A pregnant bride got to have an impromptu wedding at the hospital after she went into labor early, making it a day the couple will never forget.
Just days before their eagerly awaited wedding celebration, Sara and Brandon Perry found themselves facing an unexpected twist of fate.
Sara, who was 35 weeks pregnant, discovered on the morning of February 13 that her water had broken, throwing their wedding plans into disarray.
The couple, set to tie the knot on February 16, had believed they had ample time before their baby's arrival. However, their little one had different plans in mind.
"We were like, 'Okay, I guess we're not going to make it to Friday,'" Sara, 39, a police officer, shared with Good Morning America.
Realizing she was in early labor, Sara rushed to Saint Luke's East Hospital in Lee's Summit. There, faced with the likelihood of missing their impending wedding, the couple received an unexpected offer of help.
The husband of another pregnant patient, coincidentally an ordained minister, stepped forward to offer his services upon hearing the Perrys' predicament.
"He's like, 'Well, hey, I could do it before I have my baby,'" Sara recounted to GMA. "And so their nurse came back and told our nurse [and] our nurse came in and told us. She was like, 'I know this sounds crazy. But if you'd like, we can have an ordained minister that's having a baby down the hall come and marry you two.'"
Embracing the opportunity, Sara and Brandon agreed to the impromptu ceremony, having already obtained their wedding license and stored it in their hospital-parked truck.
"It's what we both wanted, so there's no reason to delay it," Brandon affirmed to GMA.
The hospital staff swiftly organized the labor ward ceremony, adorning the couple's room, fashioning a makeshift wedding dress and veil, arranging a bouquet, and even procuring a wedding cake from the cafeteria, as detailed in a post on Saint Luke's Facebook page.
Sara's dress, fashioned from a white bedsheet, was complemented by a veil made of medical gauze. With the impending arrival of their baby, the ceremony proceeded briskly, wrapping up in under 30 minutes and even featuring a traditional bouquet toss, with eager nurses vying to catch the flowers.
Just nine hours later, the couple received an extraordinary wedding present: their son, Oliver, was born at 1:47AM on Valentine's Day.
Though Oliver initially spent his first week in the neonatal intensive care unit at Saint Luke's, he is now happily at home with his family and "doing very well," according to the hospital.
"He's officially the sweetest valentine I've ever received, and we'll get to celebrate that for years to come, which is wonderful," Sara expressed to GMA.
Talk about a day to remember!
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