Heartwarming moment Texas’ hospital ICU transforms into wedding ceremony so dying father’s last wish to see his daughter get married is fulfilled
- Michelle Avilla married her husband and fulfilled her father’s dying wish
- His IC was transformed into a wedding location with live music and photographers
- After her father died a few days later, Avilla found “peace” knowing his dying wish was coming true
A Texas hospital was transformed into a wedding venue so a dying father could watch his daughter get married and fulfill his last hopes.
“It gives our hearts peace to know that his last wish has come true,” his daughter said a few days after the wedding.
Michelle Avila was supposed to marry Antonio Moreno, but her father became ill and was hospitalized. He had only one last request: to see her married.
Nurses at UMC Hospital in Lubbock and a wedding planning company helped Avila hold the ceremony at the facility while her father was in intensive care.
“He was sitting in the hallway waiting for her,” wedding decorator Julie Hodges told the newspaper Lubbock Avalanche Journal. “When she came around the corner, it was just a fun thing. A lot of tears, it was bittersweet, but it’s just a really cool experience and we were honored to do it and donate our time and all the stuff.”
Michelle Avilla married Antonio Moreno at UMC Hospital in Lubbock, Texas, so her father could see them get married
Avilla’s father was in intensive care and his condition rapidly deteriorated
The father’s last wish was that his daughter would get married, which came true thanks to nurses
A video captured the tender ceremony, showing how a hospital corridor had been converted into a bona fide wedding venue, complete with flower-decorated chairs, guests of honor and photographers.
The couple walked down the hallway, accompanied by two acoustic guitars. Doctors and nurses gathered in the wings to cheer on Avila and Moreno.
Two young boys scattered flower petals from a wicker basket on the hospital floor.
The father waited patiently for his daughter in his wheelchair at the end of the hallway.
When she reached him, Michelle Avila and her father held hands and exchanged heartfelt words. The oxygen mask could not muffle the father’s cheerful voice.
Hodges said she, her company Eventfully Yours and the nursing staff were eager to play a role in the special ceremony.
“It was just nice that we got picked and I feel like God led us there for that reason,” Hodges said.
After the ceremony was over, Avilla returned to the hospital that evening to visit her father.
Eventfully Yours, an event planning company, worked tirelessly to transform the hospital into a real wedding venue
The doctors and nurses at the UMC spared no effort to make the father’s wish come true, and they cheered the wedding as they walked down the hallway.
Avilla’s father sadly passed away on March 13, just a few days after the wedding ceremony
In a Facebook post, she said she was “grateful” she did this because “it was so nice to hear him talk about how overjoyed he was.”
The next day, “the father’s condition worsened” and Avilla “could no longer hear his voice.”
On March 13, her father died just days after seeing his daughter get married.
In her Facebook post, Avilla expressed her gratitude to the hospital and its staff. She thanked Eventfully Yours, the resourceful wedding company that turned the hospital into a suitable venue with just a few hours’ notice.
And Avilla thanked “the kind-hearted nurses who filled our lives with much love, along with the hundreds of strangers who prayed for him.”
Although she lost her beloved father, Avilla said that “even in the midst of grief, they feel a peace that passes all understanding.”