A video capturing the unforgettable moments of a wedding without a bride in Phu Tho has recently drawn widespread attention on social media.

The video was posted by the bride herself, accompanied by a lengthy and emotional reflection.

“Even now, I still wish it had all been just a dream. Sometimes I still ask my husband, ‘How could we get married all over again?’” she wrote.

“I’m just an ordinary girl who dreamed of having a complete wedding and wearing a wedding dress like everyone else, but life had other plans. I have regrets and I feel sad, but if I could choose again, I would still make the same choice. I only hope that what we went through was a test, so that in the years ahead we will know how to love and cherish each other even more.”

The video has attracted nearly 100,000 views and thousands of likes. Many social media users left messages expressing sympathy for the young couple’s unexpected ordeal, along with heartfelt wishes for their future together.

The woman who posted the video is Chu Thi To Uyen, born in 2005 and from Phu Tho. She was also the bride missing from the unusual wedding. Her husband, Trong Phuc, was born in 2000 and is also from Phu Tho.

Uyen said their engagement ceremony and wedding took place in May 2026, but she only recently decided to share the story. She was surprised by how much attention it received.

Uyen and Phuc married after being together for a long time.

On the morning of May 17, as Uyen was having her makeup done in preparation for the engagement ceremony, she suddenly developed severe abdominal pain and had to be rushed to hospital.

Phuc and his family were already on their way to the bride’s home for the engagement ceremony when they heard the news. The groom was shocked and deeply worried.

At around 9am, Phuc arrived at the bride’s family home. Despite the confusion and anxiety surrounding Uyen’s hospitalization, both families remained calm and agreed that the groom would complete the engagement rituals on his own.

As soon as the ceremony was over, Phuc rushed to the hospital to look after his wife.

“He stayed at the hospital and took care of me for three days,” Uyen recalled. “Two days before the wedding, I asked the doctor whether I was well enough to leave the hospital. The doctor said I could go home for the wedding for about one or two hours, but then I would have to return to the hospital immediately.”

For Uyen, even being able to become a bride for just an hour or two would have felt fortunate.

But soon afterward, her condition worsened. Doctors required her to remain in hospital for further monitoring, meaning she would have to miss her own wedding.

By then, everything had already been prepared.

“The wedding was completely arranged, from the guests and marquee to the food, so postponing it was no longer possible,” Uyen said. “Both families agreed to go ahead as planned, with all the traditional ceremonies and formalities. The only difference was that the bride wouldn’t be there.”

On the wedding day, Phuc and his family traveled more than 100 kilometers to the bride’s home for the traditional procession.

The two families carried out the customary rituals of formally handing over the bride and welcoming the groom. Phuc then returned to his family home alone in the wedding car for the marriage ceremony.

Twenty members of the bride’s family accompanied the groom to his home, symbolically representing the bride’s journey to her husband’s family.

At the groom’s home, a family representative explained to guests why the bride was absent, drawing sympathy from relatives on both sides.

On the wedding stage, Phuc performed the rituals alone. He raised a toast to their parents, took part in the ceremonial pouring of sand and completed the other proceedings without his bride beside him.

Uyen, meanwhile, watched her own wedding from her hospital bed through a video call.

“When the MC asked my husband how he felt on such an important day, he couldn’t hold back his tears,” Uyen recalled. “Then relatives from both families started crying too. At that moment, my heart went out to my husband more than anything. It was only much later that I began to feel the sadness of never having had the chance to be the bride at my own wedding.”

As soon as the ceremony ended, Phuc rushed back to the hospital to be with his wife.

Uyen was later transferred to a central-level hospital, where she underwent treatment for two weeks before returning to a provincial hospital for further monitoring. A few weeks ago, after her condition had stabilized, she was finally discharged.

“Throughout all those days in hospital, my husband and both our families took such good care of me,” Uyen said. “Everyone kept telling us that what happened at our wedding was simply a test, one that would teach us to appreciate our happiness even more.”

Thanh Minh