Groom Bit by Rattlesnake During Wedding Photo Shoot
The wedding photographer called it her "craziest" experience to date.
— -- A Colorado’s groom trip to his own wedding reception was interrupted when he was bit by a rattlesnake while taking wedding photos.
Johnny Benson and his bride, Laura, stopped at the Horsetooth Reservoir in Fort Collins, Colorado, on the way to their wedding reception Monday after their ceremony at a local church.
The couple was posing for photos just about 50 feet from a parking lot when Benson was bit on the ankle by a rattlesnake.
The couple’s photographer, Maddie Mae, called what happened next her “craziest wedding story to date.”
“A Larimer County Park Ranger was driving by, and all three of us started waving furiously at him. He rolls down the window and we yelled, ‘He just got bit by a rattlesnake!!,’” Mae recalled. “The ranger, obviously not hearing what we said, yelled back, ‘Congratulations!’”
The ranger then saw Benson in distress and had him lay down and elevate his leg while he called for help.
Paramedics escorted Benson and his bride to a local hospital in their wedding clothes. After facing the prospect of a multi-day hospital stay, the couple got the good news that no venom had been injected in Benson and he was symptom free.
“The people at in the ER at Poudre Valley Hospital then became the heroes as they made it the world’s shortest ER visit in history, and Johnny and Laura were back in my car, driving to their reception in less than 20 minutes,” Mae said.
The couple, who are honeymooning and not available for comment, made it to their reception just an hour late.
“I’ve never seen such an emotional grand entrance as all 184 guests cheered when Johnny and Laura walked in and showered them in a sea of passionate hugs,” Mae said. “I admire Laura and Johnny so much for staying calm, and holding each other’s hand through the first great test of their brand-new marriage.”
