Your wedding day is one of the most important days of your life, and the presence of the people you care about makes it perfect. Cntia Bonfante Pereira, a speech therapist from Caxias do Sul, Brazil, works with children with Down syndrome who have speech problems. Her patients have a special place in her heart, so her groom, José Vitor Flach, devised a lovely method for them to be included on their wedding day in March 2020. When it came time to hand the rings to the newlyweds, the church doors unexpectedly opened, and several of her students began walking down the aisle!
An older boy, one of the ring bearers, led the charming procession while strolling hand in hand with a toddler girl. They were followed by flower girls dressed in adorable outfits. Two of the younger boys arrived in style, driving their miniature electric car. The entrance of the seven special guests, all dressed in their best wedding apparel, caused Cntia to cry happy tears. She clearly loves the kids and is overjoyed that they are there to share her special day.
Cntia and José stopped to greet the ring bearers and flower girls as they approached the altar. On her own, the bride softly caressed their young faces with an evident look of love and admiration. Cintia had actually planned to have the kids in her practice on her big day. However, when she asked the priest for permission, he refused. “In actuality,” she added, “my husband had requested him to say that because he had previously planned everything with the priest.”.
Cíntia said that her groom’s surprise was one of her favorite parts of the wedding. “I love my profession so much and having the opportunity to have some of the children with us on this day was inexplicable,” she wrote in an Instagram post. “The emotion overcame me in a way that I thought my heart would not be able to handle!”Cíntia has been working with the kids for years to help improve their language and communication skills. It’s clear that they’ve become more than just patients to her—they’ve also become family.
“I truly love what I do and I am lucky to be able to help them have a better quality of life,” she said. “I believe that every person has potential. We need to look at them beyond their disabilities so then we can help them surpass the barriers they have in life.”I always raise the banner of school and social inclusion and that’s why I had invited João, who is a photographer, because I had seen his work and really liked the photos and the way he transformed the details of our daily lives into photos,” Cíntia wrote.
“Beautiful! I think that in order for people to show their skills we need to give them the opportunity to do so.” “That’s why having João Vicente as our photographer, in addition to being an honor to be photographed by him, was my way of showing that there are no limits when we don’t define people just by their diagnosis!It was beautiful, wonderful, better than I ever imagined and we still contributed to a more inclusive society. There is no greater happiness than that”, she concluded.
Indeed, this sweet gesture of her students being ring bearers made their already-special wedding day more meaningful. Witness the heart-melting moment in the video below.