When Elizabeth Smart confirmed her engagement on “Good Morning America” last month, she said she was ready to start life with her fiance, 22-year-old Matthew Gilmour.
“I couldn’t be happier,” the 24-year-old said in a live appearance on “GMA” Feb. 1. ”We met abroad, and I can’t wait to start my life with him.”
Little did anyone know, including the bride’s best friend, that the wait for the young couple to start their lives together would be less than one month.
Smart and Gilmour were married Saturday in Hawaii in a surprise and intimate ceremony at Laie Hawaii Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, attended only by close family and friends, her spokesman, Chris Thomas, said in a statement.
A source close to the family told ABC News exclusively that Smart’s best friend, Katy Lund Burgess, booked a last-minute flight and arrived just in time for the wedding, joining Smart’s family, including her grandmother, who were also all at the wedding on Oahu’s North Shore.
Burgess was a constant presence at Smart’s side during the 2010 trial of street preacher Brian David Mitchell who was convicted of sexually assaulting and kidnapping the then 14-year-old Smart, holding her hostage for nine months in 2002, and is now serving a life sentence.
Smart, now a senior studying music at Brigham Young University, met Gilmour, of Aberdeen, Scotland, while doing Mormon missionary work in Paris, the Associated Press reported.
The couple was planning to marry this summer but moved up the wedding to Saturday to avoid attracting too much attention.
The family source confirmed to ABC News that the wedding party enjoyed an intimate luncheon and cake cutting at the island’s luxury Turtle Bay Resort after the ceremony. The wedding festivities culminated with a private tour and evening wedding Luau at the nearby Polynesian Cultural Center.
“Elizabeth said her wedding far exceeded her wildest expectations, and enjoying it with the people she loves most made for one the greatest days of her life,” the source said.
Smart spoke at a child advocacy event in South Carolina days before she flew with her parents, Ed and Lois Smart, from Salt Lake City to Hawaii, People magazine reported.
Since being found alive March 12, 2003, less than 18 miles from her home, Smart has committed herself to working on behalf of crime victims, forming the Elizabeth Smart Foundation and working as a a paid contributor for “GMA” on issues related to missing and exploited children.
“Her wedding further demonstrates it is possible to rise above challenging circumstances to lead a happy and productive life,” Smart’s spokesman said in a statement. “Once Elizabeth returns from her honeymoon, she looks forward to continuing her child advocacy work.”
ABC News’ Leezel Tanglao and Lauren Effron contributed to this report.
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