India Dawn Jones tells PEOPLE she believed there was ‘no way’ her brother would make it home from Iraq in time for the wedding
Weddings Perfectly Captured
India Dawn Jones and her brother Christian.
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India Dawn Jones was completely surprised when her brother, Christian, returned from his deployment in Iraq to make a surprise appearance at her rehearsal dinner
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Jones and her loved ones burst into tears when the soldier appeared at the event, and the bride shared footage of the moment in a now-viral TikTok video
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She tells PEOPLE that they incorporated Christian into the ceremony the following day and they shared a special sibling dance
Despite her highest hopes, India Dawn Jones had accepted the fact that her brother, Christian, wouldn’t be able to attend her wedding in June. After eight months of service in Iraq, he had to miss the occasion, just as he had missed their other sister’s wedding last October — or so he claimed.
Jones teared up as she watched a special video message Christian recorded for her rehearsal dinner, a moment the bride later shared on TikTok. Then Christian explained why he wasn’t wearing his full military kit on camera, and Jones’ jaw dropped open in disbelief.
“I am leaving in a couple of hours to go to Kuwait, and from there I’ll leave to come home in time for the wedding,” Christian said in his recording, prompting his older sister to burst into tears as her similarly surprised loved ones reacted in kind.
The room filled with cries of joy when Jones caught sight of her brother, who finished his deployment a month early, entering the rehearsal dinner room, completely surprising the entire wedding party.
“I thought I was dreaming,” she tells PEOPLE, recalling the unexpected family reunion just before her wedding day. “I couldn’t believe I could hug and touch him.”
She uploaded the emotional footage of her rehearsal on TikTok, where it has garnered over 173,000 likes. Christian’s reveal happens around 30 seconds into the video, but Jones included over a minute’s worth of her family’s reactions, which varied from weeping and gasping to cheering and embracing.
India Dawn Jones
India Dawn Jones surprised by her brother at rehearsal dinner.
Jones says only a few people knew about the surprise beforehand: their parents, Christian’s wife and her family. Everyone else at the rehearsal dinner was as shocked as the bride-to-be, as shown by the reactions of her sister by her side at the dinner table, and later in the video, by her grandparents’ heartfelt sobs.
At one point in the clip, Jones’ mom can be heard joking about the high emotions off-camera. “I got paramedics on standby, don’t worry,” she quipped.
The following day, the family relished in Christian’s return even more, welcoming him into the wedding festivities. He brightened up Jones’ already sunny mood wearing a pair of funky pink sunglasses and during the ceremony, he walked their mom down the aisle.
India Dawn Jones
India Dawn Jones at her rehearsal dinner with her family, including brother Christian.
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“He surprised me with a special dance with him, and halfway through my older sister came in and finished the dance with us,” Jones tells PEOPLE of the unforgettable celebration. She also got to hand deliver a meaningful note addressed “To my brother on my wedding day.”
Thanks in part to Christian’s appearance, the supportive sister says her nuptials were “such a dream.” After she’d accepted that there was “no way he was going to be able to make it” to the wedding, Jones was overwhelmingly grateful to be proven wrong.
“We have always been close because I have always wanted to protect him,” she adds. “It was the hardest to think that [my] little brother was over there serving his country, and I could not be more proud of him.”
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