Beautiful photo of bride breastfeeding during her wedding ceremony goes viral

Christina Torino-Benton, 30, decided to feed her nine-month-old daughter Gemma during her wedding ceremony to childhood sweetheart Danny Benton on June 18. The couple’s friends and family are used to seeing Gemma being breastfed, so no one commented and the priest simply carried on with the ceremony at the Resurrection of Our Lord Church in Lachine.

Unknown to the bride, her photographer Lana Nimmons captured the beautiful moment. Torino-Benton loved how the image came out and shared it on the popular Facebook group Breastfeeding Mama Talk, inspiring other women to leave supportive comments and share their own stories and images of breastfeeding on their wedding day.

Torino-Benton, from Montreal, Quebec, told the Daily Mail: “At the church it was like 40 degrees, Gemma was hot, she missed her nap and was overall really crabby.

"I don't pump or bottle feed and I'm all about secure attachment parenting. She's never left to cry so when she started crying I couldn't focus on my wedding. All I was thinking about was taking her and nursing because I knew that was the only solution. Once I got her in my arms, I was able to calm down and focus. A lot of people think that my feeding her mid ceremony was a bother but actually it was nice having her up there with us."

The mother of two captioned her photo: "Talk about feeding anytime and anywhere. That moment when you’re getting married and your baby gets hungry. Feeling SO proud of myself!"

She didn't imagined that the picture would be shared thousands of times.

"I never expected it to go viral like this. I thought I'd get a few likes from my breastfeeding peers and that's that. I think sharing photos like this is important. Things like this do happen. I'm not the first and I won't be the last and hopefully people will be more accepting and understanding."

The response has been largely positive, with Instagram users calling it ‘the most beautiful wedding photo I’ve ever seen’. It’s also encouraged other women to share pictures of themselves breastfeeding at their weddings.