My FI's mom just died today after losing a battle w/cancer. We knew that there was a chance that she wouldn't make it to the wedding--but it seemed that the wedding is what has been keeping her going the past few months. Very sad that she couldn't hold out for another 34 days to see her only son get married.
We told her today before she passed that we would save her seat at the wedding even though she wouldn't be there. However we want to do more...not bring the whole wedding down...but still recognize her. An added challenge is that she doesn't want any kind of funeral or memorial service--she wants to be cremated and have her ashes spread in a place special to her, and that is it. So, the wedding will be the first time her family will be all together since they respectively received news of her passing. Again--we don't want to bring the whole wedding down and turn it into a memorial service (since it is supposed to be a celebration of our starting our new life together, which is what FI's mom wanted) but the man getting married's mom just died. We have to pay tribute to her. And she was a pretty awesome woman. So caring and giving--she couldn't even talk or breathe without assistance or get out of bed on Friday but the first thing she did when I got to the hospital was ask me if my mom got her dress yet.
Anyway, if anyone has gone through this before, any suggestions are greatly welcome, thank you so much in advance...I didn't know where to post this other than etiquette so I apologize for the random placement.