Rachel Taylor was wearing white when she cradled an accident victim in her arms last Sunday, but it wasn’t the nurse uniform she’d just earned from Bethel University. It was her wedding dress.

Taylor, 22, and her husband Calvin, 23, had just left their wedding about 8:30 p.m. on Father’s Day, and were heading to their new town home in Inver Grove Heights, when they witnessed an accident on the Fifth Avenue bridge over Interstate 494 in South St. Paul.

A car and a van had crashed. While the occupants were sorting things out, a black Chevy Tahoe came through the intersection and ran into the other vehicles.

Rachel Taylor, 22, of Inver Grove Heights, had just left her wedding when she witnessed a car crash on the Fifth Avenue bridge over Interstate 494. Her husband snapped a photo of her helping the victim. (Courtesy of Calvin Taylor) 

A woman, Tamara Peterson, of Inver Grove Heights, had been standing between the two vehicles when the second crash happened. She had just arrived at the scene, having been called by her son, who had been in one of the cars.

“I saw a couple of people dragging a woman over to the side of the road,” Taylor said. ” I could see a gash in her right leg. I think I saw her bone in it.”

Still in her wedding dress, Taylor ran over to the woman and helped her to the side of the road where she held her, keeping her calm until the paramedics arrived.

Taylor’s husband snapped a picture of her and posted it on Facebook, calling her “My rockstar of a bride” adding that she held Peterson that way for about 15 minutes.

In nursing school, Taylor had worked with women in labor and had learned a few techniques on how to keep them calm.

“I just talked to her. I said, ‘You’re so strong. You’re so brave. I’m so proud of you,’” Taylor said.

“She was awesome and helped save my life by keeping me focused, and calm,” Peterson said. “She certainly is a gifted angel and chose the right career path.”

When the paramedics arrived, she explained to Peterson what they were doing to her, translating their medical shorthand and reassuring her that she would be fine.

“I just went into nurse mode,” she said. “It seemed pretty natural. I was pretty surprised. I’ve always been lacking in confidence about my nursing abilities so it was nice to see that in a situation like that, I knew what to do.”

Peterson was put in the ambulance and Taylor was left standing on the side of the road “feeling frazzled” and amazed at how unexpected her wedding day had turned out.

The couple continued to their home and left the next morning for Montana where they would spend their honeymoon.

Peterson, who has a GoFundMe page to help with medical bills, is now home recovering, but said the healing will take time. She hopes to meet the Taylors again one day and “possibly become forever friends,” she said.

Taylor said she credits God for helping her keep her cool.

“Calvin and I have talked about it. We really feel like we were in the right place at the right time and we believe that was due to God,” she said. The couple met at a Christian camp in 2012 and both graduated from Bethel University in Arden Hills. “We feel like God led my hands and my voice.”