Judy Benson and the wedding guests were waiting and waiting and waiting for her son and his new bride to arrive at the wedding reception.
After the ceremony in St. Joseph Catholic Church in Fort Collins, the couple stopped at Horsetooth Reservoir near Fort Collins to take photographs.
Unfortunately for Johnny Benson, 44, and his bride Laura, 33, a rattlesnake also wanted a moment in the spotlight.
The snake bit Benson on his lower leg as they walked a trail and wedding photographer Maddie Mae snapped pictures.
“All of a sudden it was like someone kicked me in the shin. Then I looked over and saw the snake sitting there, and it was rattling,” Benson said.
The couple flagged down a ranger who called an ambulance to take him to Poudre Valley Hospital.
That’s when Judy Benson got a call from Mae, the wedding photographer alerting her that the couple’s arrival at the reception would be delayed.
Having the newlyweds burst into the emergency room caused a stir, Judy Benson said. The bride was still wearing her long gown and veil, the groom was flat on his back on a gurney.
And the wedding photographer kept clicking.
Fortunately Benson was lucky. The snake delivered a “dry bite,” which didn’t inject venom into the wound.
“Once we got to the emergency room, it was super, super, fast,” Laura Benson said.
The groom was able to leave the emergency room after he got a tetanus shot and the couple was able to attend their wedding reception.
The episode “was pretty epic,” Laura Benson said. “It was scary for a minute.”
Snake encounters and bites typically spike in early spring and late fall, said Mary Ann Bonnell, Jefferson County Open Space visitor service manager.
Bonnell and fellow park rangers have advice for trail users when it’s snake season:
- Don’t wear sandals.
- Ditch the ear buds so you can hear the telltale warning rattle.
- Don’t try to hurry a sunning snake with a stick or rocks.
“Generally people are not bitten by a snake they leave alone,” Bonnell said. “Give it space and time to leave.”
