Surprise! Brother poses as bride in hilarious gag to calm groom's jitters

When Val and Heidi Zherelyev renewed their marriage vows last month, Val was a "ball of nerves," according to the couple's photographer. Fortunately, this is a family with a sense of humor, and Heidi and her friends knew just how to lighten the mood.

She had her brother, Eric Dodds, dress up in a friend's wedding dress and go in her place for the first look photos.
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"It was hilarious. The brother asked if he could borrow the bride's perfume," the photographer, Nichole Cline, told ABC.

The couple renewed their vows on June 30, five years after eloping, Cline wrote on her blog.

The bride's gag went off without a hitch, with Cline capturing the moment Val realized it was not Heidi who had been standing behind him.
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"Needless to say.... It worked and the groom's reaction was utterly priceless," she wrote.

Cline said that capturing moments like these is important to her because her father was sick when she was younger so photography was a way that they bonded.



"In some instances that's all that people have left of their loved ones," she told ABC. "People should have pictures because life is too short."