Groom Pierces His Foot with Broken Glass During a Wedding Ritual, Spends Reception in the Emergency Room

What was meant to be a joyful wedding moment turned unexpectedly dramatic when a groom ended up in a hospital room instead of his own reception.

Steven Weiss had just stepped under the chuppah in Boca Raton, Fla., on Nov. 16 for his wedding to Shawna Magence when things went sideways, The Canadian Jewish News reported on Friday, Dec. 5. The couple, ages 59 and 55, were about to complete the traditional breaking of the glass when guests suddenly noticed blood on the floor.

In the custom, the groom smashes a glass wrapped in cloth or a napkin to symbolize channeling all the potential “cracks” in the relationship into the glass itself, according to SmashingtheGlass.com. But in this case, Weiss accidentally cut his foot on a shard of the glass he had just stomped on.

“He had this adrenaline, he was so excited,” Magence told The Canadian Jewish News. “And one of the things he said, he says, ‘I don’t want to be one of those guys who has to step twice. We are getting this done…’ But he did not feel pain. He was just excited to be married. He did not even realize what was going on.”

Paramedics were called to the venue, and Weiss was placed on a gurney and taken toward the waiting ambulance. In a video shared by the outlet, his foot is wrapped and covered with a blanket as guests surround him, singing and applauding while he’s wheeled out, trying to keep the mood light. Magence walks alongside, holding her husband’s hand as he’s taken away.

Although their time under the chuppah was cut short, the couple still managed to complete the required seven-minute Yichud ritual — the period of seclusion immediately after the ceremony — with the rabbi overseeing it in the back of the ambulance, according to The Canadian Jewish News.

“He actually gave me the ring in the ambulance,” Magence recalled. “That’s probably a new thing that hasn’t happened before. But yes, they insisted that we have seven minutes alone in the ambulance.”

After the ritual, Weiss was transported to the hospital, where doctors put nine stitches in his injured foot. Magence returned alone to the reception to host their guests while her new husband recovered.

“We had a beautiful wedding. [I] wish you could have been there!” she later joked to Weiss about the party he missed, the outlet reported.

It took another day for the couple — who met in 2024 — to fully finish all their wedding rites so they could officially be called husband and wife. Weiss did his part while keeping all weight off his injured foot.

Looking ahead, Magence said they’re focused on enjoying their honeymoon now that the stitches are out. “He just got the stitches out. So let’s be clear. He’s going Sunday. So Mazel tov,” she told the outlet.

“We’re going to go do some snorkeling or swim with the dolphins or something, but we’re going to take it easy,” she added. “And you know what, again, everything, we now live in Florida. We could hop on a cruise anytime, last minute.”