Minnesota couple searching for stolen wedding memento

Six days after their Oct. 4 wedding at Grand View Lodge, Brianne Wilbury and her husband stopped at Sociable Cider Werks, a favorite date spot. Their car still had “Just Married” on the back window.

“I look over and see a car that says ‘just married,’” Wilbury said. “I thought, oh good for them. Then I realized, that’s my car.”

Wilbury said someone pulled a white car behind theirs, broke the driver’s-side lock, removed the panel by the ignition and started the vehicle with a USB cable. 

“It took them about 30 seconds, and then my car was gone,” she said.

The car was later found in the Dinkytown/Marcy-Holmes area, Wilbury said. Several items were missing, including a wood-burned wedding sign her father made and keepsakes the couple collected while living in Colorado. 

“I’m happy they found the car, but you only get one of them,” Wilbury said. “My dad could make another, but it wasn’t there. It didn’t see the ceremony.”

Wilbury lost her mother when she was 10. She said the sign mattered because, “it’s not like I can ask my mom to make me a wedding present,” adding, “this was really important — to have something my dad touched and worked on.”

Wilbury says staff and patrons at the cidery tried to help. 

“People were already on their phones, ready to call, and the bartender gave us a free round,” Wilbury said. 

One person followed the car to try to get a license plate number, she said.

Wilbury isn’t focused on arrests; she wants the sign back. 

“If someone does have it, I’d really like it back,” she said. “Even if it’s broken in two pieces — there’s always wood glue.”

“Even if they take my car, they cannot take my marriage,” she said.