Man brings a llama as a date to his sister’s wedding

One woman had quite a surprise on her wedding day when her brother brought a llama as a date to her wedding, turned out in a tux for the occasion.

Riva Weinstock seemed less than impressed by her brother’s decision to bring a llama in a tuxedo to her magical day. Mendl, brother of the bride, posted a video of the exchange on Reddit, which quickly garnered over 150,000 upvotes. The llama in a tux story was the site’s top post of the week, according to CTV News.

The gag Mendl pulled on Riva stems from a long history between the two. The joke was born of Riva’s exhaustive wedding planning over the last five years.

“She was talking about her wedding, planning it, making plans almost as if it was going to happen the next day even though she wasn’t dating anybody at the time,” Mendl told CNN in an interview.

Eventually Mendl began to get a little annoyed with it all, “I said, ‘If you make me come to this wedding, I’m going to bring a llama with me,” he recalled. “It was just the first thing that popped into my head.”

Riva eventually got bored with his joke, and told Mendl, “I give up. The llama is invited to the wedding.”

“When my brother puts his mind to something,” she said, “he gets it done. So at some point I had to accept it and decide that it was easier to get in on the joke than to fight it,” Riva said.

Mendl made good on his promise and rented a $400 llama from a farm near Cleveland. He paid to have a custom, llama tuxedo made just for the occasion.

“It was so worth it. I mean it was worth it just to see her reaction,” Mendl said, “but it’s been more worth it now that I’ve gotten all this internet fame.” Mendl was pleased with the results of his investment.

Unfortunately, Shockey the llama, had to stay outside the wedding hall during the affair, though he was in the photo shoot out front.

“I was not too thrilled. I think my face in the picture pretty much wraps it up,” Riva said, displeased with having been shown up by a llama on her wedding day.

In the end, Riva said she is thankful for her close relationship with her brother, and that the llama definitely made for a much more memorable wedding.

“I’ve definitely started planning my revenge,” Riva said. “He should sleep with one eye open.” She mentioned that Mendl’s graduation is only a couple months away. Stay tuned for the sequel.