A groom burst into tears of joy at the altar when his wife surprised him with his beloved dog in a tuxedo who came down the aisle to greet him after some family members couldn’t make it.
Shane Witkowski, 42, from Tampa, Florida, is inseparable from their dog Tucker, wife Lindsey, 35, said.
Tucker was the one who initially helped bond the couple, as when Lindsey adopted him in 2017, she and Shane were just friends.
Lindsey sent Shane a picture of Tucker and said that he was the pooch’s dad – and when the couple then became official, Shane trained Tucker, who follows him everywhere.
Due to this closeness, Lindsey knew she had to incorporate Tucker into their big day, which took place on April 28, in Tampa.
In the buildup to the wedding, Shane got news his mom suffered an injury and some of his family, who live in Buffalo, New York, couldn’t attend the wedding – so Lindsey knew Tucker being there would boost Shane’s spirits.
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She reached out to Furry Ventures Pet Care, a company specializing in incorporating dogs into weddings.
Linsey and owner Regina started kicking around ideas, and they decided with the wedding being on a Friday, when guests could potentially be stuck in weekday traffic, would provide the perfect foil for the surprise.
Lindsey made her way down the aisle, and once she and Shane were at the altar, the officiant announced a late guest was arriving.
That was when Tucker, aged six, came walking down the aisle, wearing a tux specially designed for dogs.
As soon as Shane saw his beloved pooch, he immediately welled up, fighting back tears as Tucker approached him.
Furry Ventures later shared a clip of the moment on social media, where it went viral and viewers loved Lindsey’s “beautiful gesture.”
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Lindsey said: “The moment solidified it was the best decision I could have ever made in my life, standing in front of our family and friends in a beautiful space on a beautiful day and marrying the love of my life.
“Seeing him, a big brawly bald man, break down the way he did, the way I knew he would, made every single penny, annoying email, every worry about the day and all the planning completely worth it.
“Family and friends who were at the wedding were shocked; a lot of them admitted they completely lost it when they saw Tuck come down the aisle, and some expressed they were concerned Shane wasn’t going be able to pull it together and get back up and finish the ceremony.
“Weddings can be stressful and honestly hard to plan at times but at the end of the day it’s about marrying the person you love.
“I believe when you truly love someone you want to see them happy and do whatever you can to make them happy, that’s all I wanted.
“I wanted to make my husband happy, and nothing makes him happier than his boy Tucker – and his new wife, of course!”