When bride Jenna Mansell found out that her ring bearer was unable to make it to her wedding, she needed someone to fill his role -- and fast.

Fortunately, two of her friends stepped in and saved the day by joining the bridal party at the last minute.

Jenna's original ring bearer was her brother's 2-year-old son. It was uncertain whether her brother and nephew would be able to fly in from Maryland for the May 22 wedding in San Jose, California, because Jenna's sister-in-law had given birth less than two weeks prior. Understandably, the bride was disappointed when she learned they would not be coming.

"I was absolutely devastated," Jenna told The Huffington Post. "My brother and I have always been close since we were kids, and to not have him or my nephew there was really hard."

Days before the wedding, Jenna and her now-husband Austin Mansell explained the situation to their friends (and couple) AJ Hartman and Connie Shin, asking if they'd be willing to join the wedding party as the flower girl and ring bearer -- a.k.a ring "bear."

"We hadn't originally planned on having a flower girl in the wedding, but Connie had been advocating to be the flower girl as a joke for months."

Initially, AJ and Connie didn't think the Mansells' request was a serious one. But once they realized it was no joke, they talked it over and decided they were in.

"They ended up coming to the wedding rehearsal and rehearsal brunch the day before the wedding, so it really felt like they were part of the wedding party," Jenna told HuffPost. "Plus, they both looked so hilarious when it all came together that it really helped me keep my mind off missing my brother and nephew. Our guests thought they were so funny, and it made for some really amazing photos."

As the flower girl and ring bearer, Connie and AJ performed the traditional duties, including tossing petals down the aisle and carrying the ring box with the wedding bands. Connie donned a floral headband and AJ wore a bear hat that the groom had originally purchased for the 2-year-old ring bearer.

The bride and groom -- who now live in New York City -- met through mutual friends in 2007 while Jenna was a junior at the University of Washington. Austin had grown up in the Seattle area.

"Soon after we met I left to study abroad in Australia for a semester, but we reconnected when I returned to UW for my senior year," she said. "I think I was back in Seattle for less than a week before Austin found a way to 'randomly' run into me!"

See more snaps from the couple's big day below:

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