See Officers' Touching Gesture at Wedding for Daughter of Slain Deputy
"It was very moving," the photographer told ABC News.
— -- The traditional father-daughter dance was a moment the bride, guests and even the photographer will never forget at Kirsten Mundell's wedding this weekend in Bonney Lake, Washington.
Almost six years ago, Mundell's father, Kent Mundell, a sheriff's deputy in Pierce County, Washington, died in the line of duty, according to ABC affiliate KOMO-TV in Seattle.
"It's hard realizing it's been almost six years and he's not going to be there," Mundell told ABC affiliate KOMO-TV in Seattle.
But Mundell made sure to honor her dad at her wedding with a seat in the front row. And while Mundell asked one of her dad's fellow officers to walk her down the aisle, she had no idea what was planned for the father-daughter dance, wedding photographer Angela Lyons told ABC News.
Mundell's dance began with family friend Det. Don Jones, who had walked her down the aisle, KOMO said.
Then, in a tear-jerking moment caught on video, other law enforcement officers and her father's friends cut in.
"When the dance started, I started tearing up," Lyons told ABC News. "When the other officers started cutting in for the dance ... she is a very strong girl, she didn't cry all day, she was trying to hold it together ... but you can see in the photos ... the emotion."
"It was very moving," Lyons said. "It was very difficult to shoot .... you just felt that with her."
"All of a sudden someone taps me on the shoulder and says, 'Can I cut in?' and I was shocked," Mundell told KOMO.
"He said, 'There's a whole line of us.' And right as he said that is when the next officer cut in and I just broke down," she said.
"There wasn't a dry eye in the room," Jones said, according to KOMO.
Mundell called it the "best wedding surprise ever."
"People need to know that their family's lives go on,” Mundell said to KOMO, “but they're still affected by it every day.”
