Gianna Huber knew her grandmother wouldn't live long enough to see her walk down the aisle, so she made other plans.

Recently, 23-year-old bride Gianna Huber from Florida came up with an idea to include her beloved dying grandmother Jo Ann in her wedding preparations.

As the video below shows, the granddaughter and grandmother, who had colon cancer, had a very close bond. The pair shared endless text messages and spent lots of time in each other’s company. In fact, Gianna describes Jo Ann as her “best friend” in an ABC article.

Unfortunately, with four months to her wedding, while the family still clung to hope, they realized that Jo Ann’s health was failing and that she would soon succumb to her colon cancer.

A pre-wedding wedding

The bride-to-be therefore decided in August to have a mini-wedding party for her grandmother in home hospice care. Gianna shared: “I was just like, ‘Everyone, bring your outfits for the wedding and we’ll make it something a little bit bigger.'”

The guests didn’t disappoint. They came in wearing the outfits they were planning to wear for the real wedding, and gave the grandmother a kiss and a rose.

In the video that went viral on social media, you can see the flower girls already carrying out their duties to perfection, and the bride herself arrived to the sound of My Girl — her grandmother’s favorite song.

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As Gianna’s actual dress wasn’t ready, her mom reached out to the bridal shop who lent a dress to Gianna so she could be picture perfect. And by the look on Jo Ann’s face, she was the dream bride.

A special moment for a special person

Sadly, Jo Ann eventually passed away a few weeks later on September 2, and Gianna went on to marry her groom Ethan Watler on December 7, 2024. While the wedding must have been bittersweet for the family Gianna pointed out what joy her grandmother had in seeing her granddaughter as a bride:

“She talked about it up until the end, really, about how special that was and how much it meant to her and how excited she was to see us all in our outfits. She knew she wasn’t going to make it, even though we were all holding on to hope. But deep down, we knew.”

And for Gianna the gesture was important for two reasons. She wanted others to know just how special her grandmother was to her entire family, sharing:

“She was so loving and caring and had a huge family, and she really was, like, the rock of our family.”

But she also wanted to inspire others to go out of the way to make others happy:

“I just want people to know that doing something that is going to make someone happy, you should just jump on it and don’t wait.”

Read more:4 Meaningful ways to repurpose your wedding dress

Read more:6 Beautiful quotes on love by Irish authors as you prepare your wedding

University of Texas at Austin

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