A white marquee embroidered with red flowers surrounded the scene of the crime.
This was the spot where the feared bodyguard of nightclub boss John Ibrahim was shot on Friday, a small backyard of the western Sydney home belonging to Ibrahim's mother.
It was also set to be the Saturday night wedding venue for a coupling of two Sydney families who rarely struggle to generate headlines on their own.
Ibrahim's nephew, Sam Sayour, was to marry Aisha Mehajer, the sister of Salim Mehajer, whose own, extravagant wedding in 2015 made the former deputy mayor of Auburn a name.
What led to the shooting remains unclear. But one source told the Herald he had overheard a man known to the groom telling him he would be lucky to see his wedding day, in a heated exchange a week ago.
According to a next-door neighbour of Ibrahim's mother, Wahiba, the family had spent Friday setting up chairs, tables and decorations for the Merrylands nuptials. That night, when the neighbour heard a loud bang about 10.45pm, "I said maybe it's a balloon". There was no crying or shouting, she said.
A while later she saw Semi "Tongan Sam" Ngata walk out and into an ambulance, clutching his side.
Ngata has long been an enforcer and guard for Ibrahim, who has referred to him as his "closest friend", the "head coconut", someone to whom he could not be closer, even if they were brothers. Living just down the street, the 59-year-old Ngata was often seen sitting out the front with Ibrahim's mother.
"Sam is two metres tall, 120 kilograms and all muscle - a former professional boxer," Ibrahim wrote in his autobiography. "He has a big mullet haircut, wears a black overcoat and has fists like shoeboxes ??? still does."
He was taken to Westmead Hospital where he remained in a serious but stable condition on Saturday.
Inspector Tamara Kirby from Merrylands police station declined to confirm media speculation that the shot was fired into the wedding crowd as an intended warning and struck Ngata by chance.
"There are quite a number of lines of inquiry that investigators are looking into," Inspector Kirby said.
It's not clear if the shooting is related to the August arrest of two Ibrahim brothers, Michael and Fadi, who were caught in a dramatic sting in Dubai. Michael Ibrahim has been and charged over the attempted importation of 1.9 tonnes of MDMA, ice and cocaine. Fadi Ibrahim is accused of drawing $800,000 from the mortgage on his house to help fund his brother Michael's alleged international crime syndicate, and then being repaid $1.6 million.
Chief Inspector Bradfield Peters of Holroyd Local Area Command said the shooting was "brazen" and "targeted".
Police had made no arrests and could not provide a description of the gunman but Mr Peters said he had deployed extra officers and "strategies" to guard against possible reprisals. Investigations are underway to find out if a car found burned out in nearby Mays Hill may have been linked.
Meanwhile, wedding preparations continued on late afternoon Saturday. A white Porsche delivered bottled water and then what looked like a cake to the Price Street home. Men in tracksuits tried to force cameras back as a woman in the Porsche was handed a black cloak, before she drove away.
For a Mehajer wedding, the place was looking distinctly low-key. There may have been two golden thrones on the backyard patio but the wind had blown over potted palms. There was bric-a-brac and doors off their hinges left lying in the front yard.
The bride, Ms Mehajer, is a model and a director of several companies whose names suggest industries from beauty to construction.
Her groom, Mr Sayour, is the son of the Ibrahim brothers' sister Maha, and was shot himself in a dispute at Old Guildford in February 2011. The then 19-year-old was shot twice in the groin while two of his associates were also wounded.
His uncle, Michael Ibrahim, was allegedly two-timing between rival Sydney drug syndicates helmed by two warring Middle Eastern crime families while attempting to import large amounts of drugs.
During a massive police operation in August, John's house was raided but he was not alleged to be involved. Fadi has since been released on $2 million bail but Michael remains in custody. The only brother not in custody or facing charges at the moment is John.
All four Ibrahim brothers have been shot or stabbed over the course of their life.
In a lengthy interview in 2014, John Ibrahim told The Australian Financial Review he was unimpressed with criminals in Sydney.
"Who really shoots other people's houses in the middle of the night?" he said.
This story was amended to remove the assertion that Fadi Ibrahim has been charged over the alleged importation of 1.9 tonnes of drugs. Fadi Ibrahim is facing money laundering charges.
