An Indiana woman was determined to memorialize the man she was supposed to marry after he died in a tragic accident months earlier.
Jessica Padgett, 25, and Kendall Murphy, 27, got engaged during a tour of the University of Notre Dame football stadium, the BBC reported. They had planned a wedding for Sept. 29.
But Murphy, a volunteer firefighter, was responding to an accident scene last November when he was struck by a Dodge Ram pickup truck, according to local authorities.
So Padgett decided to go ahead with the wedding anyway, and visited Murphy’s gravesite on the planned wedding date — in the dress she had ordered earlier for the event. The wedding party, their families and other volunteer firefighters also attended.
Jessica Padgett was set to marry Kendall Murphy, a volunteer firefighter, on Sept. 29. | Facebook/Mandi Kneep/Loving Life Photography
Murphy’s mother asked wedding photographer Mandi Kneep to attend and take photos.
Kneep’s tear-jerking images show Padgett and family members surrounding Murphy’s grave; Padgett with his firefighter gear; and a photo of her with a superimposed image of him.
The photos have gone viral.
The bride kneels by her fiance’s grave. | Facebook/Mandi Kneep/Loving Life Photography
“Kendall was an amazing guy. A very loving, compassionate man. He would lend a shirt to anybody,” she told the BBC.
