A woman who flew 1,700 miles to watch her father get married received a nasty surprise when she landed at the wedding destination – only to discover she was there a year early.
Llarissa Pye, 29, who is from Cheshire but lives in the Canary Islands, was delighted when she found out her dad and his partner of three years, both 53, were engaged in December 2023.
The Briton has lived out in Lanzarote for the last nine years after falling in love with the place following a friend’s birthday trip.
When her father called to give her the dates for the wedding she misheard him and thought he had said the wedding would be on the following Saturday, which happened to be his birthday – so she rushed to book her £200 one way flight.
Despite plenty of onward communication from the initial phone call, no one realised Llarissa’s mistake (least of all, her) until she was on the plane and about to take off on May 31.
Llarissa arrived in the UK to find she was a year early for the wedding; an error which left her family in stitches. Despite her mistake, she decided to make a trip of it and enjoyed a mini UK holiday before flying back to Lanzarote on June 4.
Llarissa, who works for a bike rental company and lives in Puerto del Carmen, said: ‘So when they booked the dates it was about midnight for me.
‘My dad must have said ”it’s on my birthday next year”. But I heard ”we’re sorry it’s short notice, we understand if you can’t make it”.
‘I had to ask a girl to change shifts last minute. I’d sent my flights through but they hadn’t seen it said 2024.
‘On Friday morning I text them to say ”I’m at the airport, see you in a few hours”. They tried to ring me but my phone was in sleep mode.
‘I was about to take off and I saw all the messages. I called my dad and he said ”Llarissa, the wedding isn’t until next year”. We were just laughing down the phone.’
Llarissa had booked the four-hour long trip back to her hometown of Frodsham, Cheshire, immediately when she thought her dad had said he was going to tie the knot on June 2.
Despite the mistake she still managed to make the most of her time. She was able to try on a bridesmaid dress and catch up with as many friends and family as possible before catching a £30 flight back.
Llarissa said: ‘They are still laughing about it now. Most people have said ”how did you manage that?” It’s not like we didn’t communicate.
‘A guess a year is short notice for my dad. I’ve got time to fix my tan lines now. It’s all fun. I’m usually fairly organised. I’ve never been a year early.’