Bride surprises matron of honor who gave birth ahead of wedding
"The thought of her thinking to do that was just absolutely beautiful."
Arielle deNeergaard and Christine West have been best friends for nearly two decades so when deNeergaard was planning her June wedding, she knew she wanted to have West by her side.
West felt the same way, and she was excited about the prospect of being in deNeergaard's bridal party.
"She was my maid of honor at my wedding, so me being the maid of honor for her and doing those duties was something that I really, really, really wanted to do," West told "Good Morning America."
But West found out she was pregnant shortly after deNeergaard asked her to be in her wedding and the two best friends weren't sure what would happen.
West gave birth to her and her husband Chandler West's first child on June 6, one day after her due date and two days before deNeergaard's June 8 wedding, and it didn't seem likely West could make it to her best friend's big day.
Little did she know, deNeergaard had a big surprise planned for the best friend she'd known since first grade.
The bride-to-be and her wedding photographer Ean Cuenca of Cuence Creative drove to the hospital where West had been admitted for a special surprise visit, after checking in beforehand with Chandler West.
deNeergaard wore her white wedding gown for the occasion and when she opened the door to West's hospital room, West said she was "shell-shocked."
"The thought of her thinking to do that was just absolutely beautiful," West said. "It just shows how selfless she is as a person and who she is to her core and how important our relationship is, for her to genuinely have taken time away from her literal wedding to come and see me all in the hospital bed."
Cuenca captured the best friends' touching reunion and shared the moment in an Instagram reel that has quickly gone viral.
deNeergaard said she had ultimately "made peace" with the thought of not having West at her wedding but when she realized she could potentially surprise West before the ceremony, she jumped at the chance.
"She's my best friend and my sister and soulmate. I just couldn't imagine not sharing that moment with her," deNeergaard said. "And because there was a way to make it happen, too, I was just like, let's do this."
Both the bride and new mom teared up during the surprise and said it couldn't have turned out any better than they imagined.
"The fact that I didn't lose out on being able to see her and how absolutely beautiful that she looked, is something that I will just always be thankful," West said. "We were there for each other in the biggest capacity that we could be."
deNeergaard added, "I love her so much to my core and I was just really, really excited for the both of us and for both of our big moments that we were having. And I saw an opportunity to share in those moments and the duality of it was just so cool and cosmic."
Afterward, deNeergaard met the Wests' newborn and then traveled to The Butterfly Pavilion in Acworth, Georgia, to get ready to tie the knot with her now-husband Anders deNeergaard.
"I would not take any of the day back and how it ended up playing out," deNeergaard said.