Veteran Gets Dream Wedding Before Life-Threatening Surgery (Exclusive) [Video]

Jennifer Cooper says she saw a bright light and heard a voice telling her not to die during her first brain tumor surgery in 2015. She says the voice told her to stay alive for her children, but also because had not met her true love yet. “Follow the butterflies,” the voice said, she recalls.

Months later, on her first date with Devin Cooper, he was wearing a butterfly bracelet. When the couple moved in together, their home in Madisonville, Tenn., had butterfly wallpaper, light switches and curtains. They even have matching butterfly tattoos.

“I always knew I had a soulmate,” Jennifer, 44, tells PEOPLE. “I just knew.”

With a second life-threatening surgery looming — which, if successful, will result in the loss of her vision — strangers banded together to give the couple their dream wedding and help them create memories while there was still time.

“We have a …