping’. The vicar turned to Matt and said, “Was that the ring?” Matt said, “Yes”. At that point all eyes turned to the floor”.

Down on his knees! The groom tries to find the ring but to no avail. The ceremony had to be put on hold for ten minutes until the bride's mother volunteered one of her own rings


We thought we would find it quickly and get on with the ceremony.

But the more time that went by, the more people came from the congregation to look. There were ushers lying on the floor, people lifting up carpets. We had all the grates in the church floor up. By the end we probably had about 20 people looking.

After ten minutes of frantic hunting, Elizabeth’s mother offered the use of her ring so the couple could get married.

After the service, guests continued the search but to no avail…

When the vicar, the Reverend Nicholas Calver, returned to the church in the evening to search for another two hours, he spotted a tiny crack between the step up to the altar and the floor.

He got a spade to lever the gap wider, shone a torch down... and saw the ring.

The vicar said: “I took it down to the reception and the best man was standing outside. I poked him in the ribs and said, ‘You owe me a drink’. He was overjoyed. ‘We went in and the groom put the ring on the bride’s finger and I did the little bit about “Take this ring” in front of everybody.”

Miss Love added: “I have never heard a noise like it. The whole place erupted. The vicar was like a hero”.