Neither of my kids would let me wear them for long, but this one still got me: An Ohio bride is attracting attention for bringing her 2-year-old down the aisle with her — on her back, in a gorgeous sling.
Dalton Mort of Steubenville, Ohio, wanted to find a way to include her daughter, Ellora, in her wedding last year.
“We really wanted her to be involved in the ceremony because we felt marriage is a commitment to our family as much as our own relationship,” Mort told Popsugar. “Also, realistically, it was just easier to wear her … She actually fell asleep about 20 minutes in.”
The photos of Mort’s colorful, baby-wearing wedding, by Pennsylvania-based photographer Laura Schaefer, are all lovely, but here’s my favorite:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BtlPF6MHFlW/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet
I think Mort looks like a warrior bride taking a quiet moment before joining her partner.
Though Mort and her husband, Jimmy Joe, married last summer, her wedding is going viral now thanks to a photo of Dalton’s dress that Schaefer shared on Facebook on Feb. 6. In that post, Schaefer briefly mentions that Mort wore her daughter in a wrap during the wedding ceremony.
“Everyone in the room where she was getting ready, including myself, were taken aback by just how beautiful she looked, wearing her sweet daughter on her,” Schaefer told Romper. “She looked like a bride and mother and that was perfect.”
Schaefer’s initial post sparked followers to ask for more photos, which led to a post the next day with pics of Mort wearing Ellora:
Thousands of shares and hundreds of comments ensued. Though there were a few commenters who couldn’t resist criticizing the lovely photos, expressing the opinion that the day should be about the bride and the groom, not the kids, one of the nicest things about the viral post was the number of commenters sharing their own photos of baby-wearing at their weddings, or as bridesmaids.
After all, Mort isn’t the first bride to bring her baby to the altar. And after the stir these photos have caused, she certainly won’t be the last.