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Refugio López and Barbara Zwigart got married on April 26 in Riverside, California
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The groom’s nephews, 7-year-old Emmanuel Cifuentes and 5-year-old Emiliano Cifuentes, surprised the couple by singing their wedding first dance song, “Die with a Smile” by Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars. The boys’ mother, Rosario López, tells PEOPLE that they practiced the song “every day” for two months
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Footage of the adorable and impressive performance has gone viral on TikTok
A bride and groom had a sweet surprise at their wedding.
Refugio López and Barbara Zwigart got married on April 26 in an intimate wedding attended by 50 or so guests in Riverside, California. The groom’s nephews, 7-year-old Emmanuel Cifuentes and 5-year-old Emiliano Cifuentes, surprised the couple by singing their first dance song.
“POV: Your boys sing their tios first dance 🫶🏻❣️,” the boys’ mother, Rosario López, wrote in an onscreen text overlay over a video of their performance. She recently posted two clips of their adorable duet on TikTok, adding in one of the post’s captions, “The love my boys have for these two is so special they wanted to make their wedding day special with this surprise ❤️🫶🏻.”
Rosario tells PEOPLE that it was entirely her sons’ idea to sing at the wedding.
“One day they were on a car ride with their uncle, Refugio, and he asked them, ‘What song should we sing?’ ” Rosario recalls. “They said, ‘Die with a Smile,’ but he asked them, ‘Are you going to sing it [at the wedding]?’ And they said, ‘Yeah!’ We didn’t think they would actually do it until I would hear them practicing the song.”
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Emmanuel and Emiliano chose “Die with a Smile” by Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars for their uncle’s wedding first dance song because they heard the single “many times on YouTube Shorts” and thought it was “cute.”
Rosario remembers catching her sons practicing the song “every day for about two months,” whether it was “humming it” around the house or belting out the resilient lyrics during car rides.
“I would play it every single day on our car ride to school,” she says, noting, “I even recorded the youngest one practicing for the big day. Weeks prior, he did not want to even give us an insight. He kept on saying, ‘It’s going to be a surprise.’ “
Courtesy of Rosario Lopez
Emiliano and Emmanuel Cifuentes
When the outdoor wedding reception finally came, the boys were ready.
“The day of the performance, I had asked them if they were ready to sing at the wedding, and they both had confidently said ‘Yes,’ ” Rosario says. “They kept on asking every couple hours, ‘Is it time?’ Until it was time, my youngest, Emiliano, had said he was nervous but he’s ‘got this.’ “
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The duo, who also served as the couple’s ring bearers during the ceremony, walked over to where a live band was set up and borrowed their microphone. They stood side by side wearing matching black tuxedos and black Converse shoes, and began singing together as the instrumental version of “Die with a Smile” played.
In the TikTok videos, Refugio and Zwigart slow dance under strings of twinkling lights. They smile and laugh as they periodically turn their attention from each other to their nephews.
“Tio started tearing up 🫶🏻❤️,” Rosario wrote of the groom’s reaction in her first recording of the duet.
Onlooking wedding guests became just as emotional, with many taking out their cellphones to record the sweet song.
“Everyone was surprised, in shock and smiling throughout the whole performance,” Rosario says. “Many were recording and some in tears. As for the groom and bride, they were in complete shock and tears as well as they heard their nephews singing a lovely song for them, without any hesitation or shyness.”
Related: Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars Team Up for ‘Die with a Smile’ Video — Watch!
Rosario was “proud” of her sons, especially Emiliano, who admitted he was “nervous” during the performance and “that’s why he was standing still … ‘shaking’ at some points.”
Her TikTok videos received 9.7 million and 6.7 million views, totaling more than 16 million views. Emmanuel and Emiliano “didn’t take any singing lessons” prior to the performance, but their love for singing shone through as thousands of commenters praised them for their musical abilities.
“Wait they was harmonizing TOO?” one TikTok user wrote, with another adding, “This is so special I’d be a mess crying in the corner 😭💀.”
Read the original article on People
