NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Time now for some good news: Brace yourself for a wedding story to top all wedding stories.
Something potentially tragic turned into what the happy couple now calls their "miracle wedding." A wedding day always makes for a special memory, usually for all the right reasons. That's no different in this case, but let's just say this marriage ceremony did not go as planned and ended up here in the emergency room.
There's no question JD Burgess and Rita Barnette are very much in love. They also share a common love of motorcycles. Now this past Saturday the two were to be married in Wartrace. But as the bride waited for the groom to arrive, she heard sirens in the distance.
That's when Rita learned JD was in a motorcycle wreck on his way to the wedding. She posted a Facebook live on her way to Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
"I'm telling ya, if you've never prayed for anything before, pray for my husband. And I'm headed to the hospital. They're taking him by helicopter. Just pray. Thank you. And I love you all. The wedding is canceled."
Or so she thought.
JD suffered a bruised liver, broken ribs, a fractured elbow and head trauma.
But the first thing he said to his bride-to-be when she walked into emergency was he still wanted to get married — that day.
So, seven hours after the wedding was supposed to start the loving couple got hitched with a nurse working the cellphone camera.
"Repeat after me. Both of you at the same time. Say don't ever ask me to turn away from you or to leave you. Or to leave you."
JD was battered and bruised but his friend Jerry Jeter married them right there in the ER with a nurse as their witness.
"I now pronounce you husband and wife. Mr. and Mrs. Jeff Burgess — kissing."
JD is still recovering in the hospital, but the two now have the certificate and the rings to prove they are marriedm though no one will ever forget how this wedding happened.
Rita's still by her husband's side here at Vanderbilt. She said they had an awesome ER honeymoon suite, with an attentive staff of nurses making for a great miracle wedding.
Congrats to them.
Rita and JD thank everyone for their well wishes and prayers.
