Update: Unworn wedding dress will get its day out at last

Mon, 26 Apr, 2021 - 11:25

Caroline Delaney

It's taking the long way round for its trip 'up the aisle' but this wedding dress is heading to Dublin and then coming back to Cork after its original owner who never wore it is gifting it to another bride-to-be.

Linda Kelly from Cork had a stylish Ted Baker wedding dress ready for her planned wedding when she had to make some changes to her scheduling due to a surprise pregnancy. She thoroughly enjoyed her new wedding date and went on to have two little girls — so she forgot about the dress until her mum reminded her. She decided to see if any other bride-to-be would like the dress, especially as ordering clothes and making plans can have an extra layer of difficulty due to Covid restrictions.

Sarah Cullen in Dublin spotted the offer and as she had been looking for Ted Baker dresses anyway she reckons this is the perfect solution. "I had actually ordered two different Ted Baker dresses online and had to return them as one didn't fit and the other had a stain on it — so I'm hoping this is the perfect one. It looks so lovely."

Linda Kelly on her 'new' wedding day. Picture: Naomi Kamat

Sarah, a clinical midwife specialising in bereavement, got engaged to Jeffrey from Cobh at the end of October 2020. The couple is planning to get married at Cobh Cathedral at the start of July and will have a celebration at Castlemartyr Hotel afterwards. "Castlemartyr have been amazing — they've really taken the stress out of planning wedding during Covid!"

Linda has the white dress "all boxed up and ready to go in the post" to Sarah who is thrilled to have this detail for her wedding sorted out. She thanked Linda for "such kindness" — "Just 75 days until we get married and Covid 19 has made planning a bit of a challenge. This has definitely cheered me up."

Sarah, who works at Holles Street, has a more 'traditional' wedding dress organised in case restrictions change and she can have a bigger church wedding but will have the Ted Baker dress for an outdoor celebration the following day or in case they are restricted to a very small wedding. Rules at the moment limit weddings to six people but this may increase to 25 people if restriction levels change.

She's still waiting to sort out rings as well: "We have arranged the florist over the phone and Jeffrey has no suit yet but that should be ok to sort. We can't try on rings so we have a zoom call with Applebys."

Linda Kelly's Ted Baker dress is off to a good home.

So the beautiful white dress had to wait for a bit but is going to get its big day out very soon.

And that may not be the end of its story either: "Linda asked that I donate the dress after the wedding which I’ll definitely do. I work with bereaved parents so I’ll sell it to raise money for the NMH foundation or donate it to a charity shop that raises money for Féileacáin."