Tears are a common reaction at weddings, but when Jaquie Goncher walked down the aisle to marry her husband, Andy, their friends and family were left bawling. It wasn't just because their love story is one for the ages; it was because walking down the aisle was the one thing no one expected Goncher to do.
LOVE STORIES BY HALIE + ALEC // WWW.LOVESTORIESBYUS.COMEight years ago (when she was 17), a spinal cord injury left Goncher paralyzed from the neck down, Cosmopolitan reports. At the time, doctors told her should would likely never walk again. But only one month later, Goncher was able to control the muscles in her legs to the point where she could stand up.
LOVE STORIES BY HALIE + ALEC // WWW.LOVESTORIESBYUS.COMSince then, she's put in time at the gym on stationary bikes and machines, which has slowly paid off. When she got engaged last August, Goncher had worked her way up to walking around her home while holding onto the walls, but long distances weren't possible due to her low blood pressure.
LOVE STORIES BY HALIE + ALEC // WWW.LOVESTORIESBYUS.COM"I would go to the gym and get so frustrated that I wouldn't go back," she tellsCosmopolitan. "I was trying to make myself do it but I kept failing at it and then I would be disgusted with myself. But I finally said, 'You have to do this. You're not going to magically get better.'"
LOVE STORIES BY HALIE + ALEC // WWW.LOVESTORIESBYUS.COMOver the next nine months, Goncher, like most brides, channeled the stress of her impending nuptials into an urgency to hit the gym. "On your wedding day, everybody's looking at you, so you want to feel the most beautiful," she says. "By no means can you not be beautiful in a wheelchair. I totally believe you can be bomb in a wheelchair, but I didn't want to be defined by that. I wanted to be normal again."
LOVE STORIES BY HALIE + ALEC // WWW.LOVESTORIESBYUS.COMMission accomplished: Goncher not only found herself able to walk down the aisle on her wedding day, she also stood sans-wheelchair for all of her stunning wedding pics captured by Love Stories by Halie + Alec.
LOVE STORIES BY HALIE + ALEC // WWW.LOVESTORIESBYUS.COM"I felt accomplished that I had actually set out to do something and I was doing it," Goncher says. "I was going to reach my goal of enjoying my wedding and being pleased with my pictures which were taken by [Love Stories by Halie + Alec]."
