When Annie Grace Means, 24, chose to wear her deceased mother’s wedding gown on her own wedding day, she was touched by the powerful and emotional impact it had on her friends and family—especially her beloved father.
The story behind Annie’s decision began with heartbreak in January of 2022. Her mother, Carly Barnett Mixon, contracted an upper respiratory infection and was put into a coma by her doctors to force her body to rest. Unfortunately, she contracted a severe strain of COVID while in the coma and soon passed. She was mourned by her husband, Chad Mixon, and daughters, Annie and Callie.
“She was my best friend,” Annie, originally from Opp, Alabama, said of her mom. “We were two peas in a pod.”
The Perfect Gown
After Annie got engaged, she had her heart set on finding a gown at David’s Bridal as a way to honor her mother, who had also purchased her wedding dress from the store.She visited David’s Bridal in December 2023 and purchased what she believed to be the perfect dress. However, at the beginning of 2024, she had second thoughts.
“Something wasn’t right about it,” said Annie, who graduated with a fashion degree and currently works as a visual merchandiser for Nordstrom.
Still, Annie had no plans to wear her mother’s gown until one fateful day in spring.
In April, after her maternal grandfather passed away, she was at his home for the funeral and remembered her mother’s wedding dress was there. She decided to try it on, and it fit perfectly.
As she stood in the gown, she grew emotional. A flood of memories came into her mind, including fond reminiscences from her teenage days trying on her mother’s dress. Now, wearing the gown as a bride-to-be, Annie felt that the moment was “spiritual.”
“I took that as a sign from God and my mother that they’re with me and that this is what I should do to honor my mom,” she said.
The Reveal
Only a few friends and relatives knew about Annie’s plan before the wedding. Her father had no idea.The big day soon arrived, and Annie made sure to hold a “first look” with her father before the ceremony. Chad, who was still grieving the passing of his wife, became overwhelmed upon seeing his daughter in the dress.
“He said he instantly got a lump in his throat, and he couldn’t hold it back,” Annie said, adding that her dad was shaken with both love and grief.
Chad asked Annie if it was her mother’s dress just to make sure, and when she said it was, he wept.
Annie was touched. “He definitely cherished it just as much as I did,” she told The Epoch Times.
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Later that day, a beaming Annie walked down the aisle and noticed several family members react as they recognized her gown.
But the day wasn’t over yet. After honoring her mother at the ceremony, Annie wanted to honor her further at the reception.
Annie always loved a wedding photo of her mother dancing with her grandfather, so she arranged to recreate it with the wedding photographer. After the ceremony, while dancing with her father, Annie made sure to capture a picture of them smiling at the camera in the middle of the dance.
“Then I whispered in his ear and said, ‘You know, I just recreated that photo of Mom and Poppy,’ and he choked up again,” she said.
‘Listen to Whatever the Lord Puts on Your Heart to Do’
Annie is now enjoying life with her husband in Grapevine, Texas. Although it’s uncertain whether her younger sister, Callie, will continue the tradition by wearing their mother’s dress at her own wedding, Annie has hopes.“I hope she does,” she said. “That would be a precious tradition.”
To others who want to honor the memory of loved ones, Annie says, “Definitely listen to your heart, listen to whatever the Lord puts on your heart to do.”
As a person of faith, Annie says she wouldn’t be where she is today without God.
“You’re going to have big days like these where you have your wedding or you have a kid, and you wish that those loved ones are there with you,” she said. “But to know in my heart that I have the relationship with the Lord that I do and know that she’s up there in heaven with Him and that through His salvation, I can see Him and her again one day is absolutely amazing and comforting.”
