Many brides choose to save their wedding gowns, often as keepsakes or for use in a daughter’s wedding someday. Kathleen Rinaldi wanted to wear hers in a vow renewal ceremony to mark her 25th wedding anniversary with her husband Robert, but was shocked to discover that the chest she’d waited two and a half decades to open contained a wedding gown alright – just not her own.
“I was so heartbroken when I pulled out the dress and realized they had given me the wrong one,” Rinaldi told The Republican. “I have always been so careful with the box, making sure to keep it in a cedar chest and never opening it.”
Rinaldi first noticed something was wrong when she began to zip up the gown – and suddenly remembered that her own gown had had buttons, not a zipper. Other than a v-neck front, the two dresses has little in common.
Still, it’s not all bad news. Rinaldi knows that the dress in the box must mean a lot to another bride out there. She’s hoping that by getting the story out and circulating some drawings included with the gown, she can find the frock’s rightful owner.
As for her own gown? “I know it’s just a dress,” she concedes. “I have a wonderful life with two beautiful children and I am blessed to still be married to my husband. I have come to accept that I may never find the dress, but it would be wonderful if I could.”
Click here to read more wedding news!
