A bride and grandma duo are making hearts explode after photos from a recent wedding have gone viral for a special reason. Brenna Kleman knew that she wanted to have her 83-year-old grandmother be a part of her big day when she got married in Wichita, Kansas, in April, but little did she know that when her grandmother walked down the aisle as her flower girl her sheer joy would touch people around the world.
Kleman and her now-husband, Brock Kendall, married on April 27 but before their nuptials, the bride knew she wanted to include a special member of her family.
Kleman spoke with HuffPost about her ceremony and revealed that she got the idea to ask her grandmother, who asked to remain anonymous, to be part of the wedding because of her job.
Kleman, who works as a registered nurse in an intensive care unit, said that a patient inspired her. “I was taking care of a very sick elderly women who told me the story how she was a flower girl for her grandchild. She was my inspiration to bring my own grandmother into my wedding day,” Kleman said.
And on the day of the wedding, her grandmother's walk down the aisle was a huge hit.
“[Grandma] was very emotional,” Kleman recalled. “She was almost in tears because she wanted to make sure she did OK on my special day. My sisters were there to tell her how amazing she did.”
Of course, no flower girl walk would be complete without a signature petal toss. At the end of her walk, Kleman's grandmother threw flower petals into the air — a moment which was expertly capture by Thomas Felts Photography.
The photos were posted in a Facebook group, and it was there that they really took off.
Kleman said it was her cousin who shared the photos to the Pantsuit Nation Facebook group last weekend and since then, people have been obsessed.
Felt tells CafeMom that he got the magic snapshot just by watching Kleman's grandmother, who was "so exciting!"
"Being a photographer I knew the photo was going to be good! However once I looked through my viewfinder it was basically an adrenaline rush!" he says.
And Kleman told HuffPost that her grandfather also recognized her grandmother's genius. “Grandpa was so proud of her,” she said. “He told the photographer, ‘That’s my flower girl.’ The photographer did such a great job in directing the shot and grandma executed it perfectly. Every time she threw more petals in the air, our family cheered louder.”
The bride also added that she hoped other people see her grandmother's free-spirited photos and learn to not take things too seriously.
It's so easy to get caught up with having a picture-perfect wedding, but if Kleman's grandmother has taught her anything, it's to not worry about perfection.
“I have learned from my grandmother that life is too short to dwell on the negatives," she said. "As she would say: ‘Oh hell, oh well’ and ‘Happiness is a choice.'"
"She is my inspiration," the bride added. "And I hope that she can inspire you too — one flower petal at a time.”
