A bride who had lost her father 10 years before her wedding day paid a beautiful surprise tribute to all the men in her life who have stepped up since by including them in her first-look shoot.
The six men who had gathered near bride Gracie Calkins, 31, from San Angelo, Texas, had no idea they were being included in such a significant moment, thinking instead that they were headed for a series of formal group photos.
Gracie lost her father, Jerry, 53, to a pulmonary embolism in 2014, when she was just 19 years old.
Jerry was a pillar of the community and a friend to all, Gracie said, and so the loss hit her and her family extremely hard.
But over the years, Gracie noticed that certain men had started to step up in her father’s place – whether it be Jerry’s best friend taking her for quarterly lunch dates when she was back from college, or her godfather making sure that he checked in every birthday, holiday, and anniversary.
Gracie’s stepfather and father-in-law played dad-like roles on various occasions, while her brother embodied Jerry’s personality, and Gracie’s brother-in-law, along with her sister, helped keep her dad’s memory alive.
And so, ahead of her wedding day, on November 29, 2024, in Lafayette, Louisiana, Gracie started to think about all the father-daughter moments that she would like to fill in her own way.
Having selected the six men who she thought had stepped up for Jerry, the group were then taken to what they thought would be formal photographs.
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But as they gathered, the men were pinned with their boutonnières and each handed a note, thanking them for the ways they had stepped up to support Gracie over the past decade.
Some fought back tears before they were encouraged to turn around and witness the 31-year-old in her wedding dress for the first time.
The sweet moment was captured by Gracie’s wedding photographer and videographers, with the emotional clip later being shared online.
Gracie said: “I am a very sentimental person by nature, and I believe it began when I was reflecting on all of the traditional father-daughter moments of a wedding day and how I wanted to approach them without my dad.
“These men have done so much for me in the 10 years since we lost him.
“Honestly, beyond their reactions – which were so sweet – the thing I remember most is just the gratitude I felt in that moment.
“How grateful I was to have so many men there to fill a memory that otherwise would have felt like a void and an additional reminder of my greatest loss.
“How grateful I am for the way they have done that for me time and time again since the unexpected loss of my dad.
“How grateful I am knowing that no one could ever fill his shoes, but that my dad was there in his own way through each of them.
“He was surely smiling down, knowing they are the ones standing in for him when I need him and hugging me tight when I miss him most.”
