The morning of 6 November 2016 dawns a wonderfully and unexpectedly clear and dry day at Thornewood Castle:
The castle's doorway beckons the invited guests:
Seating is arranged in anticipation of the big event:
The groom and wedding party don their fanciest duds:
The bride is attended to in quiet contemplation:
The wedding rings await ... for now:
The wedding party and assembled guests take their places in anticipation of the bride's entrance:
What's going on? The bride appears without her lovely wedding dress and seems anguished:
Tragedy strikes! Elyssa tearfully informs one and all that she cannot marry David — the wedding rings have gone missing!
Some unknown entity has taken the rings ... leaving only a note that allows everyone a mere hour to find them!
Confusion reigns! The guests scramble to find the cards beneath their seats, meet up with the other members of their scouting parties, and set off on a desperate hunt for the missing rings:
The anxious groom-to-be contemplates what might happen if the rings aren't found in time:
Perhaps it's not too late to escape in the snopesmobile ...
No escape -- the hunt is on! Everyone exits the castle to scour the grounds for clues:
The tables representing the many countries David and Elyssa have visited together hold important clues!
Hmm ... everyone seems to have found a chess piece and a coded reference about where on the board to place it:
The groom places the final chess piece:
A hidden drawer pops open! What's in this box it holds?
It's the missing rings!
The wedding is on again!
David shows off the rings as the best man heaves a sigh of relief that he won't be blamed for losing them and ruining the wedding:
Everyone assembles a second time, wondering what might happen now ...
A hush sweeps across the room as the beautiful bride re-appears and descends the stairs with her father a second time:
The bride is guided by her proud father to her waiting husband-to-be:
The solemn proceedings begin but are quickly interrupted by a moment of levity:
The best man, Elyssa's stepfather Jim, reads from 1 Corinthians 13:
An exchange of vows:
An exchange of rings:
A blending of the sands ceremony:
First kiss as husband and wife!
Yay, we did it! We thwarted the ring-stealing plot!
The radiant bride is embraced and congratulated by her father, her stepbrother Jim, her sons Bret and Rhys, her cousin Michelle, and her matron of honor Lynn:
The witnesses and participants sign the wedding certificate to make it all official:
We found your rings ... now where's our food?
The bride and groom enter the dining hall, where the latter quickly crushes the joyous mood by announcing that dinner has likewise gone missing:
Since the wedding coincided with a milestone birthday for the groom's sister, Stephanie, the traditional wedding cake was eschewed in favor of birthday cupcakes:
Toasts to the new couple offered by the bride's stepfather Jim, her mother Nancy, her dear friend Eliza, her stepbrother Jeff, her father Milton, and snopes.com partner Vinny:
And now ... we dance!
The bride shares the traditional dance with her father and then her new husband:
An eventful day draws to a close as the bride explains the wedding night instructions to her new husband in their castle suite:
