Many modern couples add a cash fund to their wedding registry, as a supplement or replacement for traditional gifts of household items. While guests spend an average of $100 to $150 on their gift to the newlyweds, a groom’s father gifted his son Aaron Andrews an exorbitant sum of money after his wedding in April 2024. After winning the lottery, Andrews’ father presented his son with the $1 million winning ticket as a belated wedding gift.

Accordingly ABC News 4the groom’s former father, frequently purchases lottery tickets in the hopes of winning a large sum. After purchasing a ticket for the Virginia Lottery’s Cash4Life drawing at PJ’s Neighborhood Variety Store in Triangle, Virginia, Andrews’ father crossed his fingers and dreamed of snagging the golden ticket. On August 3, 2024, the groom’s former father used Easy Pick for the lottery drawing and had the computer randomly select numbers on the ticket. NBC-tied together WLBT reported. Luckily for him, Andrews’ father got the first five winning numbers right: 25-35-36-41-59.

His prize? Andrews’ father could choose between $1,000 a week for life or a one-time cash gift of $1 million. Instead of cashing the check for himself, the father decided to give the money to his son and wife as a wedding gift. While the cash prize was a gift to honor Andrews’ milestone, his father joked that there was an ulterior motive: Since his wedding, Andrews had been living with his wife in his father’s basement in Prince William County, Virginia. “That was the best way to get him out of my basement,” Andrews’ father joked.

After the groom’s former father revealed his extraordinary wedding gift to his son, Andrews and his wife opted for the one-time cash payout of $1 million so they could buy a new home. “I have a great dad who has always looked out for me,” Andrews told lottery officials as he cashed in his winning ticket.

Last year, another newlywed couple also secured a lottery ticket worth $1 million: Just one day after the wedding, the couple won the Michigan Lottery, which New York Post reported on November 9, 2023. The former groom bought the lucky ticket, a scratch-off ticket for the Diamonds and Pearls instant game, at an EZ Mart in Prudenville, Michigan. The man asked his new wife to scratch the ticket, and after she did the honors, they saw the circle symbol indicating a jackpot win. “When she revealed the winning amount of $1 million, we couldn’t believe it,” he told officials. “We read the instructions over and over to make sure we had really won. It was an exciting few days for us.”