It was meant to be a tradition wedding with the bride wearing white, the groom a tuxedo and 500 guests watching the ceremony.

But instead of standing together to take their vows, Samuel Kim and Helen Oh were seven miles apart as she said 'I do' on a computer screen.

The couple married in Fullerton, southern California, on Skype video after he fell ill and landed in a hospital isolation ward.

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© unknownNewlyweds: Californians Samuel Kim and Helen Oh are pictured in this engagement photo taken in January. They took their vows seven miles apart

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© unknownSkype wedding: Bride Helen Oh stands alone at the altar as her husband-to-be Samuel Kim watches her from his isolation ward on the jumbo-sized screen

Guests watched on jumbo-sized screens as the Korean couple, both 27, stood alone - Oh at the Grace Ministries church and Kim in his room at the UCI Medical Center in Orange County.

He told her: 'Helen, my wife, I'm very, very sorry for not being able to walk you down the aisle or stand at the altar, but today is just one day.

'We're going to live for a very long time. I promise to be a perfect husband from now on to make up for this.'

Five cameramen captured the ceremony last Saturday on split screens while Kim watched on a laptop in his room which had been filled with flowers by nurses.

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© unknownCameras, lights, action: A film team and audio crew shoot the wedding ceremony inside the Korean church

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© GoogleCaring: The UCI Medical Center where nurses filled Kim's room with flowers for his wedding day
An audio crew gave him his cue, before his face was to appear on screen.

The couple, who met on a blind date, had taken engagement photos in their wedding-day outfits last January, so he had already seen her white gown.

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© FacebookCeremony: The Korean Grace Ministries church in Fullerton, southern California
When he broke the news of his lung infection, Kim expected her to postpone the wedding, but she insisted on going ahead using the Skype video conferencing system.

After the service, Kim, from Irvine, said: 'Guests really admired my fiancée for being able to stand at the altar alone and not crying the whole time.

'She was able to hold her ground and I was able to hold my ground, not crying or anything.'

Best man Richard Kong told the orange County Register: 'The bride and groom have both been really good, considering the circumstances They're in as good spirits as they can be.'

Oh, from Anaheim, said the Skype wedding was not the perfect start to married life, but the guests - many of whom had flown in from Korea - were happy.

She later visited her husband in hospital for the wedding kiss she missed in the ceremony. She said: 'He felt really terrible that he wasn't there.'

The newlyweds have postponed their honeymoon to Europe where they will visit Paris and Prague. Kim expects to leave hospital this week.
  • In April, a British couple married by Skype after they couldn't fly to London from Dubai because of ash from an Icelandic volcano eruption.
In November, a gay couple tried to sidestep a Texas ban on same-sex marriages by using a District of Columbia officiator via video-conferencing.The marriage was annulled.