A bride’s dress is something that people put a lot of thinking into. It has to be perfect, but on the other hand price is also a factor, so it has to be stylish, yet affordable, elegant, but not overwhelming. Once the dress has been chosen, the bride wears it at the wedding and that’s it.
But what does the bride do what the dress after the wedding? There are several traditions that are carried out, one of the most common is handing the dress down to one of the bride’s daughters when she is going to get married, other people decide to donate their dresses once they have worn them, to other couples who might want to be getting married, but don’t have the resources to get a dress to do it; others even sell it, I mean, you might as well sell it, right? It is not like you plan on getting married again and wear it. Well, at least that’s not what the plan is.
Alice Myers, had another idea for her own wedding dress, or at least the repurposing of it. When she lost her son at only 7-years-old back in 1998, she was devastated, she recalls one of the most difficult things being shopping for burial clothes, “I still remember going to shop for funeral clothes for Jack,” she said. “It was one of the most painful things in my life.”
In April, Myers and her good friend Michelle Hickey set out to help other who might just be in the same situation. She founded a group that makes very small baby gowns to be used for several purposes out of bridal dresses.
As you know, not a lot of places carry very small baby clothes, which are the same time are nice and proper for formal occasions, that may even include the burial garment itself. They also make garments to dress little ones for very special occasions, like weddings. Each garment is hand-made by a group of 12 Irish seamstresses, they have produced 120 dresses so far, some of them even donated to six local hospitals.
The inspiration for founding this group may belong to the woman by the name and her group called “Shannon Angel Sisters”, but the work that is carried out by them helps shed light to a sometimes harsh and dark situation, where there are no words that can comfort, but at least it alleviates the pain of putting doll clothes on their baby, even if it’s the last garment he or she will wear.
