09/27/2026
https://www.facebook.com/share/1HmdoXKU3z/?mibextid=wwXIfr
They were supposed to be celebrating their wedding in New Mexico. Instead, Randy and Alexandria Eckhart found themselves beside their beloved dog in a Colorado veterinary hospital.
And suddenly, the location of the wedding mattered far less than having Bella Rose there.
Just five days before the couple was scheduled to leave for their November 2024 wedding, Alexandria took 8-year-old Bella to the veterinarian. Doctors discovered two large tumors, and Bella's condition soon became serious enough that the couple brought her to Colorado State University's emergency veterinary hospital in Fort Collins.
A major snowstorm was also complicating their original wedding plans.
But Randy and Alexandria had an even bigger concern.
Bella had been an important part of their lives, and they wanted her with them when they got married.
So they got their marriage license and made an unforgettable decision. Instead of leaving Bella behind for a traditional ceremony, they brought the wedding to her.
They got married at the veterinary hospital.
Colorado allows couples to solemnize their own marriages without requiring an officiant or witnesses. That gave Randy and Alexandria a beautiful opportunity to include Bella symbolically as their witness.
Then came the detail that turned an already emotional ceremony into something they could physically keep forever.
Bella placed her paw print on their wedding paperwork.
She died shortly afterward.
The couple later welcomed Teddy, a long-haired dachshund puppy, into their home. Alexandria said the house had felt painfully empty and quiet after Bella was gone, and that something about Teddy made her feel as though Bella had sent him their way.
Their wedding wasn't the celebration they originally planned.
But Bella was there.
And somewhere among the memories of that day is a little paw print from a dog who was loved enough for two people to change everything just to keep her beside them one more time.