Bride turns sleuth to solve years-long wedding crasher mystery

A bride has solved a four year mystery of an unknown guest in her wedding pictures - after he revealed he turned up to the wrong ceremony. Michelle Wylie had always wondered about the identity of a 'random stranger' who appeared in snaps of her big day, who no-one was able to identify.

He was seen standing in the aisle and at the very back of Michelle and her husband John's group wedding shot. Previous pleas over the years proved unsuccessful but a fresh Facebook appeal has now revealed the true and hilarious story behind her 'wedding crasher.'

He was revealed as Andrew Helliman, who responded to a post and confessed had meant to be at a different wedding with his partner that day - but was given the wrong venue.

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He arrived just before the start of the ceremony in November 2021 and only knew the bride and his partner, who was part of the wedding party he was meant to attend.

Andrew only released his error when he saw Michelle walking down the aisle. He stayed for the ceremony at the Carlton Hotel, in Prestwick, Ayrshire, to not raise suspicions before quietly slipping away.

Michelle said she had tried several times over the years to discover the mystery man in her wedding photos, but none of her family, friends or suppliers, had any idea.

But after finding him on Facebook the pair finally met in person yesterday (Thurs) to share their stories and Michelle said she "couldn't stop laughing."

After reading the post from the YouTuber, foodie and Scottish television star Dazza, Andrew, 33, a painter and decorator from South Ayrshire. said: "I always wondered if this would ever make its way back to me.

"Four years ago my partner was acting as bridesman 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."

Andrew revealed he had been cutting it fine and pulled into the hotel five minutes before the ceremony began and noticed a piper outside playing and guests making their way inside.

"I remember thinking to myself, 'cool, this is obviously the right place'. I parked my car and rushed inside. I make my way into the hall and saw the groom standing and waiting nervously. I had never met Michaela's husband before so I thought, 'alright, this must be Ben'."

Andrew said the only two people he knew attending the wedding were his partner and the bride who he presumed were in another room. He added: "The fact that I didn't recognise a single person in this place didn't raise any alarm bells.

"Then the music started. Everyone stands up and turns around to watch the bride walk down the isle and I went, '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."

After the ceremony he revealed he then rushed outside, made some phone calls and made his way to the correct wedding. He added: "I was almost as popular as the actual bride and groom and spent most of the night retelling that story to people."

Michelle, 38, a digital facilitator for the NHS, of Kilmarnock, East Ayrshire. said she was thrilled to finally solve the mystery - and found Andrew's mix-up hilarious.

She added: "As soon as I got the sample of the wedding pictures I noticed it 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. No-one remembered him being there on the day and we now know he slipped away straight after the ceremony.

"It has been so long but I thought surely someone has to know who it is and we always wanted to find out the story why he was there. I had reached out on social media and shared posts on Facebook but it had never got far.

"I was looking through the wedding pictures, and t 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.

"It is unbelievable. I just could not stop laughing when I heard the story. It is so funny and the way Adam tells the story is brilliant. You just don't hear about things like this happening. I just can not stop laughing about it. It is great to finally find out who it was.

"it was always in the back of my mind, who was that and why was he there? To find out eventually after all this time is quite something."

The pair met for the first time to exchange their version of the stories in person - and Michelle said they planned to stay in touch. She added: "I met him for the first time tonight. 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."