An Indian elephant making a surprise appearance at an Australian wedding in Thailand has tried to eat a bridesmaid.
The three-year-old elephant, a special guest at the beachside wedding in Phuket, took one look at the Melbourne woman before wrapping its mouth around her head.
Award-winning cinematographer Abraham Joffe – who should know better than to work with animals or small children – was shooting the Melbourne couple’s wedding on Sunday when he captured the hilarious moment.
“She wasn’t injured. It just licked her face and breathed down her throat. She just got this horrible elephant breath in her lungs,” he said.
“Everyone was laughing. She was a bit shaken up.
“She was a little bit embarrassed but they were all pretty laid back, being Aussies. It wasn’t a prim and proper sort of day.”
Thankfully the elephant wasn’t brought in to mingle with guests until cocktail hour, meaning the bridesmaid didn’t need to redo her hair or makeup.
“It was after the ceremony so everyone was getting pretty relaxed by that point,” Sydney-based Joffe said.
“She had to get a cocktail straight away to wash the taste out of her mouth.”
Joffe, one of Australia’s top DSLR filmmakers, said that in Thailand it’s considered good luck for an elephant to raise its trunk at special occasions such as weddings.
[divide]Source: News Corp. Ltd.