Sam Cerio’s wedding was transformed from to a groundbreaking step towards her eventual recovery.
The former Auburn gymnast achieved her goal of walking down the aisle without assistance after dislocating both knees and tearing several ligaments during the NCAA regional semifinals on April 5.
Cerio has maintained a positive attitude on social media and was able to walk across the stage at her graduation to accept her degree in aerospace engineering with the assistance of crutches.
Her wedding weekend landed two months after her injury.
Her husband, naval officer Trey Wood, was “holding back tears.” It was a “wow moment” for the guests, Cerio told USA Today.
“He’s like, ‘I saw you walking down the aisle, and I tried to not cry,'” Cerio said.
As the two exchanged their vows, they took to the dance floor for their first “sway.”
After the videos of her injury went viral, her coach Jeff Graba announced that her surgery was an “extreme success.”
Soon after, Cerio later announced her retirement from the sport. In an attempt to stop the spread of her injury video, she tweeted, “my pain is not your entertainment.”
The two will take their honeymoon in Hawaii in a few weeks and she will begin her job as a structural design analysis engineer at Boeing in July.
