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Tracy Agelis, 33, was closer than close with her sister Nicole Sapena, 34 of North Haledon, who passed away unexpectedly earlier this month.
The two spoke every day. Agelis is the godmother of Sapena's younger daughter, and Sapena was Agelis' maid of honor at her June 2017 wedding.
Two months before she was married, Sapena spent hundreds of dollars and hours of her time creating a pink and white flower wall for Agelis' bridal shower.
Sapena ended up selling the flower wall to someone she met online, and now that she's gone, Agelis is hoping she can track down the person who has the cherished decoration and buy it back.
"It was special then, but it's a lot more special now," Agelis said, tears in her eyes.
"I can’t even put a price on it. Nicole was so excited when she made that and she planned my whole shower. I know how hard she worked."
Sapena was naturally crafty. A hair dresser, she enjoyed entertaining, baking "ridiculous" cakes and throwing extravagant parties for the ones she loved, Agelis said.
Everything she did, she gave her all.
"If you ever had something you needed made, you would ask Nicole," Agelis said. "Even if she didn't know how, she would figure it out."
Such was the case with the flower wall that Agelis had mentioned in passing she wanted at her bridal shower. Sure enough, Sapena made the perfect one -- white with pink flowers to contrast the black and gold theme, Agelis said.
Because of Sapena, Agelis had her dream bridal shower -- but as she mourns her sister, she's desperate to find the flower wall.
"I'm really stuck," Agelis said. "We can't get into her phone, her email, her Facebook -- anything. She sold and posted things online and Facebook all the time. But we don't know where this went."
Nicole's husband only remembers lifting the flower wall into a stranger's car when they came to pick it up at the house. Agelis knows the wall could be dismantled or gone.
Still, she's praying for the best.
"I'm just hoping that it's still in tact and whoever has it is willing to sell it back to me," she said.
"It would mean everything to me."
EMAIL CLEVINE@DAILYVOICE.COM TO RETURN FLOWER WALL.
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