A woman who had gone to buy wedding items with her fiance but got into an accident had nurses as her bridesmaids in their wedding at a Nyeri hospital.
Miriam Gakenia, 31, and 27-year-old James Mwangi were injured in an accident at Kiangwachi area along Nyeri- Nairobi highway on Tuesday night.
Gakenia and Mwangi, who exchanged their vows at Outspan hospital on Saturday, were on their way back from Nairobi to Nyeri when the accident occurred.
Gakenia suffered a right hip joint injury and a broken right arm while Mwangi's right hand was injured. He had been treated and discharged but she could neither sit nor stand.
“The wedding had to go on. We had prepared for six months. The devil was not going to get in the way. She would have become my wife even if she had lost her legs," Mwangi explained.
Gakenia said from her hospital bed: “I informed my doctor of the wedding and told him we were not ready to postpone it."
She said the hospital agreed to hold the wedding on its grounds. Nurses and matron Jane Wamucii escorted her to the location on her bed.
Gakenia and Mwangi had difficulties putting on their wedding rings as their hands were in casts but they exchanged their vows in what Reverend Stephen Mungai described as "a first in Nyeri".
It was also difficult for them to sign their marriage certificate and to share their wedding cake, but these paled in comparison to the exchange of vows at the emotional ceremony.
“I have never conducted such a wedding. It shows far love can go. It is a lesson in sticking with your vision regardless of hurdles, and eventually reaching your destination," the reverend said.
The couple did not have a photo shoot after the wedding but was taken to a private room at the hospital where Mwangi sat by Gakenia's bed for hours.
Gakenia, a system administrator at Dedan Kimathi University of Technology, will remain at the hospital for six weeks.
Their wedding was to take place at Dominion Towers Deliverance Church.