Baby Bouquet! Bride Carries Preemie Down the Aisle Instead of Flowers in Sweet Hospital Wedding
Amanda and Edwin Acevedo had plans to say their “I dos” in a romantic beach wedding in June. But there was a sharp change in plans when Amanda went into preterm labor with Oliver on June 14, welcoming the little boy months early at just 30 weeks. He weighed only 3 lbs., 14.6 oz.
Oliver has been in the neonatal intensive care unit at WakeMed Health and Hospitals in Raleigh, North Carolina, since his birth, hospital officials tell PEOPLE in a statement.
With their bundle of joy now in the world, the couple decided to scrap their beach plans and marry at a courthouse on Aug. 2 instead. But WakeMed family navigator and chaplain Mallory McKeown wasn’t having it.
“She said she would be happy to marry us at the hospital in the chapel,” Amanda told Motherly. “Oliver’s doctor, Dr. Demeo, said he was stable enough to be unhooked from his monitors so I could carry him during the ceremony.”
McKeown rallied a group of hospital staffers to decorate for the wedding, and in just a few hour’s time, the couple’s family and friends were at the hospital, ready to watch them marry.
McKeown told Motherly she ran out and bought some decorations for the big day, and the staffers were happy to help set up.
“The NICU staff was so sweet and surprised us by decorating Oliver’s room, dressed him up in a little suit, decorated his crib, and made it possible for him to come down to the third floor to the chapel,” Amanda told Motherly.
Photos of the ceremony showed Amanda and Edwin smiling wide as they exchanged vows with little Oliver — dressed in his suit and bowtie — in their arms. Along with the couple’s family, doctors, nurses, nurse practitioners and even Oliver’s neonatologist attended the wedding.
“There was not a dry eye in the chapel, and the room was filled with love and celebration for Amanda, Edwin and Oliver,” hospital spokesperson Kristin Kelly tells PEOPLE. “Amanda walked down the aisle carrying Oliver as her flower bouquet.”
Oliver weighed nearly 8 lbs. at the time of the wedding and is on track to go home with his parents soon, according to Good Morning America. Edwin called himself the “luckiest guy in the world” after watching his “beautiful wife and adorable baby” walk down the aisle.
As for Amanda, she’s on cloud nine as a result of the big day.
“Could not have asked for a more special or memorable wedding, surrounded by family and the wonderful people taking care of my baby!” she wrote in an Aug. 6 Facebook post.
