Planning a wedding is enough to turn many a bride-to-be into a Bridezilla – but Donna Ross is not one of those people.
After finding her dream dress at Golden Brides in New Westminster, Ross discovered her dress had been destroyed in the Oct. 10 fire on Columbia Street.
“The women who work there are so helpful and friendly. They were lovely. Really, my first thought goes to them and how they must be feeling,” said the Royal City resident. “For me, I am not one of those crazy brides who was thinking my whole life about my wedding. It was a really huge thing for me finding my dress – I don’t love shopping.”
While the fire was burning on Columbia Street on Oct. 10, Ross was updating her Facebook status to express excitement about her upcoming wedding on Nov. 10. After a friend sent her a message about the fire, she checked and discovered the shop where she’d bought her dress, her daughter’s maid-of-honour dress and three flower girl dresses had been destroyed by fire.
The fire meant Ross had to visit Bridal Row on Columbia Street in search of a new wedding dress for herself and her wedding party. She found all of her replacement dresses at Bliss Bridal on Columbia Street.
“They heard about the fire. They felt badly for me,” she told The Record. “Their customer service was really good.”
Before finding new dresses for her Nov. 10 nuptials Ross was surprisingly calm – but admitted that could change if she didn’t find replacements in time for her wedding.
“I don’t have to wear jeans,” she said. “I think it is going to be really beautiful. In the end, I feel really good about what I have got.”
Surrey resident Marisa Wiens, who bought the dress she wore to her June 2010 in New Westminster, has started a Gowns for Golden Brides page on Facebook page for women whose dresses were destroyed in last week’s fire, and for women who want to donate or lend their wedding dresses.
Ross, who may end up donating her own dress, is anxious to get her new gowns from Bliss to ensure it’s a November to remember.
“I said, ‘don’t let anything happen to them,” she laughed.
