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Elizabeth Smart marries in Hawaii

WAP2003043005 - WASHINGTON, April 30 (UPI) -- Edward, Elizabeth and Lois Smart, left to right, attend a ceremony in the Rose Garden of the White House where President Bush signed the Protect Act of 2003, a national Amber Alert law, on April 30, 2003. Elizabeth was abducted and held for nine months. rlw/Roger L. Wollenberg UPI
WAP2003043005 - WASHINGTON, April 30 (UPI) -- Edward, Elizabeth and Lois Smart, left to right, attend a ceremony in the Rose Garden of the White House where President Bush signed the Protect Act of 2003, a national Amber Alert law, on April 30, 2003. Elizabeth was abducted and held for nine months. rlw/Roger L. Wollenberg UPI | License Photo

LAIE, Hawaii, Feb. 19 (UPI) -- Kidnap and rape survivor Elizabeth Smart married Matthew Gilmour at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Laie, Hawaii, Saturday, a spokesman said.

"The bride and groom were beaming as they left the LDS Temple," Smart spokesman Chris Thomas said in a statement, The Salt Lake Tribune reported.

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"We're just thrilled that she's married," father of the bride Ed Smart said, adding his 24-year-old daughter looked beautiful.

Temple President H. Ross Workman performed the ceremony, the newspaper said.

The couple originally planned to marry in Scotland in July, but they moved up the date after an unanticipated amount of media attention.

The decision was "kind of a spur of a moment thing in a way," Ed Smart said.

"Elizabeth's desire was for what most women want -- to celebrate her nuptials in a private wedding with family and close friends," Thomas said. "She decided, about a week ago, the best way to avoid significant distraction was to change her wedding plans and to get married in an unscheduled ceremony outside of Utah."

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The location of their honeymoon was not disclosed, but People magazine said the newlyweds, who met while doing Mormon missionary work in Paris, plan to live in Salt Lake City.

Smart was kidnapped from her Salt Lake City home in 2002 when she was 14 and spent nine months as the captive of a transient couple before police found her by chance on the streets of Sandy, Utah.

Smart testified her captor, Brian David Mitchell, raped her almost daily between 2002 and 2003. She is now an advocate for abuse victims and provides reporting and analysis for ABC News on issues related to missing and exploited children.

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