Bride Goes Viral After Taking Dad on Honeymoon (Unique)

Tobi Elder couldn’t wait to tie the knot along with her fiancé on Could 9 in Hawaii, and take their dream honeymoon after. The couple had initially deliberate to get married in Denver, however after receiving a bonus at work, Tobi determined to splurge on a vacation spot celebration as an alternative.

However simply 36 hours earlier than their flight, the connection unexpectedly fell aside — leaving the Omaha, Neb., native heartbroken. Nonetheless, regardless of the emotional blow, Tobi made a daring determination: she was going to take the journey alone.

“I had all the pieces pre-booked,” she tells PEOPLE completely. “At first, I believed, ‘I’ve to cancel a few of this — these are belongings you do as a pair.’ I figured I’d lose all my cash. However everybody was so type. They refunded me. They had been simply so, so candy over in Hawaii.”

On the day of the journey, Tobi says she cried via your entire flight. The flight attendants tried to consolation her with snacks and frequent check-ins. “It was virtually comical,” she says.

However all the pieces modified the second she landed — due to an surprising message.

“My dad texted me and mentioned, ‘Sweetheart, I’m coming. I don’t need you to be there alone,’ ” she recollects of her 68-year-old father, Robert. “He informed me, ‘I can’t get there till Friday,’ which might’ve been my marriage ceremony day. So I used to be like, ‘Okay, I simply must make it via two days alone.’ ”

Though she couldn’t wait to see him, Tobi was involved about her dad making the lengthy journey.

He has weight points, diabetes and had simply had a toe eliminated. “I informed him, ‘Dad, you may’t sit on a aircraft that lengthy — one of many flights is six hours!’ ” she says. However Robert was undeterred. “He simply mentioned, ‘I’m coming, it doesn’t matter what.’ ”

When he lastly arrived in Hawaii, on the island of O‘ahu, Tobi went to choose him up on the airport. She couldn’t assist however chortle as she watched him pacing outdoors the terminal, struggling to identify her.

“I had the window down and was yelling, ‘Dad, I’m proper right here!’ ” she says.

In that second, she pulled out her telephone and began recording, planning to indicate him the footage later. However she by no means obtained round to it and finally determined to publish the clip on TikTok.

“If you’re heartbroken on what was imagined to be your honeymoon in Hawaii, so your dad flies 2,500 miles to hang around with you,” she wrote within the on-screen textual content.

On the time, she didn’t suppose a lot of it; she simply wished to indicate off how cute her dad is. However the video shortly gained traction.

Since then, it’s been considered greater than 5.5 million occasions and has racked up greater than 2,200 feedback.

“You dodged a bullet and received at life,” one remark learn.

“Dads like this are one of the best,” one other consumer wrote.

Another person chimed in: “Don’t know you however happy with you for going anyway and completely satisfied your dad went with you.”

Chatting with PEOPLE, Tobi says the response on-line moved her deeply, particularly the feedback from different girls.

“I’m so empathetic with all the pieces, however the messages from girls saying, ‘I misplaced my dad’ or ‘I didn’t have a dad’ made me cry,” Tobi says. “I’m so fortunate to have him.”

“My dad is a contractor,” she provides. “He works actually laborious for a residing — he builds decks and remodels houses. He actually shouldn’t be working anymore, however he does. He was even attempting to reschedule a construct that week simply so he might come.”

Wanting again on the journey now, Tobi says her favourite second was visiting Pearl Harbor, a spot her dad had been speaking about for 20 years.

“Seeing all the enjoyment and love in his eyes, that’s what took my ache away,” she says.

“I feel there’s all the time a silver lining to all the pieces, even the painful issues,” she says. “This occurred to me, however I obtained to present my dad his dream, a bucket-list second. And he obtained to be there for me. That’s priceless. It’s one thing we’ll each keep in mind endlessly. He got here simply to assist me, and I’ll always remember that sort of assist.”