The Emergency Department at Nantucket Cottage Hospital is where lives are saved and today, it was also where two lives were united.

Amid a bustling Friday afternoon in the Emergency Department, Tessa Sandler and Chad Denton were married, with doctors, nurses and other hospital staff throwing makeshift confetti on the newlyweds.

The couple had planned a ceremony for Saturday at the Brant Point Lighthouse, but Sandler’s 89-year-old grandmother Arlene Sandler had a fall on Friday morning as she was helping to prepare the flower bouquets and was taken to Nantucket Cottage Hospital by ambulance.

When the family learned that Arlene had to be airlifted to a Boston hospital for further treatment and would not be able to attend the wedding the next day, they decided to hold the ceremony right then and there.

Their wedding officiant Kristin Sidorov was called to the Emergency Department, and the couple was married at Arlene’s bedside just hours before she was transported by helicopter. Tessa, a Nantucket High School graduate, was joined by her parents, Corey and Janice Sandler, longtime island residents, and her grandfather Herbert Sandler.

From everyone at Nantucket Cottage Hospital, a big congratulations to Tessa and Chad! We’re honored to have been a part of your special day.