The bride’s wedding dress was donated to Goodwill before the ceremony
It was (almost) the one that got away.
Last month, Arkansas-based bride Bailey Dobson experienced what she calls a minor meltdown after her mother accidentally sold her wedding dress to Goodwill — but thankfully, this story has a happy ending.
Accordingly, Bailey’s mother, Nicole, decided to hold a flea market to get rid of some of her daughter’s old prom dresses News 5 onlinebut the special dress for her daughter’s upcoming wedding in December was accidentally lost in the mix.
They took what didn’t sell to a Goodwill store in Rogers – including Dobson’s flowing, lace-trimmed, V-neck wedding dress.
“I definitely had a nervous breakdown,” Dobson admitted to the outlet. “I freaked out a bit.”
To remedy the situation, the Goodwill Arkansas office posted what was happening on its website social media sites in an attempt to get Dobson’s dress back.
“We need your help,” they wrote in one Facebook post, including two photos of Dobson in a wedding dress. “A wedding dress for an UPCOMING wedding was accidentally donated and purchased last Saturday, July 29th from our Walton Store & Donation Center in Bentonville (1400 SE Walton Blvd).”
“Please send us a private message if you know or have purchased this dress,” the message continued. “The family is willing to pay for the return.”
And the effort worked – through a miraculous turn of events, someone commented on the social media post that the dress was being sold on eBay.
“We had contacted the seller and she was willing to take it off and give it back to us,” Bailey told News 5 Online. “Thank goodness. She was amazing and super helpful. And we appreciated that in every way.”
Bailey was so grateful to the seller that she even invited her to the wedding on December 19, when she met her at a restaurant to get the dress back.
Of course, there are no bad feelings — Bailey is just grateful to her community that she was able to get the dress back.
“It’s one of those things that you read about and never happen to you,” she told the outlet. “I really appreciated and am very grateful that half of Northwest Arkansas got up there and put me all over their social media and they have no idea who I am.”
And Goodwill Arkansas seemed to have a similar opinion.
“First, Goodwill Industries of Arkansas would like to express our deep appreciation to the family for considering Goodwill as a recipient of their donations,” Brian Marsh, president and CEO of Goodwill Industries of Arkansas, said in a statement to The on Wednesday Post Office.
“Although it was an unfortunate accident that led to the donation, we are delighted to have helped reunite Bailey with her wedding dress,” the message continued. “With an average of more than 15,000 donated items processed in our stores each day across Arkansas, not all unintentional donations result in such a positive and heartwarming outcome.”
“As the old saying goes, something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue—that’s Goodwill Industries of Arkansas. (As in Team Blue, as our organization is commonly known) We hope to be invited to the wedding.”
The Post contacted Bailey for further comment.
Funnily enough, this isn’t the first time something like this has happened in recent months.
Also in May, Southern California native Rebecca Nguyen had her wedding dress accidentally donated to Goodwill by a family member.
Nguyen had already worn the beaded spaghetti strap dress to her 2017 wedding but still yearned to get it back.
“It was a complete accident, it happened in the rush of a lot of things and mistakes happen, but when I found out yesterday I was pretty heartbroken,” she admitted in an interview with KCAL News at that time.
Unfortunately, it remains unclear if her search for the dress ended up the same way as Dobson’s.
