A photo of an emergency medical technician wearing her wedding gown while responding to a car crash on her wedding day has gone viral.
Sarah Ray and her husband were on their way to their wedding reception when they learned her grandma, grandpa and father were injured in a car wreck that left their vehicle totaled. The newlyweds, who both work for the Montgomery County Emergency Medical Services (MCEMS) in Tennessee, raced to the scene.
"The first thing my grandmother said to me when I stepped into the back of the medic unit was 'Oh Sarah, I am so sorry, I've ruined your wedding day,'" Sarah told NBC affiliate WSMV. "I told her that she hadn't ruined anything. I was just glad that she was ok."
Ray's mother took a photo of her at the scene of the accident with the ambulance and a firetruck visible in the background. By noon on Tuesday, the photo had more than 13,000 likes and more than 5,600 shares.
"The picture is me going 'Really mom? You're taking a picture right now?'" Ray told WSMV.
Sarah has worked at MCEMS for five years and that is how she met her husband, a fellow EMT. Several guests and members of the wedding party are also paramedics and also responded to the crash, according to WSMV.
Montgomery County EMS Chief Jimmy Edwards said the situation showed that EMTs are "always on."
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"I think what Sarah and Paul did that day is exemplary behavior and places our profession in high regard," Edwards told WSMV.
But Ray said she's not comfortable with some comments on social media, describing her actions as "heroic" because "it just so happens that I’m a paramedic and that I was in my wedding dress, and that’s all there is to it.”
Her grandparents, who were taken to the hospital, are expected to recover. Ray's dad attended the reception and even made it through the father-daughter dance despite his injuries.