A couple handed their wedding guests eye masks so they could experience part of the ceremony as the bride who is blind does – with events described to them.
The unique moment took place before Katie Hearn Stich, 38, from Smyrna, Georgia, was set to walk down the aisle and meet her groom, Zach Stich, 37.
Katie lost her eyesight in 2017, when a rare disease damaged her optic nerves.
In 2021, Katie said she was still very anxious about dating without sight, but through the use of technology, she was able to connect with Zach, and the pair hit it off right away.
Katie’s condition didn’t initially scare Zach, and as their relationship became more serious, Zach became a great audio describer for Katie.
The 38-year-old said that, after losing her sight, it was not the big things that she missed – driving, watching movies – but tasks that she had been doing longer, such as writing notes and curling her hair, small parts of daily life that then had to be done differently.
Zach would help Katie by describing visuals of tasks (on her plate: “eggs at three o’clock; sausage at six o’clock; toast at nine o’clock”), and this fed into events they attended, too.
After Zach had described a 2023 wedding ceremony to Katie, talking her through when the bride was entering and describing the dress, for example, Katie knew she wanted a similar experience for people on her wedding day.
The couple worked with their wedding planner and their audio describer, Paul Byrd, and it was decided that guests would wear eye masks for part of the ceremony.
On the day itself, at the Lindale Mill, in Lindale, on December 12, 2025, Paul encouraged guests to put on their masks, before telling them not to worry, “I will be with you. I will describe everything you are missing visually.”
With guests wearing their masks, Paul described how Zach, his father, and brother were entering, and the variety of blue suits they were wearing.
“Zach has his long golden locks flowing. When I look at his hair, I’m jealous,” Paul joked.
Then, Paul described the bridesmaids and Katie’s young niece entering, before adding, “Zach has started crying again.”
When guests were then encouraged to remove their eye masks, there were other tears of emotion all around, too, as Katie walked down the aisle.
She said: “I was full of emotion as I was getting ready to marry this man that means so much to me, and knowing the people so close to us had experienced life like me for seven minutes before we began was overwhelming.
“I expected it to be impactful because no one knows what it’s like until you live it, but the impact it had on our guests was way more than I expected.
“Friends and extended family still tell me when I see them how much they enjoyed that part of the wedding.
“I give credit to our wedding planner Hannah Guest and our audio describer Paul Byrd.
“They both truly took my vision and made it a reality.
“As I was walking to the ceremony with my dad, I was emotional hearing the description of our wedding party and family members being described in such beautiful ways.”
