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BY DAVID LEAMING
Staff Writer 06/20/2008

enlarge Staff photo by David Leaming

LOST AND FOUND: Megan Dionne smiles while holding the wedding ring on Saturday that she received at her June 6 wedding to husband Matthew in Skowhegan. The day after the wedding and minutes before a wedding reception the ring became lost while having photographs taken near Johnson Pond in Waterville. Bob Hafford offered help by getting a metal detector, left, and eventually returned the ring to Dionne between wedding dances at the Grandeur Sun facility.

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WATERVILLE -- Megan Dionne's marriage was barely a day old when the warm glow of the wedding bliss cooled like cloud before the sun.

Dionne said her June wedding to husband Matthew, at her parents' home in Skowhegan, was a beautiful experience -- everything she dreamed it would be. The nightmare occurred the next day.

The newlyweds posed for photos, standing under a tree beside Johnson Pond, in Waterville. They chose the spot because it offered a pretty setting and the close proximity to Grandeur Sun, where the couple were soon to have their reception.

Photos were taken of the couple, the wedding-party members, and the bride's new diamond-covered wedding band.

Then, somehow, the ring disappeared.

"I was preoccupied with something," Mrs. Dionne said. "When I turned to give Matthew his ring, I realized I only had my engagement ring. The one thing I plan to wear forever was lost in 24 hours."

Dionne and 10 relatives immediately began searching the lawn on hands and knees.

The combination of losing her ring and knowing that more than a 150 guests were waiting for the smiling couple to arrive to the reception was taking a toll on Dionne, she recalled.

"We even played the wedding video over and over at the reception to help stall anxious guests," said Cynthia Chase, mother of the bride.

Later that afternoon Bob Hafford, owner of the Grandeur Sun banquet facility, learned of the lost ring.

Hafford called Oakland Police officer Bryant Laverdiere to see if the department had a metal detector to aid in the search. Instead, Laverdiere offered assistance with the department dog, Bingo. But nothing was found.

Hafford said he then sent an employee out to buy a metal detector and kept searching the grounds until the unit arrived.

With the metal detector now hovering over the grounds, Hafford heard a beeping indicator, which usually meant there was metal nearby.

"I got down and started plucking up wads of grass by the handful when I suddenly spotted a shiny object in the ground and behold: There was her ring," Hafford said.

But he didn't tell the couple, at first.

Entering the banquet hall, his shorts and shirt filthy from the search, Hafford said he felt like a wedding crasher. He waited for a song to finish and then he took the DJ's mic and said to the couple, "I think I have something for you" and held out the ring.

"I was amazed about his dedication -- I was so appreciative," Dionne said. Matthew was, too. "Everyone cheered," Dionne said.

"It was a perfect ending," Chase said.

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