Little Bryson Suber couldn't contain his emotion when he laid eyes on his mother on her wedding day, and the sweet pictures of his reaction are now going viral.
"Bryson is a very charismatic young fella," Tearra Suber, 30, from Gahanna, Ohio, tells PEOPLE of her six-year-old son. "He's very smart, and he's very much in touch with me, obviously, as his mom."
The photographs of Bryson — with tears streaming down his cheeks — as he stood next to his brother at the altar during their parents' wedding on September 4, 2016, are pulling at the heartstrings of thousands across social media. The pictures show the then 5-year-old, looking quite dapper in a red suit and gold-colored tie, as he peers down the aisle as Tearra walks toward his father and her soon-to-be-husband, Bryant Suber.
"I didn't actually notice Bryson's reaction until I was about halfway down the aisle," Tearra remembers. "He was very emotional, and it was a very emotional moment for me because the value that it meant for us and for our family."
Though Bryson is typically full of personality, Tearra says, his tears were not something she anticipated.
"I wasn't expecting him to respond in that way," Tearra says. "By the time I got halfway down the aisle, and I saw his sweet little face, oh my god, it about broke me into pieces. I didn't expect it, but knowing Bryson, he has a pretty big personality, so it's not surprising but it's still shocking at the moment."
Seeing her son and his tears of happiness made Tearra even more emotional just as she tried to hold back tears of her own!
"He saw me struggling to get down the aisle," she says. "Seeing his mom, at that moment on that day, it triggered his emotions. It was an emotional moment for me, too."
Paul Woo, who photographed the wedding ceremony in Grove City, Ohio, says when he saw Bryson's reaction, he realized he needed to move quickly if he was going to capture pictures of both Bryson and the beautiful bride.
"As everyone stood up and waited for the bride to come down the aisle, he started expressing so much emotion," Woo says in a statement to PEOPLE. "I was solo shooting this wedding and this moment was difficult because I was secretly bawling behind the camera and had to prioritize this moment over the bride coming down the aisle."
Though he probably didn't expect the photographs of Bryson to get such a huge response on social media — where many Facebook and Instagram commenters have said the images have brought tears to their eyes, as well — Woo knew he had something special in front of him that day.
"I knew this moment was THE moment," he says.
The big day was a long time coming for Bryson's parents, Tearra and Bryant, who first met during high school where they bonded over their love of hoops.
"We both played basketball in high school. He started hanging out before in front of the gym. He knew a little bit about me before he shot his shot," Tearra says. "For a while I was pushing him to the side, not paying him much attention, but our relationship transpired and it grew over the years and we are standing the test of time."
Once she finally made it down the aisle during the ceremony, Tearra told Bryant what helped him win her heart.
"I said it in my wedding vows," she says. "He's a very ambitious man, and it was actually one of the reasons that made me fall in love with him, years and years ago."
Tearra says the family is enjoying the newfound attention their wedding photos are getting, and they are thankful to have such elegant images of the day that changed their lives.
"We are very blessed and grateful that it's getting attention," she says. "It kind of allows us to relive that moment and that day, rethink about how beautiful and how grateful we are to have experienced that. It definitely takes us back to that lovely day."
