On December 22, 2024, 24-year-old Annie Grace Means touched the hearts of her friends and family, especially her beloved father, at her wedding when she wore her late mother’s wedding dress. The emotional impact she created was palpable.
Annie’s decision was rooted in a tragic experience she faced in January 2022. Her mother, Carly Barnett Mixon, fell into a coma due to a respiratory infection and tragically passed away after contracting a severe case of COVID while unconscious. Her husband, Chad Mixon, and daughters Annie and Carlie were left devastated.
“She was my best friend,” Annie, from Opelika, Alabama, said of her mother. “We were two peas in a pod.”
After getting engaged, Annie was determined to honor her mother by purchasing a gown from David’s Bridal, the same store where her mother had bought her wedding dress.
In December 2023, she found what she thought was the perfect wedding dress at David’s Bridal. However, by early 2024, she began to feel that something wasn’t quite right.
“I had a feeling,” Annie said, who graduated in fashion and currently works as a visual marketer at Nordstrom.
Despite her initial reservations, Annie had not intended to wear her mother’s wedding dress until a sorrowful day in spring.
In April, following the passing of her grandfather, Annie remembered her mother’s wedding dress being with him. She decided to try it on, and it fit perfectly.
As she wore the dress, memories surged through her mind, including fond recollections of trying on her mother’s dresses as a teenager. Now, as a bride-to-be in that dress, Annie felt it was a “spiritual” moment.
“I think it was a sign from God and my mother, them being present with me, that this was what I should do to honor my mother,” she said.
Only a few close friends and relatives knew of Annie’s plan before the wedding. Her father was kept in the dark.
On the joyous day, as Annie walked down the aisle, her father, still grieving his wife’s passing, was taken aback to see his daughter in that very dress. Overwhelmed with love and sadness, Chad was speechless.
“He said he got a lump in his throat immediately, and he couldn’t hold it back,” Annie said, her father deeply moved by love and grief.
Chad inquired if it was her mother’s dress, just to confirm. When she confirmed, he cried.
“You look just like her,” he said in a video.
Touched, Annie said, “He absolutely cherishes it like I do.”
When asked what her mother would think of her wearing the dress, Annie had a clear answer. “She would be absolutely thrilled,” she said.
That night, as elated Annie walked down the aisle, several family members reacted upon recognizing her gown.
But the day was far from over. After paying tribute to her mother during the ceremony, Annie wanted to further honor her at the reception.
Always fond of the wedding photo of her mother and grandfather dancing together, she planned to recreate that picture with the wedding photographer. After the ceremony, while dancing with her father, Annie had the photographer capture a moment where they smiled at the camera.
“Then I whispered in his ear, ‘You know, I just recreated the photo of Mom and Dad.’ And he choked up again,” she said.
Annie now lives in Grapevine, Texas with her husband. While uncertain if her sister Carlie will continue the tradition of wearing their mother’s dress on her own wedding day, Annie remains hopeful.
“I hope she does,” she said. “It would be a precious tradition.”
For others wishing to commemorate loved ones, Annie advises, “Listen to your heart, listen to anything the Lord is telling you to do.”
As a person of faith, Annie says she wouldn’t be where she is today without God.
“You will also experience significant days like this, such as getting married or welcoming a child, where you wish your loved ones could be with you. But I understand in my heart, my relationship with the Lord is so deep, and I know she is in heaven with Him. Through His redemption, I know I will see both of them again one day, which fills me with immense joy and comfort.”
(The original text “Bride Surprises Father by Wearing Late Mother’s Wedding Dress: VIDEO” was published on the English Epoch Times website.)