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Woman creates ‘sisterhood of the travelling dress’ to help brides in need

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PHOTO: Facebook
PHOTO: Facebook

She has a long list of brides she intends lending her wedding gown to – in a selfless act of kindness.

Dawnetta Heinz, from Nebraska, US, tied the knot last year to her Prince Charming, Jared, and wanted to make sure her dress didn’t collect dust in a cupboard.

Understanding that finding a wedding dress can be a time-consuming and costly exercise for future brides, she posted her bridal gown on a buy/sell/trade Facebook page in an attempt to help a local bride needing a dress for her big day.

“I would like to give my wedding dress away to someone that’s on a tight budget and is in need of a dress,” Dawnetta wrote in her post. 

But she was amazed by the response from women about to marry – and decided to lend her dress to more than one bride and call it “the sisterhood of the travelling dress”.

The beautiful princess-like gown, in white silk, will be worn by 12 grateful brides, who can’t wait to slip into it.

“Everyone kept on telling me their story, and I was like, ’I wish I could give the dress to everyone out there!’”Dawnetta told the Huffington Post. “That’s how I came up with the idea to keep passing it down.”

The first woman lucky enough to wear the glitzy gown was mom-of-four Arianna Pro, who wore it to her vow renewal with her husband in San Francisco – after going through a rough time in the past few years.

"We had lost a son," Arianna told Global News. "We just wanted a light in our life. And then I saw this beautiful dress and thought, 'I can see myself wearing this one day’.”

Dawnetta knows all too well what the struggling brides are going through because she too has faced tough times.

“We (she and her husband) were homeless and living in a car. Our last money was given in the offering at church.

“And then everything sort of turned around for us. Since then we’ve become personal trainers, helping people feel good about themselves. We just wanted to help give back,” she says

Dawnetta takes pride in helping others, realising also they’ll feel like absolute princesses when they say their nuptials. 

“A wedding dress is so special to a bride, and knowing that a dress that I picked out will make someone feel just as good as I did, is a blessing,” she says. 

Sources: globalnews.com, foxnews.com, huffingtonpost.com

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