Bride goes ahead with wedding hours after mother dies in accident
A grieving bride has gone ahead with her wedding just hours after her mother died.
Ann Wittenberg travelled to Tofino, off Canada’s west coast, from Ottawa for her daughter’s big day.
The dream day took a tragic turn when Ms Wittenberg drowned the morning of the wedding while out for a surf with her other daughter Rachel.
Bride Victoria Emon still got married on Sunday despite the tragedy and wrote a heartbreaking post on Facebook explaining her decision.
“To everyone who thinks it was easy and heartless for me to go on with my wedding, can you please just understand that my mum was so excited to be there and watch me get married,” she wrote.
“It was the hardest day of my life. I kept looking for her, she should have been there.
“She wanted us to. We all did what mum wanted us to do. And she was there. There was an eagle that flew the whole night with us, it was truly amazing.
“Just because I went ahead with it does not mean it was easy in any way. I loved her so much.”
Ms Emon was thankful to the group that pulled her mother out of the water and those who took care of her sister in the wake of the tragedy.
Ms Emon told the Vancouver Sun she wanted people to remember her mother.
“She was such a good mum. She was always there for us. She always told us she loved us so much, and she was just like this little ball of energy,” she said.
“She was so amazing, and so loved.”
Royal Canadian Mounted Police said in a statement Ms Wittenberg died just before 10.30am local time on Sunday at Long Beach in the Pacific Rim National Park.
The 52-year-old was retrieved from the ocean by bystanders who administered first aid.
Police reminded all visitors to the Tofino area that ocean waves and currents could be unpredictable.
