Father of the Bride Dies Just Days After Giving Away His Daughter in Hospital Wedding

Coming back from a long Labor Day weekend is bound to result in a few tears as you head into the office. But just in case that wasn’t enough to get you crying, this sob story will definitely turn on the waterworks. In order to include her father in her big day, a Georgia bride pushed her wedding date up a month and also changed her wedding venue — to her father’s hospital room. There, at the intimate last-minute ceremony, this proud father of the bride got the chance to give away his daughter, before dying just days later. Can’t say we didn’t warn you about those waterworks…

What daddy’s girl doesn’t dream of having her pops walk her down the aisle on the big day? Candice Hammonds of Georgia certainly did, so when she learned that she might not get to experience that magical milestone, she shifted into wedding planning high-gear.

Recently, Candice’s hospital-bound father Steve Hammonds took a turn for the worse so she and her now-husband decided to move up their October 1st wedding and started planning a small ceremony to take place right there in the hospital.

“People started pulling things together to make this wedding take place in 24 hours,” the mother of the bride explained to Atlanta Channel 2 Action News, as the staff of Upson Regional Medical Center helped make Hammonds’ hospital room wedding-ready and suspended his sedative medication so he could be as alert as possible for the ceremony.

The tear-jerking nuptials took place on Wednesday last week, according to People magazine, with Hammonds watching his daughter — wedding dress and all — tie the knot with her fiancé from his hospital bed. And when the time came for the officiant to ask who was giving away the bride, Hammonds raised his hand.

“It was the last gift he could give his little girl,” the mother of the bride said, as Candice’s proud father passed away just three days later. Cue the sloppy sobbing.

“Every girl dreams of her daddy walking her down the aisle and giving her hand away,” the family’s wedding photographer Julie York Schandolph wrote on her Facebook page of the bedside wedding. “Given the circumstances, Candice’s daddy was still able to do just that!”

We’re not crying — you’re crying…

See More: How Can I Include My Dad in Wedding Planning?