When Tatiane “Tati” Valques died tragically in a car accident in 2013, she was pregnant with her second child and left behind her husband Rafael Del Col and daughter Raisa, who was only two years old. To help deal with his grief at losing his wife and unborn child, he started writing a blog about life as a widower and single father.
His blog helped him work through his grief and also helped him find support, but Del Col felt it wasn’t enough. Del Col wanted to honor Tati, but he was struggling finding the best way to do it. A few years later, he decided on a special tribute to his wife, and his idea allowed his young daughter to be involved too.
Del Col and Valques had professional photos taken prior to their wedding in 2009, so Del Col decided the best tribute would be to recreate the photographs with their daughter, Raisa. Raisa’s outfits were nearly identical to her mother’s, and she wore the same necklace that her mother wore in the original pictures, Raisa and her father took a series of pictures that were nearly identical. In a few shots, she even wore her mother’s high-heeled shoes.
Del Col did not intend for the pictures to be sad, and instead wanted them to show how well he and his daughter were doing. He wanted to take his grief and turn it into something happy for he and Raisa. The post he made about the photos ended up going viral, and people around the world have reached out to him in support.