Amy Rose Perry always knew she wanted to release monarch butterflies at her Cape Cod wedding in honor of her father, Nathaniel Machain, who died on Aug. 5, 1999 when she was just 7 years old.
When she opened the box at the end of her wedding ceremony on June 14, the butterflies were supposed to fly away. Instead, they landed on her dress and stayed there, accompanying her as she and her new husband, Matthew Perry, walked down the aisle at the end of their wedding ceremony.
Perry's wedding photographer Brit Perkins posted a reel of the special moment, which has since received 23 million views to date.
Butterflies can be a powerful symbol of anyone who has lost a loved one, but in Perry's case, they're especially significant.
"A year after my dad passed at noon on August 5," Perry tells TODAY.com, "I was on a hike with my mom and my sister and some family friends, and at exactly noon on August 5, a monarch butterfly came and flew close to us and landed on myself, my sister and my mom."
At the time, Perry was only 8 but clearly recalls that memory as "a pretty profound, crazy moment."
Perry firmly believes in signs from loved ones who have passed on, and since then, she has seen monarch butterflies on Father's Day and her father's birthday on more than one occasion. Monarchs have "always been a powerful, powerful sense of my father's presence," she says.
Her dad, Nathaniel Machain, had appendix cancer, which wasn't caught until it had already metastasized. Three years after the diagnosis, he died at the age of 36.
Perry describes her father as a man who filled every room with warmth and joy, turning everyday moments into cherished memories.
"The biggest thing I remember about him was his selflessness," Perry shares. "He always put others before himself, especially while battling cancer. He really taught me the value of generosity and compassion."
Her father even spent part of his last years writing cards to Perry and her younger sister, Molly Machain, for the childhood milestones they would experience without him, like birthdays and graduations.
"But what I did not know was that he wrote me a card for my wedding," Perry says. "My mom gave it to me after my bridal shower, which was smart because it would have been even more emotional on my wedding day."
Perry says the card began with: "'Out of all the cards I've written, this is the most difficult.'"
Because she had read most of her father's cards when she was younger, reading this card as an adult affected her in a completely new way.
"This time, I really saw the cards for their meaning from his perspective, and just how painful it was to put pen to paper and realize you will never walk your daughter down the aisle. It's just so powerful that he had the wherewithal and the forethought to give me something so special," she says. Planning her wedding "has been a difficult process without him."
Because Perry didn't have her dad to walk her down the aisle, her mother, Janice Mills, whom Perry calls "my hero," was by her side instead. Perry attributes many of her memories of her father to Mills, who took lots of pictures and videos before Nathaniel Machain passed.
Perry scheduled the butterfly release to occur at the end of her wedding ceremony. While she "didn't expect much of the butterflies themselves," Perry "had a feeling it would be emotional" because the music that she chose to play for that moment had an overlay of her father's voice saying, "One hug and kiss for my 'girlie whirlies!'" which is what he called Perry and her sister.
Once the butterflies were released out of the box, they settled all over the bride's dress. They also landed — and stayed — on the groom's boutonnière (or as Perry put it, "over his heart"), and on her sister’s Maid of Honor bouquet.
"Wow, it was surreal," Perry says of that moment. "I have never felt his presence more in my in my life."
The butterflies accompanied Perry until she changed from her wedding heels into more comfortable sneakers. Most of them flew off on their own, but a few seemed a bit reluctant to leave. Perry says she had to "help" those last few fly away.
"It was it was as if the butterflies were reassuring us that love endures, that he's always with us and his memory will always be a part of our lives. And it was just crazy. It's a reminder that some of the most meaningful, beautiful moments are ones that unfold in unexpected ways."
