86-year-old bride in a purple wedding gown warms the hearts of thousands

At the tender age of 86, Millie Taylor-Morrison finds herself a newlywed — and a viral Internet sensation.

On Oct. 16 she married 85-year-old Harold Morrison at Zion Hill Baptist Church in Newark, N.J.

Taylor-Morrison, an elegant woman who worked as a model in the 1950s, walked down the aisle in a gown she designed herself.

It was purple.

“The look on everyone’s face when they saw her, but especially the look on Mr. Harold’s face when he saw her walking down the aisle — it was the absolute sweetest thing you could ever see,” her granddaughter Khadija Elkharbibi told The Huffington Post.

“He teared up. It was beautiful. My Nana just beamed with happiness, it was truly a sight to see.”

The bride and groom’s big day might have stayed a private affair for the 200 or so loved ones gathered in the church that day if not for a Facebook post of the bride in her purple wedding gown that has been liked and loved more than 20,000 times.

The newlyweds have known each other for more than six decades, according to People.

In fact, he was a guest at her first wedding.

When her first husband died in 1992 after 41 years of marriage, the two reconnected.

“I used to admire him in church,” she told People. “He dressed impeccably, and I admire that in a man.”

When Morrison got sick, she visited him and drove him to church on Sundays. He got very sick a year or so ago and when he could no longer live alone, they moved in together. But she wanted to do things right, especially for her grandchildren, she says.

“I’m a Christian woman, and I want to live a Christian life,” she told People. “We decided that even though we were in our twilight years, we wanted to be pleasing in God’s eyes.”

Elkharbibi wrote about her grandmother’s wedding on the Love What Matters Facebook page in a post that has elicited nearly 100,000 reactions and nearly 8,000 shares.

“My grandmother was married to my grandfather for 41 years when he passed away,” she wrote.

“She found love again almost 25 years later and our family couldn’t be happier for her. This is a true testament that age is just a number and everyone can find love again.”

This story was originally published October 24, 2016 at 2:50 PM with the headline "86-year-old bride in a purple wedding gown warms the hearts of thousands."