There were tears after a bride found a unique way of including her late best friend in her wedding.

Kiana Foote, from Loudon, New Hampshire, always imagined she would have her friend Aubine Niyomugabo by her side when she got married. “I met her in middle school playing lacrosse, and we hit it off,” Foote told Newsweek.

“She was from Rwanda and her family came to the U.S. when she was 1. Our dads were both truck drivers. My mom is also an immigrant and speaks French, and so did her dad, so we related on that as well.”

For so much of her young life, Niyomugabo was indeed by Foote’s side.

“We always somehow managed to keep following each other somehow as we got older,” Foote said. “I graduated high school and went to university in Montreal, Canada, and she attended the same college I went to the year after.”

Foote recalls how, during her last year living in Montreal, Niyomugabo told her she was moving. “It was the exact same apartment building I was living in. I had just moved, so she didn’t even know I moved to that area yet,” Foote said. “Seriously, we had so many weird things that would happen like that to us.”

Though they did eventually head off in different directions, with Foote moving to California and Niyomugabo heading out to Arizona, the friends would often visit each other.

Foote eventually got engaged to her now-husband, Kristofer Verduzco. The plan had always been for Niyomugabo to serve as one of her bridesmaids. One of the last times they spoke was about the wedding.

“We had just talked on the phone a week or two before with life updates about dating and planning for the wedding and bachelorette,” Foote said.

Foote couldn’t have known it at the time, but it would be the last time they would speak. Niyomugabo died just 11 days short of her 26th birthday, following a very sudden and unexpected illness.

“She apparently had a UTI for a lot longer than she knew about as she had no symptoms,” Foote said. “She started having pain and went to the doctors, and she went into sepsis and a coma and, within three days, she passed.”

Foote said none of her friendship group even knew Niyomugabo was in hospital. By the time she learned what had happened, it was already too late to even say goodbye. “I was in Japan when I got the call that she passed,” Foote said. “My whole world changed after that. Awful.”

Foote would undoubtedly rank her wedding day among the best days of her life, but she said Niyomugabo’s absence cast a shadow over proceedings.

“She should’ve been there, and having our whole friend group together again really hit home how she’s the missing piece to our group,” Foote said. “I was proud to honor her with things throughout the day but still wished she was there.”

Foote recently marked the one-year anniversary of Niyomugabo’s passing. Looking back at the photos from her wedding, she began to wonder if there was a way Niyomugabo could be added to one of her pictures.

“I’d been thinking about her a lot,” she said. “I didn’t think it’d even be possible to add her to the photo, but I figured I’d see if anyone could somehow manage it.”

Foote turned to Reddit‘s r/PhotoshopRequest subreddit for help, putting in a request for someone to help her create an image that would see Niyomugabo placed front and center among her bridesmaids.

It didn’t take long for several users to oblige. Foote subsequently picked one out to buy and keep forever. Looking at the finished product was a bittersweet moment.

“It felt unreal to see the photo with Aubine included,” she said. “I never imagined it would even be possible to see that, so it made me really happy but also a little sad knowing that could’ve been the reality if she was still here with us and never passed away.”

Despite the experience being tinged with sadness, Foote already cherished the picture and hopes others in Niyomugabo’s family will, too. “I’m planning on sending it to her family later today,” Foote said. “I also want to develop it and frame it to put in my house.”

Foote always imagined she would have Niyomugabo by her side when she got married. Now, thanks to the wonders of modern technology, she has been given a second chance at that.