Mother’s Dying Wish Is to Give Daughter Away at Her Wedding, Hospital Creates Emotional Ceremony at Her Bedside

A bride fulfilled her mother's final wish to see her get married on her special day

Published Time: 30.09.2024 - 17:31:11 Modified Time: 30.09.2024 - 17:31:11

A bride fulfilled her mother's final wish to see her get married on her special day.

Renata Russell wed her husband Draper Russell at Labrador Health Centre in her mother Sabina Hunter's hospital room, just four days before her mom died on Sept. 10, according to CBC.

The bride told the outlet that her mother-in-law Denise had asked Hunter what she was “holding on” to when she had visited her in the hospital. While Hunter was unable to respond, Renata says she already knew the answer.

According to Hunter, her mother’s dying wish was to give her away at her wedding. "And that's what we did," Russell told CBC.

They were able to put together the nuptials in four days, preparing all the details for the wedding, including the rings, a cake and dress alterations, Russell told CBC. She said the hospital staff even helped decorate her mother’s hospital room for the ceremony. 

"You don't really expect to have too much anyway, having a wedding in a hospital,” she said. “But I've got to say ... everything that we did need, we managed to accomplish in those four days.”

Russell added that she and her partner — with whom she shares two kids — have been together for 12 years and got -

engaged about a decade ago, but only recently to wed. Russell said her mother had been anticipating this moment for a long time, and even bought her wedding dress when she first got engaged.

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"She's been waiting for it," the bride said. "I could tell this was a very proud moment for her to finally see me in the dress she bought me 10 years ago."

She said her mother cried when she saw her in the dress for the first time, and that was a moment that she would take with her forever. 

"I couldn't picture anything more perfect than even walking down just the hospital corridor, right?,”  Russell told CBC.

“Just to go and have my kids with me, have my family with me and my mom there,” she continued. “And it was short, sweet, but it was absolutely the most perfect day of my life."

Following her death, Russell remembers her mother as “so selfless," adding, “she was just full of love and laughter all the time."

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