Make wishtv.com your home page

Groom stops wedding photos on beach to save teen from drowning in Gulf

ORANGE BEACH, Ala. (WALA/WFLA) — A groom jumped into action during the photo shoot at his beach wedding to save a drowning swimmer.

The happy couple had a very memorable wedding on Orange Beach, Ala.

These weren’t your average nuptials. Just after the ceremony while taking pictures, things got scary.

“A lady had come up to us and they told us that guy is out there struggling a little bit and he can’t get back, he’s having a hard time,” Bride Cindy Edwards said.

Remembering her new husband is a former lifeguard and a Coast Guard, Cindy told him he had to go.

“She said don’t worry about your pants, just go. So you’ve got to listen to your wife, otherwise, you’re in trouble,” said groom Zac Edwards.

“And he starts taking his shirt off and he went off to take off his bottoms and I was like, ‘You don’t have time.’ the guy kept drifting further and further out and he was struggling,” Cindy said.

For a moment, they say Zac and the young man were stuck. First responders showed up shortly after and brought them both to safety.

Zac says all he could think about was his bride.

“It beat us up pretty hard getting in so, we pulled up on the beach, everybody grabs him. I got up and she’s running out in her wedding dress. I’m bleeding from the nose and trying to tell her get away because I know how important that dress was – I didn’t want it wet,” Zac said.

“It’s a story to tell. I told her. The grandkids are going to have a story. It was a perfect day. Beautiful wedding.”

The Edwards say they spoke to the family of the young man from Mississippi. He’s doing fine, a little sore but back to work and started his first day of his senior year in high school on Monday.