ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Sabrina Ernst was getting her nails done two days before her wedding when she received terrifying news from her fiancé, Justin.
The couple's six-month-old son, Layton, tumbled out of his bouncy seat, which was on the kitchen counter.
Layton was rushed to Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg.
“His eyes were deviated to one side,” says Justin. “His head was laying back and he wasn’t crying. I was scared.”
The diagnosis? A brain bleed. The little boy would make a full and quick recovery.
Because Layton had to stay in the hospital for monitoring, the couple was more concerned with his health than tying the knot.
They would have to reschedule. Or not.
One of Layton’s nurses had an idea.
“She asked how many people were coming, and then said they had a chapel there,” says Sabrina. “And then thing’s just took off.”
Working with the hospital chaplain and security, the couple told their 60 guests the wedding was still on — but there was a change in venue.
Sabrina’s 88-year-old grandfather, who flew in from Arizona, conducted the recent wedding in the small but packed hospital chapel.
The reception? Held in the hospital’s cafeteria.
Wedding photographer Alicia Johnson snapped away, capturing the odd beauty of the surroundings.
A smiling Layton was there, giggling and cooing as Mom and Dad made it official.
An emotional Sabrina, of course, wishes things had been different. But in a strange way, the hospital wedding “was perfect.”
