When most women think of their dream wedding day the first thing that comes to mind is the venue.

What Instagram-worthy backdrop will be featured in all the photos? The venue is the center of the special day that women dream about their entire lives.

Whether it be in the local church, a fancy hotel, a barn with lantern lights, or at the couple’s favorite restaurant, the venue is the biggest decision. One that can take months to finalize.

After deciding on the venue, there’s about a million decisions that will follow it. What type of food, bridesmaid’s dresses, music, and so much more will all have to be decided on. No wonder why wedding planning can cause so much stress.

But have you ever thought about what you would do if you had to cancel everything three days before the day? What if you had to scrap the venue you so carefully picked out months before and had to get married in a hospital?

Yep, a hospital. Not exactly the first place that comes to mind for a wedding venue. Well, that’s exactly where I had my wedding. And you know what? I would do it all over again, too.

Here’s my story:

Four years ago, I met the love of my life. He was (still is) the perfect person for me. The bond we have is not something I ever take for granted and I consider myself the luckiest woman in the world. We love each other deeply and every day is filled with so much love and happiness.

This is the reason I started my coaching business. I want other women to find their person, too. I want other women to experience the magic I get to experience in a loving relationship. I want women to fall in love with themselves first and find a partner that complements their life. This is my passion and main mission for my life—the world needs more love!

The first year of the relationship between me and my husband was pure magic. It’s like both our lives started over and there was so much to experience. There was so much to learn about each other and memories to make. I will never, ever forget those early days. While our relationship is still just as magical, you can never replace the feeling you get when you first fall in love.

We both felt on top of the world, like our future was so bright and nothing would stop us. But when my husband started experiencing unknown health issues, our life started to fall apart. Our relationship was strong but his health was failing and we couldn’t figure out why.

Over the next two years, he would have to visit the emergency room four separate times for intense pain. Antibiotics and pain meds would only provide temporary relief. We never knew when the pain would come back.

It was a scary time for us because we had no idea what was going on. The pain would flare up during weekends away when we had to sit on a plane for four hours. It wasn’t just emergency room visits either—he would be laid on the couch for a week or so recovering, only ingesting water and bread.

And it wasn’t something obvious like a broken arm or a flu, it was a recurring internal issue, similar to an auto-immune condition.

I would not wish this experience on anyone. Seeing the person you love in so much pain is incredibly scary. My childhood fear was always that something bad would happen to my loved ones and I would have daily anxiety about it. I had to confront this fear head on, whether I wanted to or not.

To add onto all this happening, the worldwide pandemic started, adding more to the feeling of uncertainty. All I knew was that I loved this man and we would build a future together, no matter what was happening in the world. In sickness and health.

So when he proposed to me in May 2020, I, of course said yes. There’s no one else in the universe I would even think about doing life with. He proposed with a blue sapphire ring that he designed and made himself with my name inscribed on the band. It means the world to me.

When it came to planning the wedding, we were stumped on what to do. We would be having guests from all over the country, as well as international guests who would be attending. How could we even go about planning that in a pandemic?

We did what most quarantine couples did: just hoped that the pandemic would magically go away and we could plan a big wedding in a short time. But after almost a year of waiting, we knew we needed a new strategy.

At the time we lived in Seattle with an endless array of beautiful locations to get married at. There is no shortage of trees, lakes, mountains, and wildflowers. We decided on a small outdoor ceremony in August 2021 by a lake surrounded by close family. It was the perfect plan for all the uncertainty happening around us.

But as my family began to arrive for the special day, my husband’s pain started up that week. After months of no issues, it was rearing its ugly head again. With the wedding less than a week away, we hoped and prayed that antibiotics would give him the relief he was looking for. Anything to make it to the ceremony we had planned.

Three days before the ceremony, and on the first day of my three-week vacation, my husband looked at me and said we need to go to the emergency room. I knew something was terribly wrong this time. I was about to enter into the most emotional and terrifying 24 hours of my life.

We got him to the hospital and he got the much needed pain medications. While we waited for the doctor, we hoped it would be like all the other trips to the ER. He would get a CT scan to make sure it was nothing serious and be prescribed antibiotics before going on his merry way. But life had other plans.

The first doctor told us that the scan was more concerning this time and he would need to see a surgeon that same day. Now it wasn’t even a matter of making our wedding, I just needed my soulmate to be okay. He would be transferred to a different hospital while I went home to let out our dogs.

I was home for about an hour trying to come down from the shock of everything and letting our family and friends know. I still didn’t know what was going to happen in the next couple of hours. I just needed to make sure he was okay.

When I arrived back at the hospital, I saw the surgeon and a bunch of nurses getting ready to wheel him off. The doctor looked at me and said my husband needed surgery right away and then he would need to be in the hospital for seven days. I couldn’t even ask about our wedding before bursting into tears. He would need the surgery now—there was no other choice.

I could barely talk with him before he was whisked away. I don’t think I have ever felt that much exhaustion from pure emotion before. Obviously I wanted him to be safe and have a long, healthy life with me—that’s really all that mattered.

While I waited for the news of his surgery, all I could do in that moment was surrender. I had to trust that he would be okay and we would get to live the future we’ve always dreamed about. The perfectionist side of me that loves control had to be quiet that day. I had to lean into my spiritual side more than ever in my life.

I am so happy to say that the surgery went well and he recovered quickly! His pain was pretty much gone and the unexpected ER trips will be a thing of the past. The surgery really was the best option for him, regardless of the timing. So with our wedding date approaching, we thought, why not make these vows mean something! We decided we would make the wedding happen wherever we were, even if that meant the hospital.

So on August 22, 2021, we got married in the hospital. With my husband hooked up to IVs, me in an old bridesmaids dress, and my parents as witnesses, we sealed our fate together. Our officiant took some photos of us while two nurses cheered us on. It was a day we will never, ever forget.

During this entire process, I learned two very important lessons. The first lesson is that I am not in control of anything—none of us are. All I can really do is surrender to the flow of life and know that I will be forever supported, even if things feel scary.

The other biggest lesson I learned was just the immense power of love. I waited for years to fall in love and the universe delivered the perfect person to me. No matter what happens, we are in this together. And every woman deserves to feel this level of love.

We are planning a bigger wedding in India sometime this winter so we can officially celebrate, but I am grateful every day I get to call this man my husband. Oh, and he’s never felt better in his life. I am amazed all the time at his strength and determination!

I got married in a hospital, and I would do it again. The venue was the last thing that mattered; our love was stronger than that. I got to marry the love of my life, the man who makes me happy every single day. The best friend I have ever had is now my life partner. And for that, I am the luckiest woman in the world.