Original Article: https://blog.theanimalrescuesite.greatergood.com/flower-girl-turtle/
The first picks for a flower girl are one’s own daughter/s, sometimes siblings, or nieces.
Another adorable choice would be a pet. We’ve witnessed numerous videos of dogs doing their part on their owner’s special day, but what if you have another type of pet? Something quite unsuitable to walk down the aisle that walks slowly and has a tendency to get shy and hide away from a crowd?
You guessed that right! It’s a turtle.
Colors is the name of the Eastern Painted Turtle that walked down the aisle to serve as the flower girl of her owner, Paul McDonald.
Paul was just 8 years old, accompanied by his friend and a chaperon, when he found a peculiar pebble on the sidewalk near a movie theater. Only, the little pebble started moving.
“She was headed into a very busy parking lot, and I was worried she’d be run over by a car,” Paul told The Dodo. Initially not planning on taking Colors home, Paul and his friend tried to find a place nearby where they can safely leave the turtle.
Unsuccessful, Paul took it upon himself to take her home. Both Paul and his friend wanted to take the turtle home, but his friend’s mom, their chaperon that night, refused as Paul’s friend just recently got a pet gerbil for his birthday. Paul used his soda cup, rinsed it out and filled the cup with rainwater, and promptly picked Colors up to take her home.
Thankfully, Paul’s parents gave the okay for him to keep the stray turtle and that’s the start of the inseparable duo’s bond.
“She is my lifelong companion,” Paul said. “I smile every time I see her and feel so lucky that we’ve been a part of each other’s lives for so long.”
As any loving pet parent out there, we celebrate our pet’s birthdays. In this instance, Colors celebrate her “hatchday”. Paul’s now wife, Shannon, knew about Colors immediately. And she didn’t hold back on her affection for the turtle and even helped celebrate Color’s 21st hatchday with Paul and his family when they were still dating.
“She immediately became completely enthralled with the idea. She wanted to make decorations… It was one of the early moments in our relationship where I was like, ‘Wow, this girl’s pretty cool.’ We had just started dating, and she was going all out for my turtle’s birthday party,” Paul said.
When the couple was planning their wedding, they wanted their pets to be involved. Shannon has a rescue dog, and Paul has a rescue turtle, so they both needed to be a part of the celebrations. To help the couple take care of their pets while they’re busy saying their vows, they employed a dog wedding planning service, Luxedognanny.
Their name might sound exclusionary, but they were ecstatic to take care of Colors.
“What a fun thing to know now! We love all animals, so it’s been very exciting to care for Colors on one of the biggest days of her parents’ lives,” they said.
Watch Colors get cold feet while walking down the aisle in the video below!
@luxedognanny My dad rescued me 🐢 2️⃣4️⃣ years ago and now I’m his FLOWER-GIRL in his wedding 💐🔔💗. #dad #wed #wedding #turtle #turtles #coolparents #chicago #chicagowedding #weddingplanner #luxedognanny #bride #groom #citylife #love #specialstory #cute
And here’s one with Kylie, Shannon’s rescue dog, waiting in line during the ceremony.
@luxedognanny My dad rescued me 🐢 2️⃣4️⃣ years old and now I’m his FLOWER-GIRL in his wedding 💐🔔💗🍾. #dad #wed #wedding #weddingday #weddingtiktok #parents #parentsoftiktok #turtle #turtles #turtlesoftiktok #beautiful #chicago #chicagowedding #luxedognanny #dogchaperone #love #flowergirl #bride #bridesmaids
Although Colors took a literal turn during the ceremony, Paul is still proud of Colros. “She showed no fear even when entering the most crowded room she’s ever been in. She didn’t ‘shell up’ at all,” he said and added, “It also afforded me the opportunity to meet her at the bottom of the aisle so that we could walk up to the front together with me carrying her, which is secretly what I was hoping would happen.”
Watch more of Colors and the wedding in the video below.
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Source: The Animal Rescue Site Blog
