Bride and groom’s home destroyed by guest minutes after tying the knot

These newlyweds only enjoyed marital bliss for a few minutes before their entire life was torn apart by one of their wedding guests.

An American bride and groom were horrified to discover their home had been destroyed while they were out tying the knot nearby.

Tom Davis and Eleni Vrettos were enjoying their wedding day on February 15 when their home in the Chicago, in the suburb of Cicero, exploded in a massive burst of flames.

The incident has left the newlyweds – who had no insurance at the time – displaced, ABC 7 Chicago reports.

But in another devastating blow, the pair were shocked when the suspect was identified as Anthony Avila-Puebla, 31 – one of the guests at their wedding.

Mr Avila-Puebla is believed to have slipped out during the ceremony and was found dead in the rubble, the New York Post reports.

Tom Davis and Eleni Vrettos had only been married for a few minutes when they discovered their home was on fire. Picture: ABC 7 Chicago

“I ran here in my wedding dress, like down the alley, and was watching from a neighbour’s yard,” the bride told WGNTV, adding she started getting told about the explosion just minutes after saying “I do”.

“Everything was just smoke at that point,” she said.

The suspect was in a relationship with someone who lived in the house, police said, without stating who it was.

After initially attending at the wedding, Avila-Puebla is believed to have slipped away and was allegedly spotted parking his car less than a block from the bride and groom’s home, authorities said, according to the New York Post.

He was later seen on surveillance video going inside the building — and then never coming back out.

While they were tying the knot, a wedding guest slipped out and was later found dead in the couple’s burned-down house. Picture: Eleni Vrettos

Anthony Avila-Puebla’s body was found in the rubble after the explosion. Picture: Cicero Police Department

The blaze also destroyed neighbouring homes. Picture: Citizen

No one else was in the home at the time, except six cats that lived there which are now reportedly missing, cops said.

The fire also caused the neighbouring building to catch alight, displacing 11 families.

A GoFundMe has raised nearly $US57,000 (about $92,000 Australian Dollars) for the Vrettos family, who had lived in the home for decades.

“The building belonged to my family for almost 40 years. Yeah, I grew up here, so I live, lived here, and I work in the community. And I mean, Cicero is all I really know,” Vrettos told the outlet last month.

The family also noted in the fundraiser that they had been in the process of remodelling and transferring home insurance and had “no coverage to help them recover from this devastating loss”.

“This home was more than just a house — it was where Eleni grew up, where she and Tom had moved in to start their new life together, and where the family had built countless memories over the years,” the fundraiser read.

Police are investigating.

This article originally appeared on the New York Post and was reproduced with permission