Mom can't go to wedding, so Florida Hospital brings wedding to her

ORLANDO, Fla. — Danielle Todd and Michael Morris have been planning their wedding for more than a year and were getting ready to tie the knot in March on a Carnival cruise ship.

But tragedy struck, and Morris’ mother became deathly ill in August and had to be hospitalized at Florida Hospital South.

“Due to multiple complications and organ failures, she has been there since,” Todd said Thursday. “The hospital is trying to get her healthy enough to get on the transplant list for a liver.”

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The problem was even if everything went perfectly and Morris’ mother, Millie, recovered and got the transplant, “she would be too immune compromised to come to the wedding,” Todd said.

So Friday, Todd and Morris sat down and made a decision: They were going to get married now, and at the hospital, if they would allow it, so Millie could be there.

Todd called the hospital Friday and left a message, asking it the hospital would let them get married there.

“They reached out late that night and said we would know more on Monday,” she said.

When Monday came around, the hospital called again and asked when they wanted to have the ceremony and told the couple that all they needed to bring was themselves.

“The person I spoke to just promised me that it was going to be a magical day,” Todd said. “She asked if they could just handle it all, so I said OK.

“We expected to have a short reciting of vows in Millie’s hospital room.”

The couple set Wednesday as the big day, and that’s where the hospital staff kicked things into full gear.

“(They provided) everything,” Todd said. “They provided hair and makeup to my mother-in-law, myself and my 7-year-old daughter. They offered a reception after and Chris from music therapy (played) for the ceremony and at the reception. (He) gave us our first dance and a dance with my daughter.”

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What had been in the works for more than a year for Todd and Morris, the hospital staff pulled together in only a few days.

Elle Baez, who was the photographer for the wedding, was amazed and touched by the way the hospital staff came together and gave the soon-to-be newlyweds such a special day.

“Thanks to the awesome staff the bride got her hair and makeup done by an artist from the Florida hospital spa, then met her groom at the chapel where the chaplain delivered a touching ceremony to the sweet sounds of a guitarist from music therapy,” she wrote on her Facebook page.“Then they enjoyed hors d'oeuvres, sparkling cider and a custom wedding cake made by food services in a beautifully decorated conference room.”

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Todd said her wedding day wasn’t the one she imagined but was wonderful all the same, thanks to the hospital staff.

“They were amazing,” she said.

Cox Media Group