Wedding party soaked after dock breaks

SHELBYVILLE, Mich. (WOOD) - A bride, groom and their entire wedding party fell into Gun Lake after the dock on which they were having photos taken gave way.

It happened Saturday at Bay Pointe Inn at the wedding reception of Eric Walber and Maegan McKee (now Walber) of Bryon Center.

The bride and groom took it all in stride. They shared the experience with 24 Hour News 8 over the phone on Saturday afternoon as they headed to their honeymoon on Mackinac Island.

The wedding party had just finished eating dinner between 6:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. when the photographer told them that if they wanted photos on the lake, now was the time to have them taken.

"We were out there for probably 30 seconds, standing on the dock, and it started to lean and tilt," groom Eric told 24 Hour News 8. "We went right under."

==Below: Watch video of the splash via YouTube==

Eric said he knew just a split second before the dock collapsed what was about to happen.

"I saw the thing starting to tilt, and I'm like, 'Oh, yup, this is going to happen,'" he said.

The wedding party laughed it off, the couple said.

"Everyone was laughing. It was one of those things that it just happens and you roll with it," Eric said.

Members of the wedding party had cell phones in their suits and purses that were damaged, Eric said, but no one was hurt.

He said that at first, family members seemed "a little mortified," but soon they started laughing, too.

Maegan said that the fall was scary for a few seconds because she was wearing a heavy wedding dress that made it difficult to get her footing, but soon other members of the wedding party started helping her and it quickly turned into a big joke. 

"I came up laughing," she said. "I was like, 'Oh, man, that really just happened. I can't believe that actually just happened."

Maegan said she wasn't angry or upset.

"Your wedding party falls into a lake at your reception. You can't plan that," she said with a laugh.

And after all, she said, she was the one who'd wanted photos on the lake -- that was something she'd liked about having the reception at Bay Pointe.

She said diners at the restaurant gave the wedding party a standing ovation after they got out of the water.

After getting soaked, she changed into the dress she'd worn to her rehearsal dinner the night before. She said it made easier to dance.

And in hindsight, she said, she'd go out on that dock again again.

"It makes for a good story," Maegan said. "We'll be telling our grandkids."

Earlier in the day, the videographer got hit by an SUV as it backed up, but was unhurt, Eric said. He said other than that, the wedding went off without a hitch.

The splash was caught on camera by wedding videographer Anne Oppenhuizen of Inspiration Video.

 

Or watch at YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUgQCrQ1Czo&feature=player_embedded

"NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams" featured the story on Monday. Watch the clip below:

 

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