Michelle Havrilla never expected to find her wedding dress again. Shortly after her 1985 wedding, she sent it off to a dry cleaner to have it cleaned for posterity. She never saw it again. That is, until just this month, 32 years after it had first gone missing.
Her wedding dress had been sent off to the wrong address and was stored in the attic of the Bartlebaugh family who were unaware of the unfortunate mistake. Ame Bartlebaugh stumbled upon the mix-up when she was looking for her own mother's wedding dress for her upcoming 2019 wedding.
Posting on Facebook, she asked for anyone with knowledge of the mix-up to help her locate her mother's dress and find the owner of the mysterious wedding gown.
Just 24 hours later, Michelle Havrilla had been located and informed, thanks to the sheer number of helpful people who shared Ame's Facebook post.
After 32 years, Michelle finally received the right dry cleaning box. Her son, Brian, posted a video of his emotional mother seeing her wedding dress for the first time since 1985. "She was heartbroken when she discovered the box she was given wasn't her dress," he said, "And now we found it."
My parents got married in 1985. Afterwards, my mom had her dress preserved at the local dry cleaner.
— Brian Havrilla (@brianhavrilla) February 6, 2018
When she opened the box for the first time in 2013, after our basement flooded, she discovered the box she was given wasn't her dress. She was heartbroken.
Well... We found it. pic.twitter.com/taRTERtVQ9
Ame is still hoping to find her mother's dress and is asking people on social media to help create a second wedding miracle. We hope she finds it in time for her wedding!
What are the odds of something like this happening after 32 years?