Photographer turns detective to find missing wedding rings

ARMSTRONG Creek photographer Nick Watson has unexpectedly turned detective in Sydney during his sister’s big day when the precious wedding rings went missing.

Watson had a 13-hour shoot planned for the wedding day in early October, and was with the groom and his groomsmen finishing up photos at St James station when the rings suddenly could not be found.

“They were like ‘They must be on the train, and now two trains have passed; how are we going to figure this out?’

“Everyone’s heads just fell into their hands, saying ‘What do we do?’, they were completely down in the dumps.

“But that’s not the not the kind of person I am, I’m very much like ‘let’s figure this out, let’s find a solution to this’.”

Flicking back through his photos, Watson deduced the last time the groom’s party definitely had the rings and then embarked on a roundabout trip to track them down, speaking to staff at Circular Quay and Redfern stations, getting the CCTV company to scroll back though the footage and find someone who possibly had picked the rings up, and then officers from NSW Police Force.

Watson said he was just about to head to the bridal party for photos when he received a welcome phone call from the CCTV company.

“He said ‘I was able to track this person… they’re now at Central and I’m watching them getting arrested live’ – it was the most bad-ass thing I’ve ever heard in my life!

“It was just a full breath of fresh air from such a stressful situation.”

Watson said the back-up plan was for the bride’s parents to provide their wedding rings, but everyone was happy the rings could be recovered and returned.

“I became the self-appointed new ringbearer; there was no way I was going to let anyone else hold those, at least until the ceremony.”

He estimated the whole ordeal took just under three hours but it did not affect the rest of the wedding at all.

“The rest of the day went so smoothly, which was great.

“It’s the biggest ‘something went wrong to something went great’ type of situation at a wedding I’ve had. Honestly, it’s probably the memorable story I’l ever know.”