Big Hearted Bride Arrived Late for Reception Party When Duty Called

Sarah Ray, a 29 year old bride was late for her own reception party, and with a good reason. She and fellow paramedics had rushed to the rescue of a relative who had been involved in a road accident just one hour after the church ceremony, held on October 3 2015 at the Grace Church of the Nazerene in Clarksville Tennessee.

The wedding party, her parents and grand parents had stayed behind at the church to collect their belongings as well as take a few last photographs. Her father and grand father left in one car, with her grandmother close behind them in a separate vehicle. The accident occurred at the intersection of 101st Avenue Division Parkway and Trenton Road when another driver failed to respect the Highway Code and chose to drive through a red stop light.

The law breaker headed straight into her grandmother’s car, totally destroying it. On receiving a telephone call about the crash, the wedding party and guests, who are also paramedics, rushed to the scene of the accident. Sarah jumped into her sisters and husbands car and rushed to the intersection.

Hiking up her wedding dress, she climbed into the ambulance that had arrived to take care of casualties. Inside, she consoled her grandmother who had bruising and other minour injuties caused by the cars airbags.

“Oh Sarah, I am so sorry I ruined your day,” exclaimed the disheartened grandmother.

To which Sarah responded that it did not matter whether it was her wedding day or not, it was the natural thing that any first responder would have done. Moreover a member of her family was involved, and there was nothing heroic about her act.

As she left the ambulance relieved that her grandmother was going to be okay, her mother could not resist the temptation of taking her now famous photograph, captured with the ambulance and fire track in the background.

A few days after the wedding, the photograph went viral with postings on various pages on Face book. Thus far it has been liked and shared by more than 12 million people worldwide. Jimmie Edwards, the Head of the Emergency Medical Services where she and her husband Paul work, was surprised at the response received from the public. The station has since received numerous calls from the media, keen to cover the story.

“She exemplifies our profession,” he stated. “She is an excellent paramedic. Personally she is a very humble and compassionate person.” Her husband Paul Ray who works at another station was not in the photograph. He instead, opted to cheer on his generous wife and was amused at all the attention she received!