The Ghosts at the Wedding

Several years ago a woman sent me a photograph of a young couple in a beautiful Catholic church in Pittsburgh. The couple were at the alter getting married. High above the bride were two white doves circling the bride. A second photograph revealed two more birds outside flying above the bride as she ran down the stairs hand in hand with her new husband. The woman sent along a note saying, “Can you tell me what these things are above my daughter. They are not birds.”
For the life of me I could not think of anything else they could be but birds. They looked like birds. I had heard of the custom of letting birds loose to symbolize freedom at weddings, but why would they let birds loose inside the church? That was a bit odd.
I wrote back and asked the woman if there was any way that birds could have gotten into the church. “No,” she wrote back. “No one saw the birds–even when taking the picture, and they only appeared in a few photos. there was no way that birds could have gotten in.
I was intrigued and called the lady. We talked for a little while and finally the woman got around to what she really thought. “Could they be the spirits of my mother and father?” she asked. She told me that only a week before the wedding the bride’s grandparents were killed in a car accident. Although the bride wanted to cancel the wedding, there simply was no time to do so. Deposits could not be returned, people were already arriving and vacation was being used to get friends and family to the wedding. The wedding had to go on.
It was understandably a very emotional event for everyone concerned. Everyone knew that Grandma and Grandpa would not have wanted the wedding to be somber on their behalf. They knew that the older couple had been looking forward to the wedding, and so for that day people tried to be happy for the young couple.
It would only be later that the photographer brought the strange pictures of the two white doves to the bride’s mother. He was perplexed by the whole thing. He had not seen the birds, there were no birds released outside and why did they follow the bride so closely?
I can not say with absolute certainty that these birds are the spirits of the grandparents, but there have long been stories of spirits appearing as birds to warn people, to assist them, or maybe just to participate with them in a joyous event. I think they could be the spirits of the grandparents.
As the holidays are beginning, I just wanted to remind you that loved ones do return to share special days with their family. Watch your photographs and videos for visits from loved ones who have returned for a special event. Maybe they will be the best gift of all.