Ontario woman's lost wedding dress found by thrift store volunteer after 'long shot' search
After making a "long shot" plea to the public this weekend, a woman in southern Ontario has found her lost wedding dress, mistakenly donated by her father earlier this year.
“I am beyond excited,” Tanya Walsh said Saturday afternoon. “Pure joy.”
While Walsh acknowledges all wedding dresses are special, this one has extra significance, she said.
“It was a dress my mother bought right before she passed away,” she told CTV News Toronto Friday.
Walsh was married in 2018. At the time of the ceremony, her mother was in palliative care, she said, and so they had a small gathering – only 14 guests.
“At first, I didn’t want a wedding dress but my mom and dad got married at city hall and never had a proper wedding dress,” Walsh said. “So I got the dress in hopes that it could just serve as a memory when she's gone.”
Walsh’s mother died just a few months later.
For years, the dress was stored in her late mother’s closet at her father’s home – “for safekeeping,” she said.
Walsh's wedding dress can be seen above. Earlier this year, it was donated to a Bowmanville thrift shop. Now, she's looking to find it again. (Handout by Walsh)
But come February, she learned her father had accidentally donated the dress to a Bowmanville thrift store – either the St. Vincent de Paul Value Store or The Salvation Army in Bowmanville, she said. When Walsh spoke to CTV News Toronto on Friday, she said she had called both, but neither had seen the dress come through their shops.
In a last-ditch effort to find the dress, Walsh took to social media asking local residents to keep their eyes out in thrift or pawn shops and to contact her if they saw the dress. At the time of publication, the post had been shared nearly 1,500 times.
After writing the post and sharing her story with CTV News Toronto, Walsh was notified Saturday afternoon that “a lovely volunteer” had located the gown – at one of the stores she had originally suspected it had been donated to.
“The dress [was found by] Sheila at St. Vincent de Paul store,” Walsh told CTV News Toronto Saturday. “It was in storage in the basement, tucked away,” she added.
Walsh said that, when Sheila saw the plea, she said she made it “her mission” to find the dress during her Saturday shift.
“And she came through,” Walsh said. “Thank you to everyone who helped share the story and circulate. [I'm] beyond grateful.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'They needed people inside Air Canada:' Police announce arrests in Pearson gold heist
Police say one former and one current employee of Air Canada are among the nine suspects that are facing charges in connection with the gold heist at Pearson International Airport last year.
House admonishes ArriveCan contractor in rare parliamentary show of power
MPs enacted an extraordinary, rarely used parliamentary power on Wednesday, summonsing an ArriveCan contractor to appear before the House of Commons where he was admonished publicly and forced to provide answers to the questions MPs said he'd previously evaded.
Leafs star Auston Matthews finishes season with 69 goals
Auston Matthews won't be joining the NHL's 70-goal club this season.
Trump lawyers say Stormy Daniels refused subpoena outside a Brooklyn bar, papers left 'at her feet'
Donald Trump's legal team says it tried serving Stormy Daniels a subpoena as she arrived for an event at a bar in Brooklyn last month, but the porn actor, who is expected to be a witness at the former president's criminal trial, refused to take it and walked away.
Why drivers in Eastern Canada could see big gas price spikes, and other Canadians won't
Drivers in Eastern Canada face a big increase in gas prices because of various factors, especially the higher cost of the summer blend, industry analysts say.
Doug Ford calls on Ontario Speaker to reverse Queen's Park keffiyeh ban
Ontario Premier Doug Ford is calling on Speaker Ted Arnott to reverse a ban on keffiyehs at Queen's Park, describing the move as “needlessly” divisive.
'A living nightmare': Winnipeg woman sentenced following campaign of harassment against man after online date
A Winnipeg woman was sentenced to house arrest after a single date with a man she met online culminated in her harassing him for years, and spurred false allegations which resulted in the innocent man being arrested three times.
Woman who pressured boyfriend to kill his ex in 2000s granted absences from prison
A woman who pressured her boyfriend into killing his teenage ex more than a decade ago will be allowed to leave prison for weeks at a time.
Customers disappointed after email listing $60K Tim Hortons prize sent in error
Several Tim Horton’s customers are feeling great disappointment after being told by the company that an email stating they won a boat worth nearly $60,000 was sent in error.