Bride faints during wedding seconds after saying ‘I do’ — as guests watch in horror
Taking the plunge isn’t for the faint at heart.
And while it’s no secret that most brides want to look hot as they’re becoming lawfully wedded to the lover of their dreams, this newlywed just couldn’t stand the heat — literally.
“I said, ‘I think I’m going to pass out,’ ” recalled bride Catherine Franks, 28, a speech therapist from Breaux Bridge, Louisiana, in a trending TikTok tell-all with more than 500,000 views.
The blond’s forewarning was the last thing she remembered whispering to groom Alex, 26, a teacher, just after saying “I do” during their July 7, 2023, nuptials in nearly 100-degree weather, reported Kennedy News and Media.
“The next thing I knew, I woke up and just saw boots around me,” said Franks, who’d collapsed due to the immense heat and dehydration, “my dad and husband wore cowboy boots.”
In moments before her spill, the blushing bride tried ignoring the signs of her impending breakdown, hoping to get hitched without a hitch.
“We get to the wedding and get to the ceremony and I start feeling a bit light-headed at the altar with everyone watching,” she said.
“I think we had just said ‘I do’ and were waiting on the final prayer so we were technically married,” Franks added. “[But] we’d been standing there for about 40 minutes.”
The lengthy pomp and circumstance in front of their 300 guests, coupled with the warmth of the day and beams of the church lights, sent the new wife’s head spinning.
“My husband knew something was wrong and kept looking at me,“ she recounted. “I started getting tunnel vision and feeling really light-headed.”
Franks ultimately collapsed three times as thunderstruck wedding attendees gasped and gawked in shock. Alex and a bridesmaid, as well as concerned onlookers, rushed to her aid, fanning her while she lay prostrate on the floor.
“I was trying to get myself together and gather myself because all these people were here and watching me,” she said, admitting that her priority was ensuring her new martial status rather than fretting over her health scare.
“I thought, ‘I just need to get up and finish.’ ”
Franks added, “My husband was really worried about me.”
Friends and family scrambled to get her water as Alex, whom she met on Hinge in 2022, talked her through the harrowing moment.
“He said to me, ‘It’s OK, you’ll be fine.’ He really talked me down from freaking out too much,” said Franks.
After regaining composure, Franks’ ceremony concluded without further incident — until she was en route to the wedding reception venue, that is.
But when the dizzy belle hopped the school bus she’d rented to cart her around on the big day, Franks was stricken with a second round of illness.
“I didn’t faint again but I got sick,” she said. “I got sick on the bus, and then I was fine for the rest of the night.”
However, after toasting her holy-moly matrimony at the party, during which loved ones repeatedly inquired as to her well-being, Franks sought medical attention.
“I actually went to the emergency room the next day because we think I had a little virus, and I was so dehydrated,” she said. “At the time it was distressing, but now we look back and laugh. It’s funny now.
“It made the day very memorable! It’s now a family joke.”
And Franks, who’s expecting a baby girl in April, plans to pass the yucks on to the next generation.
“This will be a funny moment we can share with our daughter in years to come!”
She’s not the only woman to literally fall for her man as they tied the knot.
Hollee Lynnea-Kolenda Darnell, a 2021 bride from Florida, fainted, vomited and got pooped on during her eternal vows.
And a Texas groom named Brad took a nasty tumble off of a roof after gulping down a few too many drinks during his September 2023 reception.
“Brad! Brad! Brad!,” cheered pals as the shirtless and inebriated hunk hurled to the pavement.
He ultimately broke both wrists.
