One Couple’s Wedding Photo With Wild Guests Goes Viral

One wedding photo featuring an attractive smiling couple in an embrace has gone viral, racking up more than one million views. What’s so significant about a simple wedding photo? Behind the new couple appears a small herd of deer, each one of them facing the camera as if to pose for the photo opp.

According to The Huffington Post, the picture was posted on Reddit on Monday with a caption that reads, “My brother shot a wedding this weekend, they had some unexpected guests.” Within just five hours, the picture had been viewed over a million times.

The picture shows the happy new couple standing on a low stone bridge with a section of dense woods as a backdrop. Among the trees stand about 10 deer, ears perked up, looking right into the camera.

Photographer Ian Christmann captured the photo after noticing that a group of deer had shown up at the edge of the wooded area near where the wedding reception was taking place. Although the couple was eating their celebratory meal, Christmann knew that the time was of the essence. According to his website, “I grabbed the bride and groom while they were eating their meal to see if we could get a photo or two near the group,” he wrote. “What I didn’t expect was that we were able to get so close!”

Wildlife undoubtedly makes itself known at outdoor weddings, but rarely in such an uncanny way. Outdoor weddings have become a popular way for the 7,000 couples who marry each day in the U.S. to save on their wedding ceremony and reception venue. The average cost of a wedding in the U.S. is about $27,000 (unless you live in New York City, where the average is almost three times that — at a bank-breaking $70,000).

Your wedding day will always be memorable to you, but in this case, one couple also has a great story to tell their future children about how, once upon a time, one of their wedding photos went viral.