SALT LAKE CITY — One Utah couple tied the knot Thursday in a place you'd least expect - on the patio at the University of Utah Hospital.
"There was a lot of tears and a lot of emotions," said Emberli Smuin.
Emberli and Dallen picked out a date for their special day after getting engaged in December 2021. They've been planning a big wedding ever since.
Dallen's mom was unexpectedly injured after a garage fell on her and went to the University of Utah hospital to be treated.
"Me and my dad and my mom were tearing down a garage and the building fell over on my mom and she went out to the University of Utah," Dallen explained. "They thought she was going to come home Monday or Tuesday and that did not end up working"
Instead of moving forward with their original plans, the couple decided to change their venue so she wouldn't have to miss out on the occasion.
"She said 'we can just zoom or facetime you while you guys are getting married,'" Dallen explained, "and I was like nope not going to happen - you will be there."
"Yeah it was a little stressful at times like a lot of back and forth - 'is she coming home? are we going to do it out there? but it worked out really well in the end," remarked Emberli.
Leaders with the hospital said the wedding was put on with extremely short notice, but they're grateful to hospital staff who helped pull the event together.
"We learned about it yesterday about noon-ish," explained Meredith Reid, Senior Nursing Director of Acute Care. "This was a pivotal for Dallen's mom and we wanted to be as helpful as we could for this event."
While a wedding ceremony at the hospital is rare, it's not completely unheard of.
"We have done ceremonies - not of this nature - every story is different," Reid said.
As grateful the newlyweds are to be married, they're just as excited that Dallen's mom will be headed home tomorrow to continue recovering.
"I couldn't have imagined it without his mom there - it just couldn't have happened," said Emberli, "and I didn't want to move it either so it was really special and really intimate and I really appreciate everything."
