Couple Holds Hospital Wedding After Father of Groom Has Emergency Surgery: 'He Was Really Happy'
Two soon-to-be newlyweds quickly brought their wedding ceremony to a local hospital when the groom’s father had to undergo emergency surgery and risked missing his son’s big day, according to KXAS-TV.
Michael and Aaliyah Thompson of Texas have delayed their wedding three times since they became engaged, and the couple was intent on finally exchanging vows on Sept. 21. But when Michael’s father, William Thompson, developed sepsis due to a complication with diabetes and needed to have an emergency operation that same day, they knew they couldn’t go on unless he was there to see their special moment.
“I told [Michael], if your dad has surgery, there is no way that they are going to let him out for the wedding,” Aaliyah, who now lives in Houston with her new husband, told KXAS-TV. “So we talked and discussed it and that’s when we decided if he can’t leave, then we go and get married in front of him in that hospital room.”
The couple worked with staff from Baylor Scott & White Medical Center in Sunnyvale to throw a spur-of-the-moment wedding ceremony in William’s hospital room, complete with guests and a pastor.
“We were originally just going to do something really small. It was going to be just us, the family and him,” Michael told the news station, adding that the nurses and doctor came in “with a diabetic-friendly cake and everything.”
“Yeah, it was pretty cool,” he added.
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Because the couple had already postponed their nuptials, they were determined to make the wedding happen that day.
“We postponed it a few times before so we were just dead-set on making this work out,” Michael told KXAS-TV. “We talked to the pastor and he okay’s it. It was real stressful but we managed to make it.”
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The couple said they previously had to delay the wedding due to deaths in the family earlier this year.
“We were supposed to get married in March, but we had two family members pass away and that changed everything for us,” Aaliyah said. “So we completely dropped everything and canceled stuff.”
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Aaliyah’s grandmother and her maid of honor were able to attend the hospital wedding, along with Michael’s best man, according to Fox News.
Images of the ceremony show the happy couple wearing scrubs and gloves as they exchange vows.
“We knew that it was really important that his dad got to be there after losing those two people,” Aaliyah told KXAS-TV. “No matter where we did it, it was just really important that his dad was there.”
“He kept smiling,” she said of William’s reaction. “He was just really happy.”
