SOMEWHERE out there is a new bride who is missing some important personal reminders of her big day.
It appears that Alisha married her sweetheart, Grant, in or around Bendigo last Saturday afternoon.
In all likelihood, the happy couple had some of their wedding photos taken in Pall Mall, outside the Bendigo Law Courts and Old Post Office buildings.
At some stage during the shoot, Alisha must have taken her array of wedding keepsakes off her arm and set them down at the base of the law courts steps, or perhaps she handed them to a friend or family member who placed them on the ground while the cameras clicked away.
In all the excitement, the little pile of cream satin horseshoes, lace and plaster love hearts and mini wooden rolling pin got left behind when the bridal party moved on.
I stumbled upon this treasure trove, still there on the footpath in front of the court building, while heading to a restaurant about 5.45pm on Saturday.
After walking right past the mementoes at first, I was drawn back by the thought that they were a symbolic part of such an important day in a newlywed couple’s life together.
Without reading the attached cards, I gathered them off the ground and put them up on a pillar, out of harm’s way but still visible in case someone went back to retrieve them.
I asked some guests leaving a nearby wedding if the bride and groom had been in Pall Mall and might have lost some memorabilia, but was told they had not been out of Rosalind Park.
So I decided to go and enjoy my meal, and check on the way home to see if the keepsakes had been claimed. They hadn’t.
The chances of such delicate items surviving a Saturday night in the middle of Bendigo were pretty slim, so I took them home and determined to track down their owner the following day.
But the task has proven a little more difficult than anticipated.
There were no wedding announcements in the newspaper public notices that day for an “Alisha and Grant”, as the gift tags were addressed.
The tags did not give any clues to the couple’s surname, but included messages of love and congratulations from parents, relatives and close friends.
They also revealed the newlyweds have an Aunt Anne, a “Granny B” and a “Nan Cocker”.
Phone calls to the only Cocker listed in the local White Pages yielded no results, therefore I am now turning to the power of the print media to try to track Alisha down and return her precious keepsakes.
Giving a bride a good luck charm like a horseshoe on her wedding day is a long-standing tradition that has several possible origins.
Brideguide.com.au suggests the horseshoe is shaped like a crescent moon, a sign of fertility in Greek mythology that bestows fertility on the newly married couple.
It says the luckiest of all horseshoes come from the hind feet of a grey mare.
British online celebration store soraiseyourglasses.com tells the story that witches are supposedly afraid of horses because they represent truth, loyalty and goodness.
Thus, horseshoes can be seen as a charm that wards away witches and other evil spirits.
It also relates the tale of blacksmith St Dunstan, who once nailed a shoe to the devil’s hoof so tightly that it inflicted great pain.
When the devil begged for mercy, St Dunstan helped relieve his discomfort in return for a promise that he would not enter any house with a horseshoe hanging over the door - and this became the origin of the lucky horseshoe.
These days, there are several other trinkets and tokens presented to brides for good luck - including hearts, the universal symbol of love, and even rolling pins.
I’m not sure if the latter is supposed to represent the woman’s wifely duties in the kitchen, or to help her keep her new husband under control.
It probably depends on your outlook on marriage.
In this case, Alisha probably doesn’t really need her collection of lucky charms to ensure her marriage to Grant gets off to a great start, but perhaps she would like them back for posterity.
Alisha, whoever you are and wherever you are, your wedding keepsakes are sitting safely on my dining room table waiting to be reunited with you.
If you lost some wedding souvenirs last weekend, or you know who Alisha and Grant are, email raelenee@bendigoadvertiser.com.au
Meanwhile, a big thumbs down to the van driver whose horn-honking antics outside St Joseph’s Primary School on Tuesday afternoon did him and his company no favours.
Traffic was moving very slowly in the 40kmh zone along Myrtle Street in the middle of school pick-up time when this guy sprang into action.
First, he tooted impatiently as a car ahead of us stopped to let a vehicle into the queue from a side street - a simple act of politeness in such heavy traffic.
Seconds later, he was at it again, blasting on his horn as I slowed to a halt to allow the lollipop person on to the school crossing to help children and parents get across the road safely.
All he would have saved if the first driver was not so courteous, or if I had not waved the crossing supervisor on to the road, would have been a few precious seconds.
What could have been lost had everyone adopted such a cavalier attitude near a primary school was precious young lives.
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