Tara Foley’s grandmother started receiving hospice care a few weeks after the bride-to-be bought her wedding dress.
The 102-year-old Foley’s nana, Stasia Foley, told hospice workers in Naples, Florida that she wants to attend her granddaughter’s wedding that summer.
Tara told PEOPLE: ‘’I knew she wouldn’t be able to make it back to Texas for my wedding,”
“When I heard that, I said, ‘I have to go to her. I want her to see me in my dress. And I want to get as close as I can to giving her last wish.’’
The 37-year-old realtor told her parents that he was going along with her, 41-year-old fiance Matt Bars, on a work trip to Miami. But she reached Fort Myers without her fiance as she didn’t want him to see the dress before the wedding.
When she got to the hospice, her grandma said “I thought it was going to be you,” Tara recalled.
“I wanted so badly for her to see me in my dress,”
“She just touched the fabric and touched the tulle of my dress. She kept looking at my dress and looking at me.”
Her grandmother told Tara she was a beautiful bride.
“I got very teary-eyed,” Tara says. “She was never one to cry. She got teary-eyed as well.”
The photographer also got emotional seeing the heartwarming moment between grandmother and granddaughter.
“It was super precious,” says photographer Marie Kamp, “It was very, very sweet.”
Kamp’s sister, make-up artist Michelle Weaver got teary-eyed during her first phone call with Tara.
“It will be in our hearts forever,” Weaver told PEOPLE.
Tara told: ‘’I wanted to keep all the photos a surprise,”
‘’She put her finger to her chin, she looked out the window and said, ‘I’ll tell them we went dancing.’’
Her grandma died on Feb. 23, 2019 and she kept the photoshoot a secret until her wedding day.
‘’I’m really good at keeping secrets,” Tara says.
When her bridesmaids were doing their makeup and hair, Tara showed her family framed photographs from her secret photoshoot and they were surprised to see it.
‘’My dad thought I had Photoshopped two pictures together. He was just very, very moved by the photo. He didn’t think it was real,” Tara says. “That’s when the tears just started falling. Everybody was just very overwhelmed with emotion and very surprised.”
‘’Everybody is just beyond touched by the photos. Everyone said the nicest, and kindest things,”
‘’In the crazy world of negativity on social media, people are letting me know how beautiful the world can be. Everybody is being incredibly kind. I’m loving everybody sharing their stories of their grandparents with me as well.”
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