Bride Wears Tactile Wedding Dress to Surprise Blind Groom: 'Meant the World to Me'

David Gannon Photography

Kelly Anne Ferraro incorporated so many special elements to her wedding day look, it moved her husband, Paralympian Anthony Ferraro, to tears.

To help Anthony, who is blind, experience the gorgeous gown she wore to walk down the aisle, Kelly Anne surprised him by selecting a tactile dress embroidered with textured cotton flowers and lace so he could feel how she looked. Their photographer David Gannon captured the emotional moments from the special day.

"I've also said she's my eyes in this world, but for her to have a dress custom made so I could feel and touch it meant the world to me," Anthony, a Paralympian in judo, musician and motivational speaker, told USA Today. "I could feel her. I could feel she looked beautiful."

"The whole time at the aisle I was whispering to him 'touch my dress, touch my dress,' and it made me so happy to know he could feel and enjoy my dress as much as I did," Kelly Anne told the outlet.

David Gannon Photography

The idea for Kelly Anne's dress was inspired by the outfit she wore on their first date. When they attended the New York premiere of Anthony's documentary, A Shot in the Dark, which tells the story of his journey as a blind athlete, Kelly Anne specifically chose something he could feel by wearing a velvet dress. She wanted to incorporate the same type of touchable fabrics when shopping for her wedding day look at Loulette Bride in Brooklyn.

"It had a velvet strip around it and these lace things. Embroidered flowers from a soft cotton. Her back even had a texture. To top it all off, she surprised me with this amazing custom jacket she put on later and had this crazy fringe hanging off her arms," Anthony told TMRW, reported by Today. "It reminded me of our first date."

David Gannon Photography

"Once she gets to me, she puts [my] hands on [her] dress. My mind was blown and I started crying," he told TMRW. "Tactile stuff is really big to me. It creates an image of what you look like in my head. Kelly looked like an angel."

In a complication video shared on Instagram, Anthony called their wedding "truly the most amazing day." Adding, "I can't wait to spend so much more time together and create so many more memories on our adventures in life."