Elizabeth Smart Wedding: Weds Matthew Gilmour One Month after Getting Engaged
Elizabeth Smart, a young woman from Utah, who was kidnapped when she was 14-years-old, has married her Scottish fiancé in Hawaii just one month after getting engaged.
Smart, 24, married earlier than planned to avoid wide-spread media attention that has been attached to her ever since her nine-month kidnapping.
The young Utah woman first made headlines as a teenager when she was held captive by a street preacher who forced her into a polygamous marriage and raped her.
Smart met her husband, Matthew Gilmour, while she was doing Mormon missionary work in Paris, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Elizabeth's desire was for what most women want - to celebrate her nuptials in a private wedding with family and close friends, Chris Thomas, a family spokesperson said in a statement. She decided, about a week ago, the best way to avoid significant distraction was to change her wedding plans and to get married in an unscheduled ceremony outside of Utah, he added.
The private wedding ceremony was held at the Laie Hawaii Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and attended by a small group of family and friends.
It's everything you can imagine with planning a wedding, Smart told People Magazine exclusively. Only, it's compressed into a few days.
The bride and groom where gleaming after the ceremony, according to Thomas. The couple is set to go on an extended honeymoon in a location that has not been disclosed.
In 2002, Smart was kidnapped at knife point by Brain David Mitchell. The homeless preacher forced Smart to move from town to town for nine months, while an extensive search warrant was conducted in Utah following her disappearance. She was raped repeatedly during this time, according to the Baltimore Sun.
Smart was freed in 2003, after being spotted in Salt Lake City. Mitchell was convicted of the kidnapping in 2010 and sentenced to life in prison.
Since her rescue, Smart has been active in advocacy work for crime victims, founding the Elizabeth Smart Foundation, which aims to protect children from abuse. She is a graduate of the Brigham Young University.
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