Private ceremony due to family illness

Hello all. I am just looking for advice, my fiancé's parent is terminally ill and will not make it to our wedding planned for fall 2017. He would like to do a private ceremony for our immediate family so his dad can be there, I am on board for this but I am feeling really sad that we will already be married when we celebrate our wedding and all of those things like wearing a wedding dress, my shower, stagette etc. I would like to keep this ceremony a secret but i am just wondering if anyone else had any experience like this and if it made the actual wedding day feel less special being already legally married.