Lasting memory: Paige Eding, pictured, was so overcome with emotion standing by her father's grave on her wedding day, she crumbled to her knees
Via - Daily Mail
A Michigan wedding photographer has captured the heart-wrenching moment a bride who recently lost the father she adored falls to her knees next to his gravestone on her way to the altar.
Unable to have her dad walk her down the aisle at her June 7 wedding, Paige Eding, 23, requested to make a stop at the cemetery where her father Mark Winia was buried about 18 months ago after he passed away from a severe lung infection aged just 45.
Eding, dressed in her beautiful white gown, was so overcome with emotion standing by her father's grave, she crumbled to the floor - and photographer Kari Wieringa was there to capture the impassioned moment.
Wieringa shared the picture on the Facebook page of her company Zander & Breck Photography a week after the wedding, with Eding's permission, and the image has since gone viral, garnering more than 718,000 likes and being shared on websites like Reddit.
Under the photograph, Wieringa wrote: 'I had the pleasure of photographing this beautiful wedding last weekend. Before any photos were to begin she wanted to make a stop to the cemetery to visit her dad who had recently passed away.
'I'm not much of a crier for those of you who know me, but when she hit her knees, tears streamed down my face. What a beautiful thing to incorporate in her day.'
Eding's entire family was rocked when Winia, a father of four daughters, died unexpectedly in December 2011.
The chef, who coached the Zeeland East High School girls' soccer team, wasn't feeling well one Monday but he still made it to practice.
Newlyweds: Eding's grandfather walked her down the aisle to marry Mark Eding, pictured
Adoration: Eding, pictured left, adored her father Mark Winia, pictured right in his younger days, and was shattered when he passed away unexpectedly in 2011
The next day, though, his illness worsened and he was rushed to Zeeland Community Hospital, then to Spectrum Health's Blodgett campus. There he died on December 14 of what was described as 'a severe pulmonary virus' - essentially a fierce lung infection.
A Facebook page dedicated to his memory paints a clear picture of the love his family, friends and soccer girls - but particularly his four daughters - felt for the man whose life was tragically cut short.
Eding and her three younger siblings, who are from a different relationship, regularly write about their grief for their father on the page.
On December 1, 2012, the 23-year-old wrote: 'Wow Dad. Today I lost it. All day (I) couldn't help thinking about you, every second. And I could not help the steady stream of tears down my cheek. I miss you so much and it hurts like it was just yesterday. Thank goodness for Kevin, an knowing exactly how to comfort and help me. We love and miss you terribly.'
While on April 10, she said in a post: 'Sometimes I have these dreams that things went differently and you are still here with us. Nothing has changed and you are so warm and so real. These dreams I could swear they are real I can almost feel he emotion of them. Then I wake up to reality. I miss you so much dad. It's days like these when I know you will be comforting me because today I'm so broken. Love you.'
Love: According to Eding, her father would have approved of her new husband, Kevin Eding, pictured left and right
Missed: On a Facebook memorial page, condolences and notes to Winia, pictured, still pour in
Ahead of the wedding on June 7, Eding's mother Robin Leigh Bartz took to the memorial page.
'Today is the day Mark, I will proudly give our daughter away knowing Kevin is a great man, and Paige is an amazing woman, i know you will be there watching, Heather will proudly stand on your behalf,' she wrote. 'Much love, Robin.'
Wieringa's wonderful photograph encapsulates the love Eding felt for her father.
'I wanted it captured,' Eding told The Huffington Post of her trip to Winia's grave that day. 'I wanted to have that lasting memory.'
When they approached the grave, a group of family members who accompanied her hung back, leaving Eding to be alone with her dad.
'It all seemed pretty normal, she looked fine, and so we're standing there and I'm ready to take pictures, and she just fell,' Wieringa said.
Eding added: 'It was a moment of longing and wishing for him. I was so sad that he wasn't there physically ... but I was also joyous. ... Through my family, he still lives inside of each one of us.'
Young: Mark Winia, pictured, was just 45-years-old when he died in 2011
Blessing: Eding, pictured left today and right, as a child, said her dad would have approved of her new husband
She said the photograph, which some online commentators have labelled 'tacky,' wasn't staged but came from the heart.
'I didn't even know she had the camera to her face,' she told the website. 'Everyone else didn't exist.'
According to Eding, her father would have approved of her new husband, Kevin, and the man has helped her cope with the loss of her dad. When it came to walking down the aisle, Eding's grandfather stepped in to take Winia's place.
Another stunning image Wieringa captured at the wedding was the newlyweds locked in a celebratory kiss.
'I've got my dad and my new husband. If she only took those two photos, I would be happy in life,' Eding said. 'Kevin and my dad, they're so alike. When's the sun's not shining they'll be your sun. It's a quality that I love to remember in my dad and that I'm so lucky to have in my husband.'
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