PHILADELPHIA — The first dance between a bride and groom is supposed to be a memorable event. A Philadelphia bride’s first turn on the dance floor, however, threw a wrench into the celebration.
Julie Benn dislocated her knee and spent part of her wedding day at an area hospital, WTXF reported.
Benn and Paul Richter had just exchanged their wedding vows on July 3 and began their first dance to the Dave Matthews Band hit, “Stay,” according to People. Richter gently dipped his newlywed wife, and that’s when Benn felt a sharp pain.
“I can’t watch the video of it,” Richter, 32, told the magazine. “(Her knee) went out and Julie looked at me right away and she goes, ‘I dislocated my knee.’ Just like that, she knew.
“So then my mindset goes from like, ‘Oh yeah, we’re having a great dance right now,’ to, ‘All right, get her a chair.’”
Benn, 34, agreed. She had worn flats instead of heels for the wedding so she could dance freely, but she did not expect to fall.
“He’s holding my entire body weight and my dress, which is massive,” Benn told People. “And I’m like, ‘I need to get a chair.’ I’m simultaneously screaming. One of our dear friends is an orthopedic physical therapist, she works on knees. I saw her face, and I’m screaming.”
That wedding guest was able to help Benn stabilize her leg until medics could arrive, WTXF reported.
The newlyweds told their guests to hang tight at the reception, promising to return. They returned just in time for the last song, the television station reported.
The couple watched that dance from the sidelines.
“All of our friends and family were standing there, cheering and shouting for us,” Benn said of the couple’s return.
“I felt like a professional athlete for a second. I got out of the car and there are people taking pictures,” Richter told People. “I’m like, ‘This is how they feel. I get it now.’”
Richter, a second lieutenant in the Army, will be heading to Oklahoma to serve until next year.
Despite the mishap, the couple believe they had a memorable wedding.
“We have felt so loved by everyone,” Benn told People.
“I can’t imagine what it would have been like to have a normal wedding at this point,” Richter told the magazine. “But the love and support and everything we felt has been amazing.”