Watch: Couple marries in hospital room after going into early labor
LEE'S SUMMIT, Mo. - A couple whose wedding plans were interrupted by the early arrival of their baby boy decided to go ahead with tying the knot in a very special ceremony.
Sara and Brandon Perry were planning to get married on Feb. 16, weeks before their baby Oliver’s due date. But Oliver had other plans.
On Feb. 13, Sara’s water broke at 35 weeks, and she was sent to St. Luke’s East Hospital in Lee’s Summit, Missouri. When nurses learned of their foiled plans to marry, they asked if the couple still wanted to get married before the baby was born. According to the hospital, Matthew, another soon-to-be dad and an ordained minister, heard the couple needed an officiant and offered his services.
"It's what we both wanted so there's no reason to delay it," Brandon Perry told Good Morning America.
With the help of nurses and hospital staff, Sara's hospital room transformed into a wedding venue. It all unfolded quickly – the ceremony came together in about 30 minutes, and the couple said their "I dos" in between Sara’s contractions. She wore a one-shouldered wedding gown made of a white bedsheet and a veil made of medical gauze.
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Oliver was born nine hours later and is doing well in the hospital’s NICU, according to St. Luke’s.
The Perrys said they still plan on having a destination wedding later this year, according to GMA, but their pre-Valentine’s Day hospital room vows are something they’ll cherish forever.
"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 Perry said.