WATERLOO - The groom's stomach pain was far from nervous pre-wedding jitters.

Very far. Brant Hambly, of Cedar Falls, was having an appendicitis attack.

And to top it off, it was his wedding day.

For nearly three weeks, Hambly had blamed the sharp jabs on stress, constipation or even gas - anything to avoid a doctor visit. Five days before the June 18 wedding, however, the pain got worse.

With the ceremony just hours away, Hambly was having a CAT scan, while his unknowing bride-to-be Amy Sanders, of Dike, was busy getting ready.

Doctors worked to get Hambly in and out quickly, but when it took longer than expected to read the test results, Hambly knew it was serious. The earthworm-sized organ was five times larger than normal, requiring instant removal to prevent a burst.

Hambly refused to scrap his wedding plans to have surgery. He bargained with doctors and agreed to return immediately following the "worth the risk" wedding.

Best man Nathan O'Leary, from Tacoma, Wash., delivered the news to Sanders, now Amy Hambly.

"I was very, very surprised at how calm and collective I was," Amy Hambly said. "The normal reaction for a bride would be to get crazed and upset. I had the typical (pre-wedding) nervous stomach pain, but when I heard about Brant, I thought, 'Oh, man, I don't have a stomach ache anymore.'"

During a photo shoot before guests arrived, Hambly's symptoms were even more severe.

"Every time I smiled, it probably looked like I was just grittin' and bearin'," he said. "It was a nightmare. Then I got really pale and sat down and put my head between my legs. I said, 'We just need to have this (wedding) because there's no way I can stand up there.'"

After a prayer session with pastors, ushers, groomsmen and other family, Hambly's pain calmed, a typical sign of an appendix rupture. Despite attempts to rush him to the hospital, Hambly wanted to exchange vows right then and there.

With Brant Hambly sitting in a chair and a cold pack around his neck, the two sealed the deal - wiping each other's tears as they went - in front of an audience of 30 to 40, mostly family or members of the wedding party. The Rev. Dennis Sanders, father of the bride, performed the 15-minute ceremony at Walnut Ridge Baptist Church.

"Then we cut the cake and pretended to feed each other quick," Hambly said.

No one told arriving guests what had happened, and the scheduled 2 p.m. ceremony continued as normally as possible. All were ushered to their seats, the wedding party proceeded down the aisle and a soloist sang.

The Rev. Pat Nemmers, of Des Moines, then broke the news and played a video of the couple exchanging vows nearly an hour before. Following the ceremony, parents of the couple greeted people in the receiving line.

"Everyone was bawling and all that. It was probably more like a funeral than a wedding," Brant Hambly said, laughing.

At Allen Memorial Hospital, nurses brought wedding cake to the just-married couple - Amy Hambly in her wedding dress and Brant Hambly in bed getting prepped for surgery. They signed their marriage license at the hospital later that night.

"For better, for worse. We put these vows into practice instantly," Amy Hambly said. "It was an extremely romantic wedding and totally brought us together."

Doctors found Brant Hambly's appendix surprisingly had not burst. However, he suffered a miserable recovery, including a possible negative reaction to pain medication. Sunday he watched his wife open gifts as he laid "like a dead fish on a bed," he said. The couple opted to cancel their non-insured honeymoon in Cancun. They were scheduled to depart Monday.

"We'd been saving money since last fall because we knew we were going to Cancun even before we got engaged," Brant Hambly said. "We're hoping to get some of it (trip money) back and go this summer."

Still, Amy Hambly said she couldn't have asked for a more perfect day.

"Most girls think about their wedding when they are little and have so much time put into planning and details, but I wouldn't have wanted it any other way," she said. "It will be fun to tell our kids someday."

Contact Tina Hinz at (319) 291-1580 or tinarhinz@yahoo.com.