Tess Newall’s wedding gown had extra sentimental value. Her dress is a delicate family heirloom her great-great-grandmother handmade more than a century earlier, in 1870.
Newall wore it to her June 2016 wedding in Scotland and took it to the dry cleaners in the Scottish capital, Edinburgh, after the big day, and her joy suddenly turned to despair.
The business went into liquidation sometime after she dropped off her dress and before she was able to pick it up.
“After the wedding, we took the dress to the cleaners and were told it would take 10 weeks to dry clean,” Newall told the British news website Metro. “But then we didn’t hear from them for ages, so we went to have a look ourselves – and it was in liquidation.” The bride told The Huffington Post that she dropped off the dress in September, and was told to pick up her gown in December. In October, the shop liquidated and sold off the items of clothing in their care.
So she turned to Facebook, and posted a public message asking for anyone and everyone’s help.
“It seems that the dress was taken to be sold so it could be winging its way anywhere,” Newall wrote in a post that has been shared more than 300,000 times. “Please share this far and wide in case anyone stumbles across it! I realise there are far greater issues in the world but it means the world to us. More family memories need to be woven into its threads.”
The post struck a chord. Local news outlets picked up Newall’s story and posted her plea. A wedding planning website said it would organize a search of 1,000 bridal gown shops across the United Kingdom.
Due to Newall’s viral Facebook post, the dress was recovered within days after a landlord for the space saw the story. The gown was found left behind in the very shop the dry cleaners vacated, crumpled up on the floor.
The dress hadn’t even been cleaned, according to Newall’s post below.
Newall said her dress finally returned home on Monday. “We are just so thankful to safely have it back and so grateful to everyone as well,” she added.
Now it’s nothing but all smiles. Cue this level of happiness again:
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