Weddings are a major affair that comes with a lot of planning and tradition.
Although finding someone you love enough to spend the rest of your life with them is challenge enough, the actual wedding event is full of its own challenges. You have to book the venue, make decisions on flowers and catering and find an incredible photographer. Because there’s often a lot of money on the line, everything has to be absolutely perfect. Still, aside from the technical issues and the money involved, weddings are a great time to make memories that will last a lifetime.
And sometimes those memories affect aren’t only for the bride and the groom.
Jordyn Cleverly, a 23-year-old woman living in Boise, Idaho, had just decided she was going to get married—but she had a special twist in mind.
Because so much thought goes into what dress the bride is supposed to wear, Cleverly wondered if she could re-use an old dress that had sentimental meaning behind it. She eventually decided that she would re-wear her grandmother’s dress—but she wanted the big reveal to be a surprise.
To make the dream come true, Cleverly had to go through several different steps.
Before anything else, she had to secretly procure the dress from her grandmother without her knowledge.
After accomplishing that, Cleverly took the dress to a seamstress to get it restored and mended. The dress itself was from 1962, a beautiful long-sleeve gown made of lace. Fortunately, all the intermediary steps were successful and Cleverly was able to get the dress repaired successfully and secretly.
With all the work done, Cleverly was ready to make the big reveal to her grandmother.
It all happened on the evening of the rehearsal dinner.
Although it’s customary for the groom to get the “first look” at his bride, Cleverly thought that her grandmother should be the first one under these circumstances. To capture the special moment, she hired a professional photographer named Kortney Peterson to take pictures of the entire process. With everyone in place, Cleverly came out and began walking towards her grandmother.
After a moment, it seemed that Jensen knew exactly what was going on.
Because she’d been married in the dress herself, Jensen couldn’t help but remember in that moment.
Cleverly explained:
“I think the light bulbs started going off when she saw me going toward her. You don’t forget what your wedding dress looks like.”
Though the moment was a beautiful one, it had occurred right as storm clouds had begun to gather. As it turns out, Jensen had become a widow two years before Cleverly had even been born. As a result, seeing the dress had brought back a flood of emotions—right as both women began to shed tears of their own. They embraced as Peterson took a few more pictures. At the end of it all, Jensen had some words for her granddaughter. Cleverly explained:
“When I finally didn’t want the photographer to catch any more ugly crying, I hugged [my grandmother] and she whispered, ‘I married my high school sweetheart in this dress,’ and paused for a second while she caught her breath, and said, ‘now so will you.’”
The story and the beautiful pictures that go along with it have since gone viral, covered in many different outlets.
Above all, Cleverly and Jensen’s story shows just how magical weddings can be in bringing feelings to the surface and creating memories that will last a lifetime. Cleverly’s decision to wear the dress meant a lot to Jensen—and she was thoughtful enough to capture the moment forever by having a photographer at the ready! Although Cleverly and her husband were soon happily wed as well, her gesture towards her grandmother was a strong declaration of love all its own.
Congratulations, Jordyn!
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