When planning their wedding , women think very long and hard about what they want to wear. A wedding dress is a very special thing and means a lot to a bride.
They try on dozens of dresses in order to find the perfect one for them. Some brides spend hundreds of thousands of dollars just because they love a specific look. However, many brides don’t know what to do with their dress after their wedding .
Some women choose to preserve their dresses to keep them.
Some brides have their dresses cleaned and boxed after their wedding, which is also known as “preserving” it. Companies offer services that keep the dress in perfect condition so that there is no wear to it over the years.
Some women choose to pass it down through the family.
Brides keep their dresses and box them sometimes to maybe give to their own daughter or granddaughter one day when they get married. It is a sentimental keepsake to have in a family.
However, other brides like to give their dresses to others.
There are some brides who also look to give their dresses to other women. Especially to those who are in need or cannot afford to buy a wedding dress for themselves on their own.
Recently, one Facebook user opened up about wanting to give her own wedding dress to another woman.
Gwendolyn Stulgis shared a Facebook post in which she detailed her decision.
“So after much consideration I have decided to give away my Wedding dress. I want it to go to a woman who deserves to have a dress of her dreams that can’t afford one or settled for something more in her price range,” she wrote.
However, she didn’t just want to pass it on.
Stulgis wanted to create sort of a “sisters of the traveling wedding dress” for her own wedding gown.
“I want this person to have a wedding date within the next 3 months and I want it dry cleaned and passed on to another woman and keep going as long as the dress can stand,” she said.
She did share there were some things that could be fixed.
“This will include the slip that goes underneath. Roughly $3,000 in value. The only spot that was altered was the bust and under the arms. But that can be easily fixed as they left in the stitching and added cups that can be removed,” she added on.
In order to receive the dress, she said women could message her.
“In order to decide who to pick I want the bride-to-be to tell me in a couple paragraphs why she deserves the dress. They can Facebook message me. All messages will be read up until June 2nd so it gives us a couple days to go through them,” she had shared.
So, Stulgis and her husband read through all of the submissions and picked a winner.
They landed on Margaret Hyde. Hyde’s future sister-in-law, Alycia Ashley, had submitted her name as a surprise. Ashley wrote in the submission that, “she is the type of person that will give you the shirt off of her back. She’s always the one doing the giving.”
Now, Hyde has to honor the tradition of passing on the dress, too.
As agreed upon, Hyde has to pass the dress along to another bride in need. And, she found the best way to do it. Stulgis’ idea had inspired her, again, to create a new Facebook group called “‘ Shared Dream Dresses ’ where brides can find other women to give their dresses to.
The group has 1.2k members now.
Stulgis says she just wants to help other women in need.
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“I want to help as many women as I can find their dream dress. I honestly didn’t think it would get this much traction but I am excited to see it blossom. Everyone should feel the magic and beauty I felt the day I married my best friend.”
This is the definition of women supporting women.
As every woman wants to feel absolutely beautiful on their wedding day, this group and story is the perfect way to help every bride—no matter their situation—have their dream dress on their dream day. We couldn’t love this more!