Mark Holmberg Staff reporter

RICHMOND - Could we have a solution to the mystery of the blinking UFOs in Richmond's Fan District Sunday?

A little earlier in the evening, roughly 80 large "wish lanterns" were released into the air during the wedding ceremony of Elliott and Jessica Norman at the Dominion Club off Nuckols Road in Glen Allen.

"You light them, you make a wish as they go up," said Jessica Norman, who had been Jessica Winderweedle earlier that day.

It was "better than we ever could've expected, just wonderful," she added. "But I didn't think they would look like UFOs."

Even though just a gentle breeze was blowing, once the oil-heated, biodegradable lanterns soared high into the dry, cool sky, they disappeared in the direction of the city, several witnesses said.

"People were just sitting on the bridge (near the club) watching it," recalled Jessica's mom, Donna Winderweedle. About 16 miles away, those who sighted the UFOs in the Fan– and there is video evidence– reported seeing blinking lights in groups.

J.P. Meade, a family friend of the wedding couple, believes the lanterns could've been seen even beyond the Fan.

"When they went up, they stayed up there," Meade said. "They stayed in groups."

And their flickering oil lights certainly looked as if they were blinking, he said.

It's likely this report won't end speculation about the lights in the Fan, which some saw the night before - well before the Normans' wish lanterns marked the beginning of their life as a married couple.