When it comes to your wedding day, the most important thing for any bride to have (other than a groom) is all of the people she loves most surrounding her.
For Indiana kindergarten teacher Marielle Slagel Keller, that included all 20 of her mini-sized students.
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The teacher has a combination class of kindergarten and first graders, which means she’s had half of her students for the last two years.
Being that teachers spend more than eight hours a day with their students, it’s safe to say Marielle and her kiddos have formed an incredible bond.
“It just seemed natural,” the bride told TODAY. “It didn’t seem right to not have them in the wedding so I asked them to be in it. I never thought that it was anything too out of the ordinary.”
Beyond the relationships that have been cultivated, parents of Marielle’s students say the gesture is just the kind of person she is. One even described her as “magical.”
“It was an epic adventure for her to invite the entire class for her wedding, for sure,” said Brooke Starnes, whose 7-year-old daughter, Annie, has been in Marielle’s class for two years. “But at the same time, I would expect that from Marielle because she has that kind of relationship with every student in the class. She just connects so well and so easily with every kid.”
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Brooke says she thinks the kids will appreciate Marielle’s special day even more in “10 years or 20 years” when they are able to look back on this memory and carry it with them into their own weddings.
Following the ceremony, Marielle held a private cupcake party for the students and their families; just another touch that Brooke says illustrates this teacher’s unconditional thoughtfulness.
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While he wasn’t surprised she wanted to include all 20 kids, Michael says he definitely thought his bride was “crazy” for wanting to do this.
After the wedding he told her, “I didn’t want to hurt your feelings, but I thought there was no way these kids would sit through a 30-minute ceremony,” she recalls. But they did, every one of them sat perfectly.
Marielle says she never expected her wedding to draw so much attention, but she hopes her decision to include her students serves as an encouragement to people everywhere to “take the risk.”
“It was definitely a risk to put them in my wedding, so take the risk because it pays off.”
