Dog Gives Bride’s Wedding Dress His Personal Blessing

Six-year-old Roki had been entrusted with the dignified role of flower girl at her owners’ wedding. Instead, she walked up to the bride during the ceremony and peed on her wedding dress.

It was a striking contribution to the day: part blessing, part slapstick, and entirely dog.

Roki belongs to Alexa Magnotta, 32, and Daniel Barone, 33, who married in New York on Sept. 18. From the beginning of their wedding planning, the couple knew their beloved pet had to be involved in the nuptials.

“Roki is so special to us and is an integral part of our lives,” Magnotta said. Leaving her out, then, was never really on the cards. Roki was duly appointed flower girl, a role traditionally associated with petals, neat timing and a general absence of emergency cleaning products.

During the ceremony, however, Roki decided to leave a much more personal mark on proceedings. She approached Magnotta and relieved herself directly onto the wedding gown. The grand romantic occasion briefly became the sort of practical crisis familiar to anyone who has ever taken a dog somewhere important and hoped for the best.

The accident was caught on video, preserving the precise moment a carefully planned wedding acquired an unscheduled water feature. The clip subsequently went viral, with Roki’s interpretation of flower-girl duties reaching a considerably larger audience than the original ceremony.

Fortunately, Magnotta and Barone did not allow one very small emergency to spoil their day. The newlyweds laughed off the incident, while wedding staff stepped in to deal with the gown. By cocktail hour, the dress had been cleaned and the celebrations could continue.

There was no suggestion that Roki faced any disciplinary action, demotion or awkward performance review. She remained the couple’s much-loved dog, having simply demonstrated why inviting an integral member of the family can occasionally require a rapid laundry response.

The wedding therefore ended not in disaster but with a clean dress, amused newlyweds and a story unlikely to be displaced by arguments over table decorations. What happens next is already under way: the viral video continues to introduce viewers to Roki, the flower girl who skipped the flowers and gave the bride’s gown her own unmistakable seal of approval.