You may have already seen this photo of a bride in her wedding dress and shoes with her hair and makeup done and an ambulance and fire truck behind her.
No, this wasn’t a planned photo despite the fact that Sarah Ray is a paramedic by trade. No, this photo was snapped spontaneously when tragedy struck on her way to her reception.
And while this photo has found its way around the internet for years, we are sharing it with you again because it’s the seventh anniversary of when the photo was taken and to simply remind you that not all heroes wear capes, some wear wedding dresses.
Bride Stuns in Wedding Dress While Aiding Crash Victims on Her Way to Her Reception
As the story goes, according to USA Today, Sarah Ray was on her way to her wedding reception when she witnessed her grandmother collide with another car on the way to the venue.
Knowing that there were people in need of help, Sarah took off her bride cap and put on her paramedic cap. She then bustled up her dress and climbed into the back of the ambulance to see where she could be of some assistance.
At the time, the photo of Ray went viral garnering millions of views. But as she told USA Today, she couldn’t for the life of her understand why the picture caught so many people’s eyes.
“I just hate that everyone uses the word ‘hero.’ It’s not heroic. That’s just what we do every day, and it was family. I believe any other first responder would do the same thing. It just happened that I was in a wedding dress.”
As Ray explained the crash happened after the ceremony took place. Ray, her grandmother, her grandfather, and her mother and father stayed back while the other guest left early for the reception.
The group wanted to make sure Ray had all of her things with her while she and her mom—who is a professional photographer—took some last-minute photos. Not long after leaving the church, Ray got the call that her grandmother had been in a wreck and the car was totaled.
Thankfully, her grandmother was okay but had sustained some bruising from the impact of the airbags deploying. “The first thing she said to me was, ‘Oh, Sarah, I’m so sorry I ruined your day,'” Ray told USA Today at the time.
But Ray reassured her grandmother that her day was far from ruined and that she was just happy she was okay. And that’s when Ray took off her paramedic cap, put back on her bride cap, and enjoyed the rest of her night.
That’s when her mom snapped the iconic photo. “She’s giving me that look, like, ‘Really? You’re going to take my picture now?'” Ray’s mom, Marcy Martin, explained. “It was just about the contrast — the beauty of her and then the chaos in the background.”
How amazing!
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