This vintage wedding dress came with a heart-wrenching note and a beautiful story
Need a dose of Thursday feels? Well, this story will make you feel ALL the emotions. It all started at a UK-based St. Gemma’s Hospice Charity Shop, which raises funds and supports people with cancer. St. Gemma’s has been accepting vintage clothing donations to be sold for the charity, but they were a little surprised to receive an especially gorgeous, ivory peplum dress, made of flowered lace with a netted skirt. The detail! The delicate lace! The elegance! The dress was truly one of a kind.
Seriously, check out this dress: it is absolutely beautiful. If I had a dress like this, I’d wear it EVERYWHERE.
But its beauty isn’t what brought the attention of locals —as well as hundreds of comments on St. Gemma’s Facebook page. What really drew everyone’s attention was not the dress itself, but an intimate, handwritten note pinned to the fabric. The note read, “I wish any lady who takes this dress to have a life with her loved one, 56 years like I did, happy years. I was a lucky man to marry a lady like mine.” OH, THOSE FEELS.
The shop decided that they had to find this mystery man who loved his wife so much. “When we saw the message that came with it, we thought it would be a great idea to put it on social media and share the dress’ story,” area manager Aysha Alton told The Telegraph.
“The dress has really captured people’s imaginations and the note really gives it some history,” St. Gemma’s Hospice head of communications Nicola Woodgate further explained to The Telegraph. “We believe that the gentleman it belonged to brought it into the shop himself, and we would love to be able to thank him for the beautiful dress. To pass the dress on and to donate something so special is the ultimate act of kindness, and we’ve been overwhelmed by the response we’ve got on social media.”
Since posting the dress online, the charity has received so many inquiries about the dress from all over the world that they decided they would sell the dress on eBay to give those who may not be able to travel to Leeds a chance to purchase it. But they wanted to thank the man for donating something so beautifully meaningful.
And best of all, this story has a happy ending: the store announced today on Facebook that they found the man (he wishes to remain anonymous). “We have found the kind gentleman. . . he is over the moon that we are giving somebody the opportunity to buy the gorgeous gown on [eBay].” What is that we feel? Our hearts gushing? Why, yes. Yes it is.
The man is a “big fan” of the charity and is “overwhelmed with the International attention that his late wife’s dress is generating. . . he is watching the media frenzy with interest and thinks it is wonderful,” the charity’s post further explained. “We have thanked him so much for his kindness and he would like to thank everyone for their support.”
Seriously —we’re not sure if we’re happy crying or sad crying. Probably both. Yeah, both. If you want to buy this totally stunning wedding dress, you can bid here within the next week.
