The wedding day is perhaps one of the biggest days we will experience in our life. A lot of planning goes into it in advance and we want everything to be perfect, from the limo ride to the ceremony all the way to the walk down the aisle and even the flowers. We even put a lot of emphasis on the reception, but in the end, we walk away with something very special. What we have is a memory of a very special day and typically, a dress that we will never wear again.
Many women will have the wedding gown stored away after it is professionally cleaned. It is stored in special paper with the hopes that someone in our family tree will be wearing it one day. Other brides, however, decide to do something else with their dress. They might donate it to an organization that sells it to others who are not able to afford a dress of their own. It may also be modified into a cocktail dress to wear again.
Justi Boroff also had a wedding but she decided not to hang onto her wedding gown. She didn’t want it to simply be in the back of the closet, she had an idea that was worth pursuing.
She decided to cut up her dress and it was for a good cause.
The wedding gown is often thought of when we think of the unity we have with our significant other. The meaning behind the dress pales in comparison, however, to the situation that some find themselves in. What Justi decided to do was to pack up her dress and ship it to a grandmother named Sandi Fasano. She lives in Colorado and she cut the dress into many smaller pieces.
“I sent it off earlier this year to be made into angel gowns for babies that don’t make it home from the hospital and I’ll be donating them to the NICU at Vanderbilt. Seventeen little gowns were made from my dress and as beautiful as they are, I pray they are never needed.”
Sandi told a local news station that when she cut somebody’s wedding dress up for the first time, it was difficult to do. It was a beautiful gown and she cut it into pieces.
What she was doing, however, was something that nobody else was doing or had even thought of doing. She takes those beautiful wedding gowns and helps to soothe the pain of people who are grieving over the loss of a child.
“The last thing a family needs to do is go to a toy store and find doll clothes.”
Sandi then learned what parents were doing when the babies were born and a funeral gown was needed. That is when she founded Front Range Angel Gowns. It has been operating since 2015.
“Because I have 7 beautiful grandchildren and in a perfect world, without loss, there would be more.”
It often surprises Sandi when women donate their gowns. Some of them have gone through the pain of losing a child so they understand what the other parents are going through.
Others decided to donate a gown because they are kind individuals and wanted to help others. The dress that Justi donated made 17 tiny Angel gowns for others.
When Connie Sieverding saw the story in the news, she decided to start an organization, Angel Gowns by Connie. She also hopes to help parents who have lost little ones in death.
“Thank you to Rhonda for her generous donation of her wedding gown. The Angel Gowns shown were made from Rhonda’s donation in memory of her niece who would have celebrated her birthday today, however, is an Angel in heaven.”
You can learn more in this video:
