ABSENT MOTHER LEAVES A LIFE-CHANGING SECRET FOR THE BRIDE TO UNRAVEL
Every girl dreams of her wedding day to be the most memorable day of her life. Emma Letts wished for the same. Ever since she was a little girl, all she could imagine was the day of her wedding and how happy she and her family would be. Most of all she wanted to make her mother proud. She was her strength of life. Emma has had this dream almost every night; she walking down the aisle and her mother looking at her smiling. Was her greatest strength in life going to become her vulnerability?
Though fate had something else to offer, just a few months ahead of her wedding, Emma faced the worst blow of atrocities. Would all of her dreams break down to pieces or will she be able to survive this loss and make the day as beautiful as she had desired?
Wedding Stress
No wonder it was the most awaited day of Emma’s life but weddings sometimes can be really tiresome. She had been working for this day for as long as she could remember. She could not dream of anything going wrong. Everything was perfectly planned. Though Emma felt something was dearly missing from this special day but she didn’t want any more tears. She had shed a lot of them already.
The Bewildered Bride
She paced back and forth. Dress, cake, table settings, everything was becoming too much both from a stress perspective as well as financially. It seemed everything was determined to make her lose her mind or go broke. She fell into a chair and let the tasks run wild through her mind.
Dream Of A Lifetime
When Emma was a little girl, she would talk to her mother about how she would plan her wedding and her mother would gently brush her fingers through her hair and smile at the innocence of her daughter. She would tell her how proud and happy she would be to see her daughter walk down the aisle. Now when Emma was finally planning for this day, she felt something was missing.
The Best Day Of Her Life
Richard had proposed her for marriage. She couldn’t be more excited about this. It was all right here in her head and she couldn’t wait to tell every one of her friends and family. She was lucky too, everyone already loved her fiancé, Richard Wilson. She picked up the phone and dialed her mother’s number. The innocence within was not aware of the storm that was about to hit their family.
An Emotional Encounter
Weddings are about more than just the bride and groom. They’re also about family, memories and most importantly, love. Bride-to-be Emma of Leicestershire, England was finally planning her very own wedding and all she wanted was things to be perfect. She knew, her wedding day would not only be the most beautiful day of her life but also of the lives of both her and Richard’s family.
Perfectly Planned
When Richard proposed Emma, she was more than happy to accept. She already knew that she wanted everything to be bespoke, just for her, just for this one day and so the wedding date was set a neat two years away. Surely, she’d have enough time to plan everything perfectly. What she didn’t know was that choosing a date so late was going to be the reason for her most dreaded nightmares.
All The Choices
The venue was chosen and the deposit paid, she worked on the table settings long before the invites were to go out, and she’d pulled Richard around to every cake shop in, and out of, town for tastings, finally deciding on a rich chocolate ganache cake topped by a smaller traditional fruit cake to cut and save.
Towards The D-Day
As the day of the wedding drew nearer, Emma was even more enthusiastically submerged into the preps. From flowers to tables and candles, everything was being handpicked and she made sure that all decorations aligned with her as well as Richard’s taste. The perfect day had a perfect planner working in full swing.
Keeping Secrets
Emma was oblivious to the world around her, living only in the fantastic make-believe of her wedding day planning. She didn’t know that the people closest to her were hiding something from her. She continued to plan and prep and her husband let her do just that. Months passed and she was still none the wiser.
Silence Before The Storm
When everything seemed to move in the right direction and Emma was sure that everything she was doing was leading her and her family to a beautiful day, news that would rattle everything that she had dreamt of was awaiting her. Will the day of her wedding be the same joyful affair or will this news jeopardize the beautiful day?
Bad News
It was 2016 when Richard asked Emma for her hand in marriage and only a few months after that amazing day followed terrible news for Emma’s family. Her mother was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer and with the wedding date set for August 2019 it didn’t seem possible that her mother would be with her on her big day.
A Broken Dream
Emma was in a sorry state. Hearing her mom would not even make it to her wedding day was a blow that she was not ready to handle. All she could think about was the moments in her childhood when she would talk to her mother about her wedding and how her mother would say how proud and happy she would be to watch Emma walk down the aisle.
Brought To Tears
Of course, Emma was distraught at the idea of not having her mother watch her walk down the aisle. The year had brought the most amazing news and also the very worst. It was just too much to cope with. It was now Emma’s mother who did something behind Emma’s back. Something that would make her cry her eyes out.
Last Surprise
Emma’s mother knew that she would not be present on the day of her daughter’s wedding to bless her but she didn’t want Emma to miss her and to change things for the better she planned a surprise that would make her daughter blissful on a special day. She wanted to make Emma’s dream come true and that she should not miss her. She had the perfect plan to let her daughter know that her mother will always be by her side.
A Brave Fight
Her mother fought bravely on but it wasn’t long before she lost her battle with cancer and unfortunately long before the nuptials. Even though she knew she will never be able to conquer the deadly disease, she remained a fighter more because she never wanted to see the disappointment in her daughter’s eyes. She wanted to be a mother who would set an example before her kid even as the time for her was passing very quickly.
Life After Death
Emma was never the same after her mother was no more.“Sadly, my mum past away around 17 months ago, it’s been so hard planning a wedding without having her with me and I have had lots of tears!” She very well knew her mother would not have wanted the wedding day to be canceled or postponed, so she pulled herself together and got back to the preparations again.
Everything Coming Together
Everything was starting to come together now. Every day packages were arriving at the front door or appointments were to be dashed off. Emma was back to working tirelessly for her wedding. She was happy and busy again, though the absence of her mother would sting her every moment. However, she was not aware of the beautiful surprise she was about to unwrap soon. This was surely gonna make her feel amazing.
The Package Of Dreams
One fine morning with all other packages came Emma’s bespoke pink suede wedding heels. Except, she was confused at an odd receipt saying she had nothing owing on them, in fact, she was getting her deposit back too. Emma was simply blown away, and she hadn’t even pulled out the surprise yet.
A Massive Surprise
“I received my finished shoes at the weekend and had a massive surprise, I pulled out the one shoe and I saw part of the message and I couldn’t think who it would be.” This was the surprise that even Richard had kept from Emma all this time. An extra special touch offered by the cobbler is to add a note from a loved one in their handwriting on the soles of the shoes.
For Her Daughter
How could a mother not fulfill that one true wish of her child, that too on her wedding day? Emma always wanted her mom to be the happiest on her wedding and she wanted her to walk Emma down the aisle. She could think of no other way to surprise the beautiful bride than modifying her wedding shoes. Now she would walk with Emma at every step of life.
A Beautiful Note
The message, of course, was from her mom who secretly got in touch with Amanda Weise, the owner of Lace and Love shop. “The client put a deposit down on shoes months ago. In the meantime and unbeknown to her, her mum who was terminally ill contacted me to pay for them,” She also sent me a message to include on the soles which I kept secret throughout the whole process along with the fact her mum had purchased them for her.”
The Heavenly Presence
Emma had absolutely no idea what this meant. She had ordered these shoes but there was something different. She got her deposit back, she didn’t have to pay anything for the delivery. Was this Richard’s idea of making her smile or it was someone else. When she turned the shoe around and read the first few letters, she couldn’t stop her tears. With wet eyes, she continued to read…
With Her In Spirit
Because Emma had already paid the deposit her mom asked Amanda if she could pay for the entire bill and have Emma refunded upon delivery.“I know these shoes will carry an even more special meaning to this client,” Amanda wrote on Facebook.
The Stirring Note
Everyone in the family and Lace and Love made sure that Emma was downright oblivious to the surprise that her mother had planned for her. Emma was so engrossed in getting things at the right place that when she held the shoes in her hand it felt to her like a dream. Every word engraved was an emotion altogether. All her stress evaporated and it felt like a raindrop on a hot summer desert.
Couldn’t Breathe
Emma began to read the message inscribed on the soles of her wedding shoes, “I started to cry… I was just absolutely in bits. I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t talk,” The 38-year-old bride, naturally, was overwhelmed with emotion but just what did the “secret” message on the soles say that left Emma in tears?
Your Gift From Me
“Wanted you to have a gift from me on your wedding day. Your wedding shoes are my gift to you,” a note in a gold script read. “Hope you have a magical day. Lots and lots of love and big hugs, MUM xxxx” So know Emma’s mom will be walking down the aisle with her and there’s another reason these shoes are so sentimental.
A letter To Everyone
Emma’s mother, when came to know about her declining health, decided to write letters to everyone close to her. She wanted everyone to know what she felt and what she was leaving behind. She wanted everyone to remember who she was and most importantly to her daughter who was going to embark on a new journey with Richard. She wanted to tell her how she felt about Richard and let her know that she is proud of her for choosing him. More than anything she wanted her to know that she loved Emma and how she should never feel weak or lonely.
