Grandparents and bride share emotional 1st look in viral wedding video
Kelsey Rondenet and her grandparents open up about the special memory to "GMA."
A bride and her grandparents shared an unforgettable first look at her wedding, and a video clip of the emotional moment has since gone viral.
On her second wedding anniversary on July 16, Kelsey Rondenet opened up to "Good Morning America" about the special memory, which was first shared on Instagram by videographer Northwest Film Co.
Rondenet said her wedding planner Sabrina Peters from J29 Events had the idea to do a first look between Rondenet and her grandparents Don and Mary Hamel.
"She actually had the idea to do a first look with my grandparents. And the minute she said it, I was like, 'Oh, that's perfect. They would love that so much,'" Rondenet recalled.
The 30-year-old said she and her grandparents, now 79 and 78, have shared a "super close" relationship over the years, even though they now live far apart from each other, with Rondenet and her husband in Oregon and the Hamels in Florida.
Despite the distance, Rondenet said she knew she wanted to include her beloved grandmother and grandfather, whom she calls her Nana and Pepere, in her wedding.
"They mean a lot to me, my family, and obviously my husband as well," Rondenet said. "I really wanted some special way to incorporate them in the big day."
The sweet first-look moment was captured on camera by Deyla Huss Photography, and the video clip from Northwest Film Co., which was shared to Instagram on July 22, 2022, has since picked up over 685,000 likes. In the clip, Rondenet walks in her wedding dress toward her grandparents who have their backs toward her. Once Rondenet's grandparents turn around to see her, grandfather Don Hamel can't help but burst into tears.
Mary Hamel said she still recalls that moment well.
"Pepere got very emotional at the wedding. He was just flabbergasted when he saw her and I just couldn't stop smiling. It was just such a beautiful, beautiful day," she said.
Don Hamel told "GMA" he still tears up thinking back on the memory too.
"When I turned around, and she was standing there in a beautiful dress, and I'm looking, I said, 'Where's my little girl gone?'" he recounted. "The tears came down quite easily."
"I said to myself, 'All these years that she was grown up flashed before my eyes,' and I'm looking at her, and my mind is going a hundred miles an hour, and I said, 'Wow.' And we're so glad we were there for her special day," he added.
Rondenet and her grandpa would go on to take the dance floor afterward and make more special memories, but Rondenet said the first look was one of her favorite moments from her big day.
"Seeing the video and having the moment was even more meaningful than I even imagined leading up to it so I'm very glad that she had the idea to do that because it's one of my favorite parts of the entire day," Rondenet said.
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