Tara Foley of Austin, Texas, was just like any other bride-to-be when it came to her wedding plans. She’d chosen her ideal wedding gown and was hunting for all the decorations and materials she’d need for the occasion. However, ahead of the wedding, Foley’s 102-year-old grandmother became ill and had to enter hospice care as she neared death.
When Nana, a 102-year-old Italian grandmother who was married to Tara’s great-grandfather for more than 70 years, became ill, she and her family were deep into wedding preparations. The elderly woman was 1,300 miles away in Naples, Florida. During her stay in hospice, Nana informed the nurses that the only thing she desired was to survive long enough to attend Tara’s wedding in the summer. Unfortunately, as a result of her illness, Nana would be unable to board a plane and hence have no means of getting there.
“Her heart was failing,” Tara wrote on Facebook. “I knew in my heart she was trying to hang on to get there somehow.”
In the same Facebook post, Tara recalled her last visit with her beloved Nana. She was able to lavish the old woman with a lot of affection, but it wasn’t nearly enough given how much she loved the family’s matriarch.
“When I said goodbye to her that night, I think we both knew it would be the last time we would see each other,” Tara said. “She grabbed my cheeks with her hands, looked me straight in the eye, and said, ‘I love you very much.’”
On the morning of her death, Nana suffered a massive heart attack. She died just 27 days after Tara last saw her grandmother. She died four months before Tara was supposed to walk down the aisle with her true love.
However, Tara had a trick up her sleeve. On the day of her wedding, she presented her family with a photo album containing never-before-seen photographs. Her father was so shocked by what he saw that he couldn’t believe the pictures were genuine. He even accused the bride of altering them using Photoshop.
In fact, Tara and her fiancé were hiding a major secret from the family. They had deceived Tara’s parents by claiming they had to go on a business trip to Miami – but instead, they went to see Nana for a very special occasion.
Nana was a powerful woman. She grew up during the Depression and had to remain at home while her husband went off to serve in World War II. Throughout Tara’s life, she looked up to her grandmother and saw her as a role model of strength and energy.
Nana, however, was not going to be able to attend the wedding. That’s when Tara decided to have the wedding there. She traveled to Florida and donned her wedding gown while getting photographs with Nana.
After her grandmother died only four weeks later, Tara revealed to ABC News that she had made a secret photoshoot with her.
What do you think of this bride’s unique way to commemorate her wedding?