No Letter
Emma’s mother never got to write her heart out to her daughter. She wasn’t disappointed but felt that she couldn’t leave her behind without doing something that would spread a smile across Emma’s face. She then got the idea of gifting her the wedding shoes and how beautifully she carried out the surprise that Emma more than anything in the world, more than her wedding was happy about the shoe that her mother had bought for her. She made it even more special with that beautiful note that she left behind.
An Extra Mile
The team at Lace and Love were ready to go the extra mile to make sure that the surprise was well planned and received. Apart from keeping the secret, everyone out there was engrossed in making the pair look fabulous. Though it was not an extravagant task it involved the love of a dying mother for her bride-to-be daughter. This sole fact made it personal work. The shoes looked perfect and would perfectly suit the bride.
Hand Crafted
The shoes were crafted by Lace and Love and designer Amanda Weise was all excited to put in an extra effort to make them look best. When Emma’s mom confronted Weise and told her about the surprise she was planning, Amanda went emotional thinking about a mother’s love. Amanda also promised to keep the details from Emma until the order was shipped to her.
The Magnum Opus Shoes
The shoes had to be the most beautiful thing at the wedding. To make sure that it looked as perfect as the bride put it on, the skilled cobblers had to put in days of efforts and it was added responsibility when Emma’s mom wanted them to add a few more features and not to forget the note on the sole of the shoes. With all the efforts going in, the pair came out to be exactly what Emma’s mother would have wanted to gift her daughter.
Hidden Message
“The shoes were a beautiful thing to be a part of. From designing them to match Emma’s requirements to make sure I could get a message from her mum to add to the soles was a lot of pressure,” Amanda said, “Especially while keeping it secret from Emma that her mum had paid for them and we were adding the secret message from her.”
A Roller Coaster
Emma Letts had seen it all in the past couple of years. She had had the happiness of choosing the love of her life. She also went through the roller coaster of talking to her family and finally making everyone fall in the utmost love with Richard. She then felt the excitement of planning her wedding run through her veins. Lately, she went through immense sorrow and pain of losing her mother even before she could see her daughter married.
Love Engraved
Emma’s mom had made sure that she spilled out all her feelings through the words in the short message. She was doing this to make her daughter happy and letting her know how she felt through the engravings on the sole of the shoe is all that she could do. So, the note she wrote was short but had all it took to bring Emma to tears. All the love of a mother was engraved within a few words. It was an emotional adieu for her and she did all the great things a mother could do. The expressions on Emma’s face could tell for themselves that she had been a great mother.
A Part Of The Journey
Just like Emma and her mother, Lace and Love were also a part of this journey. This wedding for them had been more than a business affair. For all of them, the moment of gifting Emma the shoes was a splendid affair. The interlude between they met Emma’s mom and the wedding was for them, a time when they gave their full to let Emma know that her wedding was indeed the most memorable day of her life.
Emotional
“It was also very emotional knowing what these were going to mean to Emma so the pressure to get them right was even greater,” she continued. “I’m so proud to be able to give this gift to Emma and deliver what her mum wanted.”
The Wedding
Finally when the day was here. Everything that Emma had planned was perfect. Both families were happy that their children were now embarking on a journey of a new life. Richard looked at Emma and smiled almost like telling her that he was thankful for all that she had done for their big day. Emma looked at her pink wedding shoes and smiled as she walked down the aisle.
Lace And Love
Lace and Love owner loves to personalize shoes adding unique, personal touches to each pair. From initials, dates or names to charms or even miniature picture frames. These can hold a photo of a loved one to have them with you every step of the way.
Anything Special
A newly written note or one from a long time ago can be written on the shoes, or even offcuts of the material used to make your wedding dress, a special brooch or almost any small meaningful item you may have been given but Amanda does have this to say, “This is probably the most emotional pair of shoes I’m ever going to make.”
The Love Of Gifting
Gifting something to your loved ones, for a long time has been an expression of love and care. The pleasure of presenting something special is much more than receiving it. Shops like Lace and Love help people in making the right gifting. In this case, Emma’s mom went a step ahead a planned a surprise for her daughter that she wouldn’t even be able to present to her.
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