Groom's jaw drops as he sees bride who uses wheelchair walk down the aisle at their wedding
When Jay Bloomfield turned around to watch the love of his life, Chelsie Hill, being wheeled down the aisle by her father, he got the shock of his life.
Hill, who is paralyzed from the waist down stood up and used a walker to walk down the aisle, bringing tears to Bloomfield's eyes. Hill had asked Bloomfield to face the other way until Hill and her father were at the start of the aisle. "As soon as I saw Jay, his jaw dropped," recalled Hill, reported Insider. There wasn't a dry eye in the crowd as the emotional scene played out before them. Hill, 29, and Bloomfield, 34, got married on September 24. "He was just in shock that I was walking because he had no idea," she said.
Hill was left paralyzed in a 2010 car accident when she was just 17. Hill had wanted to walk down the aisle forever and decided to do it. She worked to customize the wedding dress to feature a removable skirt to make the transition easier. She also had custom-made leg braces and a walker to help her walk down the aisle. "I want to stress that there's nothing wrong with sitting down in your chair," said Hill. "But for me growing up, I always imagined myself walking down the aisle."
"My whole life I had imagined standing eye to eye with my husband on my wedding day. After my accident, I wasn't sure if I would ever find someone who truly loved all of me," she wrote on Instagram. She added a few lines from her vow as well. "You have accepted me fully, honored me, and adored all the parts of me. For this moment today, I wanted to do something I had always dreamed of. Stand eye to eye with you as we promise our lives to each other," the vows read.
Hill and her father vowed loved ones with an epic father-daughter dance. They started out slow, with playful twirls and hugs but took it up a notch as they busted moves to Soulja Boy's 2007 hit 'Crank That.' Her father ripped off his white button-down to reveal a t-shirt reading, "Father of da bride." They then danced to a medley of hits, including 'U Can't Touch This' by MC Hammer and Bruno Mars' 'Uptown Funk.' In a behind-the-scenes video posted by Hill, he said, "I wouldn't do this with anyone else except my daughter."
She opened up about the accident in an emotional post on Instagram. "On February 21, 2010, I was a senior in high school out at a party with friends. When it was time to leave I ran out to the first car I saw. A friend of mine got into the driver's seat. I saw him holding a red cup earlier at the party but thought nothing of it. If he was drunk and couldn’t drive why would he put any of us in danger?" she thought at the time. "I realize now how naïve I was and not realizing the danger that I could potentially be in at the time."
"We were dancing and having a great time listening to music. Next thing I know we hit the side of a curb and hit a tree head-on. I was paralyzed instantly. It was the scariest moment of my life. For about the first two weeks I had no idea I was paralyzed. When I came to, that’s when the doctor came in and asked if I had any questions. My first question was 'can I still have babies?' My second question was 'why can’t I feel my legs?' Our world flipped upside down that night on February 21, 2010. I am now a T10 paraplegic," she wrote.
In a separate Instagram post, she said couldn't have had asked for a better day. "To say it was a dream is an understatement, To our friends and family that attended- thank you for coming in from all over. Each of you made it so special and means so much to Jay and I," she wrote.
Chelsie Hill's wedding was photographed by Asha Bailey. You can follow her work on Instagram and on their website.