A CALIFORNIAN GROOM has been able to die the knot with his long-term fiancée, despite being marooned in an isolation ward in hospital – by hooking himself up to the church and exchanging vows over Skype.

Samuel Kim had been to marry his fellow native Korean, Helen Oh, in the southern city of Fullerton last Saturday – but had begun to spit up blood last week, and ultimately needed to be hospitalised.

Though Reuters reports that Kim was initially unwilling to reveal his illness to Oh – fearing that he may have had to miss the big day, for which family members had been flown from Korea – he ultimately informed her of his medical condition, and has committed to an isolation unit in a nearby hospital.

The ceremony, though, was still able to proceed almost entirely as planned – once his hospital room had been rigged up with a webcam, and the church with a number of jumbo-screen monitors, so that Kim could still participate.

The Orange County Register said Kim had still been able to scrub up for the occasion – and had worn his tuxedo while lying in his hospital bed exchanging the vows.

“Helen, my wife, I’m very very sorry for not being able to walk you down the aisle or stand at the altar, but today is just one day,” Kim told his bride over Skype. “We’re going to live for a very long time… I promise to be the perfect husband from now on to make up for this.”

It added that Kim was unable to attend the reception, but Oh had still been able to visit him in the hospital that evening.

The wedding isn’t the first Skype wedding, though – that honour was claimed by a British couple who were stuck in the airport in Dubai following the ash cloud disruptions last year.

“He felt really terrible that he wasn’t there,” said Oh, who was commended by guests for not shedding any tears despite the absence of her new husband.

The couple will honeymoon in Paris and Prague once Kim’s lung infection clears up.