This bride's dad paused her wedding so her stepdad could walk her down the aisle too

Cover photo credit: Delia D Blackburn

Any loving father will tell you that walking their baby girl down the aisle on their big day is one of the greatest moments and honors they'll ever get to share with their daughters. Every dad looks forward to the day he can see a big smile on his daughter's face as she makes sure to marry a man at least as good as her father is. But what happens when you've got two dads? Well, if you're lucky enough, they'll both walk you down the aisle, just like father Todd Bachman and stepfather Todd Cendrosky did with their little girl Brittany. Stopping the entire wedding procession as father and daughter both walked down the aisle, Bachman pulled Cendrosky to their side and made sure he was able to enjoy the moment too, The Huffington Post reports.

The beautiful incident was suspended in time through wedding photographer Delia D Blackburn's amazing work. Blackburn shared, "He told me: 'I'm going to do something special. Be ready.'" She was able to click all the right angles when Bachman left Brittany's side and asked her to wait, pausing the entire ceremony, to run to the very front and grab her stepdad's hands and pull him to her side.  Then, the wedding resumed, with Brittany walking arm-in-arm with the two men who helped raise her and make her the woman she is today. Blackburn told The Huffington Post in an interview, "It was one of the most compassionate gestures toward a stepparent I've ever seen. The bride was in tears and overcome with emotion."

But so was everyone else—Cendrosky included. The stepfather revealed in an interview with local news station WKYC-TV that he was overwhelmed and completely taken aback (in the best way possible, of course). He said, "[Brittany's biological father] came and grabbed my hand, and said, 'You worked as hard as I have. You'll help us walk our daughter down the aisle.' I got weak in the knees and lost it. Nothing better in my life, the most impactful moment in my life." This was, after all, a moment that the stepfather wished he could've been a part of ever since wedding planning had begun. "Every time we tried on tuxes or did some planning, it crossed my mind that I'd be sitting in the crowd, not walking her down the aisle," revealed Cendronsky.

But Bachman as we now know swept in and saved the day. He stated, "For me to thank him for all the years of helping raise OUR daughter wouldn't be enough. There is no better way to thank somebody than to assist me [in] walking her down the aisle." While it hasn't been all "peaches and cream" to work together in a non-traditional family setup, it has ultimately been worthwhile, the father affirmed. He never believed, however, that their story would go viral in the way that it did. He said, "A lot of families can relate to our situation." Perhaps their story will give other unconventional families more ideas about how to make all family members feel more included and engaged.