Renata Russell says her wedding was perfect, which was held earlier this month at the Labrador Health Centre, days before her mother Sabina Hunter died. (Submitted by Denise Russell)
A Labrador mother’s dying wish to see her daughter get married prompted a couple to host a wedding in a hospital — a ceremony pulled together in just four days earlier this month.
Sabina Hunter died at the Labrador Health Centre on Sept. 10, shortly after her daughter Renata Russell married Draper Russell.
The couple had their wedding at Hunter’s bedside so the bride’s mother could wtiness it, said Renata, who has been with her now-husband for 12 years. The pair were engaged a decade ago and have two children together.
“She bought my wedding dress at least 10 years ago…. She’s been waiting for it,” Renata told CBC News.
It was her mother’s last wish to give her away at her wedding. “And that’s what we did,” Renata said.
She described the ceremony as perfect, as close family and friends also gathered by her mother’s bedside.
LISTEN | CBC’s Andrea McGuire chats with Renata Russell and her mother-in-law Denise Russell about pulling a wedding together in four days:
“I couldn’t picture anything more perfect than even walking down just the hospital corridor, right? Just to go and have my kids with me, have my family with me and my mom there. And it was short, sweet, but it was absolutely the most perfect day of my life.”
When Hunter saw Renata in her wedding dress, she cried, recalled Renata.
“I could tell this was a very proud moment for her to finally see me in the dress she bought me 10 years ago.”
Holding on
Renata’s mother-in-law Denise Russell said she’d visited Hunter earlier this month and asked what Hunter was holding on to life for, but said Hunter didn’t have an answer.
Denise later asked Renata if her mother could be holding on to see Renata get married.
“And I said, ‘Well if this is what your mom is holding on [to], this is what you want, we will make it happen,'” said Denise.
She said preparations came together smoothly, with people eager to help out by arranging the bouquet, getting the rings, and making the cake and dress alterations.
Renata Russell says her mother Sabina bought her wedding dress a decade ago and had tears in her eyes when Renata wore it earlier this month. (Submitted by Denise Russell)
She added the nurses in the hospital were also extremely helpful and even helped decorate the hospital room for the ceremony.
“It all came together in just four days,” said Denise.
Renata said she just needed to procure the wedding licence, which she said she got just in time.
“You don’t really expect to have too much anyway, having a wedding in a hospital. But I’ve got to say … everything that we did need we managed to accomplish in those four days,” said Renata.
Four days after the wedding, Hunter died in hospital. Renata said her mother will be missed and that she took care of people around her.
“She was just so selfless,” said Renata, “She was just full of love and laughter all the time.”
Renata and her fiancé of the past decade, Draper Russell, got married at the Labrador Health Centre, as friends and family pulled together to make the ceremony happen in four days. (Submitted by Denise Russell)
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