Stepping into a role as wedding planner; it’s all in a day’s work

When Kendra Simms sat down with Dr. Jennifer McClellan to review current UCHealth Estes Valley Medical Center patient cases, the review of an appendicitis that came in the previous night didn’t seem like anything out of the ordinary — until Simms learned why the patient was in Estes Park. 

“Dr. McClellan mentioned that Bella Marino was supposed to get married the next day,” Simms said, the hospital’s Clinical Quality Manager. “We talked to the bride-to-be about the idea of hosting her wedding at the hospital.” 

The next morning, Simms received the call she hoped for from Marino. 

“We want to get married,” said Marino, who expressed the sentiments of her and her fiancée, Jack Holveck, to follow through with their plans for that day.  

Simms quickly transitioned her busy leadership schedule into a wedding planner extraordinaire.  

She had to plan a wedding in just less than eight hours. 

After discussing the idea of nuptials at the hospital with the father-of-the-bride, who displayed “a wide range of emotions, because he was not only her father but a physician,” Simms said, the family embraced the idea. 

Simms pulled together the team she thought could make the wedding happen.  

She asked facilities and environmental services to prep the lobby, moving furniture out of the area in front of the fireplace that would serve as the altar and giving the space a sparkle worthy of a wedding.  

Simms contacted photographers who had connections to Estes Valley Medical Center — one holds the role of marketing specialist at the hospital, and the other is the wife of an employee who specializes in wedding photography.  

Simms consulted registration to see what appointments might be impacted; none would be if the wedding happened at midday. 

And, most importantly, Marino’s care team of nurses and physicians had to be on board with the plan to avoid compromising her health.  

Since the Marino-Holveck wedding was already scheduled for that day, the florist delivered the flowers to the hospital instead of the wedding venue, the officiant arrived with the family members and guests who were already in town for the event and hospital staff looked for a Bluetooth speaker to play music already loaded on Marino’s phone.  

Marino decided to wear her rehearsal dinner dress, a more comfortable option than her more formal, tighter wedding gown. 

“I couldn’t have done it without the whole team,” said Simms. “I was the brainchild and wedding planner, but it took a team to make it happen.” 

Exactly eight hours after Simms started planning the wedding, Marino’s nurses escorted the bride via wheelchair to the staging area where her father waited to see his daughter for the first look before he walked her down the aisle.  

Simms, who fluttered around the lobby to manage the controlled chaos, pulled together the perfect wedding for her patient.  

“As a nurse, we learn how precious life is,” Simms said. “The small things can really make a difference. We didn’t know the outcome for Bella, and we didn’t want her to live with any regret, so we made sure to honor and recognize that there is a person and family on the other end of our care. There is more to taking care of people than diagnosis and treatment.” 

“I couldn’t have done it without the whole team,” said Simms. “I was the brainchild and wedding planner but it took a team to make it happen.”

Marino’s nurses escorted the bride via wheelchair to the staging area where her father waited to see his daughter for the first look before he walked her down the aisle.

Simms, who fluttered around the lobby to manage the controlled chaos, pulled together the perfect wedding for her patient.

“As a nurse, we learn how precious life is,” Simms said. “The small things can really make a difference. We didn’t know the outcome for Bella, and we didn’t want her to live with any regret, so we made sure to honor and recognize that there is a person and family on the other end of our care. There is more to taking care of people than diagnosis and treatment.