A mom fulfilled her dying wish to help her single daughter find a wedding dress

Amy Astrauskas was known to friends as “the hostess with the mostest.”

“Because she was always throwing a party or decorating a table,” Emily Elizabeth Creighton, 28, tells TODAY.com of her late mom.

Astrauskas planned all family events, including holidays and her son Michael’s 2017 nuptials. So Creighton, who is single, wasn’t surprised when a dying Astrauskas suggested they go wedding dress shopping.

At the time, Astrauskas was battling stage 4 inflammatory breast cancer, and her prognosis wasn’t good. Astrauskas knew she wouldn’t live long enough to walk her daughter down the aisle, but what she could do was help her choose a gown.

Astrauskas made an appointment at Free Love Bridal in Cape May, New Jersey.

“She lied and said I was getting married!” Creighton says, with a laugh.

On Instagram, Creighton, an actor in New York City, shared footage from the joyful try-on session. In the clip, Creighton recalled how the consultants popped champagne and asked a “million” questions about her “non-existent” fiancé. Creighton and Astrauskas had fun playing along and made up a story about a guy named Joey.

“Honestly, one of the funniest and saddest moments of my life,” Creighton said in the reel. “But now, even though she’s gone, I get to say she helped me to pick out my wedding dress.”

Creighton describes her gown as a “classic” style with pockets and buttons all the way down the back.

“As soon as I put it on, we were like, ‘Yup, this is it,” Creighton says. “My dad, you can see him in the video, he’s like asleep on the couch. He had no interest. But my mom was just in her glory.”

Though Astrauskas wanted Creighton to purchase the dress that day, Creighton says she couldn’t justify the cost.

Astrauskas died months later in March 2021 at age 63.

“On her deathbed she was like, ‘I think you should go buy the dress. I think you should have it,’” Creighton remembers.

Creighton says the dress — and veil that brought Astrauskas to tears — are on hold at the store for when meets her person. Her wedding will have all the details she and Astrauskas discussed including, pink peonies and a “fabulous” live band at the reception.

“The only thing that has changed is, my mom thought the person at the end of the aisle would be a man!” Creighton says, noting that she came out as gay in 2022. “But she was the most accepting and loving person — she would have been totally fine with it. All my mom ever wanted was for me to be happy."

This article was originally published on TODAY.com