This is the moment a nervous groom prepared for an emotional 'first look' at his bride - only to be met by his bearded best man donning a second-hand wedding dress instead. John McDonagh was getting ready to tie the knot with his fiancée Zoey Lacey (now McDonagh), 33, when they asked the photographer to capture the moment he first saw her in her dress.
The 33-year-old stood excitedly in the gardens of their wedding venue in Higher Trapp, Burnley, expecting to see the glowing Zoey in the special 'private moment'. On cue, the photographer told customer services advisor John to turn to see his 'beautiful bride'- but instead of shedding a tear at his stunning bride, he burst out laughing as groomsman Hamza Shep stood in a £1 tiara and his sister's old wedding dress.
Now John is preparing to get his payback ahead of Hamza's wedding later this year - as Hamza claimed the prank was 'one of the best moments' of his life.
John, from Stockport, Greater Manchester, said: "I didn't know anything about it. I hadn't seen Zoey all day and in my head I was going to turn around and start to bawling my eyes out as I would see my wife on my wedding day.
"When I was waiting for Zoey, the emotions were kicking in. I had butterflies then turned around and it all went. It turned into sheer, hysterical laughter."
The best friends first met when Hamza started dating John's younger sister and he claims since then, they have had a 'really close relationship'. John said: "Hamza is my future brother-in-law. We have a man crush relationship, as my wife likes to put it.
"There are times she has said she's like the third-wheel in the relationship when we're together. A week or so before the wedding, my little sister and Hamza reached out to my wife and said they'd had an idea. They wanted to make me laugh.
"Basically, they needed me to agree to having a first look photo with her. It came to the day. I'd just had an emotional moment with my mum a few minutes before.
"I started shouting at people to go away because it was a private moment between me and my partner. The staff and everyone were in on it and they were all playing it out so well. There were people in the windows watching.
"Luke then said 'can you turn around please - here enters your beautiful bride'. There stood my brother-in-law Hamza in a dress that belonged to my older sister. I saw his face first. It was a confusing moment - I was like 'hang on, that's not who it's meant to be'.
"I had my back turned, Hamza came in and the photographer captured every moment of it. Everyone was laughing their heads off and they were all in on it."
John claims he then didn't see his new wife until the actual ceremony - but later found out she had also been watching the scene unfold from a hidden window.
John said: "I still didn't see Zoey until the actual ceremony but I later found out she was watching me from one of the windows in the hotel room. This is typical of Hamza. We sent each other funny reviews for food and we've got a really close relationship, which is normally us both laughing at each other.
"The girls hate it when we get together because it's like we're two children."
Hamza, who has known John for eight years, claims he knew he had to pull a prank on the special day - but now fears John will try and outdo him in October, when it's his turn to tie the knot.
Hamza said: "It was probably one of the best moments of my life. We were in Erica's mum and dad's room - me, Erica, her mum and dad. John was pointing at the window saying 'where's Hamza - we need to take photos?'
"Literally about 10 minutes before that, he'd had a nice moment with his mum and he got a bit upset. He was getting emotional. I was stood at the back of the room hugging the wall so he couldn't see me in the dress.
"I wore his older sister's dress and a £1 tiara. I got the nod from the cameraman, then John turned around, saw me and burst out laughing.
"Erica and I get married in October. I've already heard he's going to do something then but I'm not sure what. He's going to have to up this - that's the scary part."
