A bride and her attendants flagged down a route bus on the Rabat Road last week when their vintage car broke down while it was taking them to the wedding ceremony.
The bride - Lara Guillaumier, now Shaw, along with her father, the flower girl and maid of honour, were applauded by the surprised passengers and the driver drove the wedding party all the way to Mdina gate, ensuring they got to the ceremony on time. Fiona Galea Debono reports.
Arriva buses have had a rough ride since arriving in Malta, but last weekend the transport system saved the day when it got a stranded bride to her wedding.
The service is often criticised for its schedules and routes, but there were no complaints about timing and detours last Saturday.
When the pristine vintage car that was chauffeuring Lara Guillaumier, now Shaw, unexpectedly broke down on the Rabat Road en route to the Mdina civil ceremony, it could have spelled disaster for her big day.
The bride, who cannot recall the last time she caught a bus, had planned to arrive in style in a 1950s Austin A135 Princess, whose owner, a family friend, had spent months fine-tuning to be sure it would be flawless inside and out. He even rehearsed the route three times before the big day.
But the car failed to make it up the hill and the bride, her father, the flower girl and maid of honour found themselves on the kerb minutes before the ceremony was intended to start.
In that moment of panic, the quick-thinking maid of honour, Sarah Grech, had the presence of mind to flag down an approaching bus, which ground to a halt even though there was no stop, allowing the wedding party to hop on, to the amazement of passengers.
Mainly elderly women, they applauded and encouraged the bride, who took it in her stride.
“I thought to myself, ‘this cannot be happening!’ It was mind-blowing. Then I just got roped into the laughter of it all... still in disbelief,” Ms Shaw said.
On such occasions, jittery brides normally just need one minor mishap after months of preparation to lose the plot.
Hanging on to a rail, rather than sitting in a polished, plush car, complete with Persian carpets at her feet to protect her delicate hemline, could easily have triggered mascara-smudging tears.
But the courteous Arriva driver, Mark Magro, who “did the company proud”, helped to keep the mood light – despite the heavy heat.
He did not insist that she move to the back of the bus; nor did he stop at the designated bus stop, but drove the wedding party all the way to the Silent City’s entrance.
Mr Magro told them he would have driven through the gate to drop them off at the door if he could fit.
“They saw me as an angel, but I felt I was just doing my duty; it’s not something anyone would ignore,” he told The Sunday Times of Malta.
“I felt sorry for her. It was a one-off occasion and I had to help in that moment of panic.”
Solidarity with the stranded party was not lacking and another bride,who had just arrived for her own wedding, offered them her car for the last leg.
Luckily, the ceremony was being held just by the entrance and no further transport was required.
Ms Shaw may have swept the street clean with her flowing, champagne Charles and Ron gown, and her make-up could have risked reaching melting point, but she arrived radiant and surrounded by laughter in time for her husband Jonathan – oblivious at that point to the obstacles she had encountered along the way – to take her hand in marriage.
“Life truly begins at 40,” Mr Shaw said, referencing the fact that the couple got married at that age and that, coincidentally, the registration number was BUS 040. “What a great ride!”
Needless to say, the Arriva arrival was the talk of the wedding: an effective ice-breaker if ever there was need of one, and probably the topic of conversation at many a dinner party in the years to come.