Saying "yes" to the dress a second time is the idea behind a party planned for Saturday night in a cul de sac on Westwood Plateau in Coquitlam.
A group of about 30 friends and neighbours will don bridal white, or whatever get-up they wore at their wedding, to share stories about matrimonial jitters and marvel at how time has passed since their big day.
Sarah Mellett and Jenn Fahey, neighbours who live across the street from one another, said the idea of a bride's dress party came up during a conversation last fall between a group of friends who were talking about an acquaintance who was about to tie the knot.
"Being a bride goes so fast," said Mellett, noting the mood turned wistful as the women remembered their own wedding days and how lovely it was to wear that dress- the dress that now languishes in a dark closet after just one day of wear.
"We thought, 'We should have a wedding dress party,'" she recalled.
Invites were sent out to 34 people and only two declined, with everyone intrigued with the idea.
Lanterns will be hung for decoration and prizes will be given away. The music playlist will include a few 1990s gems as well as some kitschy wedding day songs, such as "Going to the Chapel," a 1964 Phil Spector song by the Dixie Cups.
Of course, lots of photos will be taken and for those with children, it's a glimpse of mom before they were born.
A SURPRISE FOR THE KIDS
"Our kids have never seen us in our bride dress," Fahey noted, "You never [would otherwise] buy a dress like this."
Her floor-length gown, although slightly wrinkled from 12 years of storage, is still pretty, with a voluminous skirt, elegant back pleats and decorative rosettes.
Mellett had to get her dress shipped from Ontario for the event and it, too, is 12 years old but looks brand new- bridal white with with sparkling beads on the bodice.
"It's going to be hilarious," Mellett predicted, as the competition to get back into the dresses got started as soon as the invitations went out several months ago. The guests swore they would do whatever it took to fit into their bridal gowns, no matter how many years since their marriage - even if it took dieting and duct tape.
There will, however, be some sad memories along with the charm of getting dolled up like a June bride.
The divorce rate being what it is, a few of the guests will be in gowns from marriages gone sour while others may have a few unhappy memories if their wedding day wasn't everything they dreamed.
But that's not the point, the women say, this party is about the dress.
"There's no bad feelings for the dress," Fahey said. "The dress is not a bad memory."
So on Saturday, while many women around the world will be taking their own vows while wearing something new, the women who attend to the bride dress party will relive a magic day under the soft of glow lanterns on a cul de sac surrounded by homes now filled with husbands, kids, dogs and other accumulations of the passing years.
