MURRAY, Utah — Despite the plans Kylee Porter and her fiancee Dakota Warner had made for their June wedding, things took a sad turn a few weeks ago that forced the couple to reassess what was really important.
Just after visiting with his daughter, Michael Porter, Kylee's father, suffered sudden heart failure and was rushed to the hospital where it was learned that his brain was no longer functioning.
Knowing that she couldn't be married without her father present, Kylee asked if she could hold the wedding inside her father's ICU room at Intermountain Medical Center in Murray.
“The guy who is supposed to walk me down the aisle and give me away, someone who I’ve looked up to my whole entire life isn’t going to be there on my special day,” Kylee told the hospital. “He called me his princess and I need my daddy there.”
Normal COVID-19 protocols would make it nearly impossible to hold a wedding with visitors, but since Michael was nearing the end of his life, the hospital approved the event.
Without her knowledge, hospital employees made decorations and hung balloons to make the room appear special for the wedding.
The employees also bought a wooden heart that read, "You have my whole heart for my whole life.”
With family looking on, Kylee and Dakota were married at Michael's bedside in a ceremony officiated by her uncle.
According to the hospital, Michael Porter "passed away peacefully" after being transported back to his home.
