Video of groom turning for surprise first look with his puppy goes viral: 'I had no idea'

A video showcasing the love between a groom and his sweet dachshund has tugged at the heartstrings of social media users.

On July 1, Atlanta-based wedding videographer Claudia Goodwin of Claudia Goodwin Films shared a moment on her Instagram page of 30-year-old Quinn Meineke on his wedding day, nervously awaiting his first look with his bride — or so he thought.

In the clip, which has accumulated over one million likes, Meineke’s back is turned when his dog Penny comes tumbling towards him in a white dress, her tail wagging. He finally turns and looks down to see his pup, then breaks out into a big smile and stoops down for Penny to shower him with kisses.

"As a dog momma myself, I have a soft spot for weddings that include their pups," Goodwin captioned the post. "Madeline was incredibly excited to surprise her groom with their dog, Penny, during what should have been their bride and groom first look. Just wait until you see how Penny reacts to seeing her Dad!"

"His reaction was so pure and genuine," one user responded.

"Oh my goodness! The way she waits for him to turn around for her," another replied.

"Tell me the man you are marrying is awesome without telling me," one user commented.

"She feels like a proud princess with the dress and all," wrote a user.

Speaking to TODAY.com, Goodwin recalls what it was like capturing the moment for the couple.

"Quinn was just so nervous," Goodwin, who started her business last year, explains. "I mean, he thought he was about to see his bride, and you know, he was all giddy. And just like you could see, he was kind of like fidgeting. And it was a big moment."

"So you can see, when he turned around his eyes are up, like he was searching, 'Like, what?'" she explains. "And then when he saw Penny, I mean, he just went back to his normal, incredible self as a dog dad, and you just saw the way Penny loved him."

"Instantly we were like, 'OK, he must be a totally awesome guy, if this is how his dog reacts to seeing him,'" she adds. "From that point on, I mean, truly he was just so happy. I feel like the nerves just went away."

“I had no idea she was going to be part of the wedding until I turned around that day,” Meineke tells TODAY.com, adding that he and his now-wife, Madeline Savage Meineke, had discussed having Penny present for the wedding celebrations.

“We spend all the time, as much time with her as we can,” he adds. “So we talked about having her there, but we were like, ‘Oh, it might be too difficult.’

“She’s a huge part of our lives,” Meineke continues. “We got her pretty early on when we started dating. I think we’d only been dating like less than a year.”

Ultimately, they realized she wouldn't be able to attend their Catholic church ceremony.

“They were like, 'You can’t even have flower petals. Flower girls can’t even bring flower petals down,'” Savage Meineke recalls to TODAY.com. “So obviously, having Penny there was (not in) the cards.”

Savage Meineke then realized another way to include Penny and make the moment special for her significant other.

“Quinn didn’t know this. I bought the dress for her, and I just decided to pivot and try to make it a surprise, because I knew we were doing our first look outside, and I knew that wouldn’t be an issue, to have her outside," she explains. "So that’s kind of how it all came to be.”

On April 6, 2024, Savage Meineke brought Penny outside to surprise her groom near the church where they got married.

“It was the best day of my life. Honestly, it was just so exciting. And anytime somebody asks, ‘How was the wedding?’ It’s the first look with Penny,” she explains. “It’s something that Quinn and I always bring up.”

Savage Meineke expected that she would receive questions about the dress she wore, but she didn’t anticipate that the now-viral video of her groom holding Penny would prompt users to ask about the dachshund’s designer.

"They said that she looked so graceful and beautiful. The second best dressed little lady besides the bride,” she said.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com