The Brides' Project

Archive for the ‘Donations’ Category

photo: Sandals Royal Bahamian, Nassau, Bahamas

Manuela married Josip this past February at the Sandals Royal Bahamian in Nassau, Bahamas. Were we there? (Very) Sadly, no, but one of our dresses was!

Manuela is the picture of loveliness in this ruched, lightweight gown purchased at The Brides’ Project. It fit her like a glove and now it’s back at the shop, ready for a trip down a local aisle (or maybe back in the Caribbean?). Who knows, maybe the next trip for this dress is down a boat dock in the Muskokas, or an art gallery, or City Hall. Make an appointment to see if this is The Dress, and the rest is up to YOU, Dear Bride.

Manuela is one of our Double Love Brides: not only did she buy her dress from us, but she donated it right back!

Congratulations Manuela and Josip for choosing each other, for choosing us to be part of your Big Day, and sharing your happiness two-fold to benefit others!

http://www.bellasbrides.ca/

Last week we received a generous shipment from a local bridal salon, Bella’s Brides: http://www.bellasbrides.ca

Bella’s Brides is a Toronto bridal shop focused on custom wedding dresses, wedding gowns, bridesmaid dresses, mother of the bride dresses and much more. Serving the Toronto, Etobicoke, and Mississauga community, Bella’s Brides offers both custom and designer wedding dresses. Your wedding day is one of the most special days of your life. Trust us to create the most beautiful wedding dress, bridesmaid dress, and mother of the bride dress for your special day.

Ladies, we have 11 brand-new wedding dresses on our racks in a variety of sizes, including 16 and up. Brand-new. Make an appointment before they disappear off the racks!

Bella’s Brides, a big shout out to YOU for donating to our inventory and supporting local cancer charities!

Dear Friends of The Brides’ Project, we have another dress in the shop for a soon-to-be-bride, and this one is graced with a special message of hope and love:

I battled Leukaemia when I was just 3 years old, and am a proud survivor. At the height of my cancer, my parents never thought they would get the chance to see me walk down the aisle. But thanks to the amazing work done in the cancer research field, here I am today, married for almost 8 years now and with two beautiful sons. Of course, when I learned that I could donate my dress to a charity that supports cancer research, I knew that that was what I must do with my own dress.

… I wanted to send a couple of photos to go along with the dress. I hope another lucky bride will get a chance to love this dress, just as I did on my wedding day.

–Shawna H.

Shawna, thank you for sharing your dress and your story with us and our readers. You are a living reminder of why The Brides’ Project exists! We hope there will be no need for a shop like ours in the future once cancer is cured, but until then we will continue to serve the community. With your help, we can do it!

photo: Excellence Photography

Naomi came by last Saturday to donate her dress to us, which we are very grateful for because it will sell — it is beeeeeeautiful! — and we can add it to our proceeds donation in Q2!

But how do you know it will sell?

The Brides’ Project has been in business since 2004, selling donated dresses in all sizes, shapes, colours, textures, fabrics, altered once, twice, even three times or more! We know our wedding dresses, because we only receive them — we don’t buy them. Therefore, we don’t choose the dresses, YOU do (when you buy them). Rather, we are professional Wedding Dress Matchmakers

Instead of a salon which orders multiples sizes of a limited number of styles, we have one dress in one size, multiplied by hundreds of styles. Dresses come to us from weddings in all seasons, all climates, salons across the country and individuals from around the world who make their home in Toronto. Sometimes the dresses come from further afield, shipped to us through the mail.

Compared to a regular bridal salon, we have a much greater variety. The dress of your heart’s desire may not be in your size, but don’t despair! We have amazing seamstresses who work incredible magic to make that dress fit.

Which is why we know our dresses: we do our best to find the best match!

Lovely brides like Naomi donate them to us, already altered, which always fit better than salon dresses, requiring fewer alterations or a bustle. And when the donations come with photos, we (and you) can see exactly what the dress looks like on the wedding day, and not on a mannequin or a catalogue model. Naomi looks fantastic in her dress, and so will you!

Naomi, congratulations on your wedding and thank you very much for letting us match-make to fundraise for cancer charities!

photo: Excellence Photography

Photo: Sam Shepherd Photography (samshepherdphotography.com)

We received another donation on Sunday, an elegant Maggie Sottero (Kendra) from a recent ravishing bride, Kristin.

Kristin writes:

The Brides’ Project was the first place I went when I started looking for wedding dresses before my wedding. I had so much fun trying on the dresses with my mom, sister and friend. I didn’t find “the one” there but I knew I would donate my dress there after. I got married October 1, 2011 and it was a cold but wonderful day with my family and friends. Jeff and I are so happy and I hope that some other bride has a wonderful day and start to married life in my dress!

Thank you for your generous donation, Kristin, and entrusting us to send “Kendra” happily down the aisle again on your behalf!

Ladies, this dress will make you feel like a million bucks — it is beautiful, it is ready-to-wear, it comes with Kristin’s good karma, and your purchase of this gown will be part of our next quarterly donation. Make an appointment before it gets snapped up!

Click on any of the thumbnails to view larger. Photographer: Sam Shepherd

Photo: http://www.jandjphotography.ca/

Elora, Ontario was the beautiful setting for Jennifer’s summer wedding to Josh last year. She purchased her gown from The Brides’ Project earlier in the year and is now donating it back to us! In fact, she just dropped it off so another bride can enjoy her day as much as she did, and we are very grateful for her decision.

Jennifer is simply glowing!

For The Brides’ Project, one good turn deserves another, and another trip down the aisle not only raises more funds for cancer charities, it is friendly to the environment, socially conscious, and makes the most expensive single item apparel purchase in a woman’s life become affordable. Imagine putting a bride’s dream dress, with an original price tag too high, suddenly within reach? You can do ALL of the above, simply by donating your wedding dress to us and letting us do something very positive with it.

Our singular goal — to fight cancer by fundraising exclusively for cancer charities — can only be made possible by the generous hearts of brides like Jennifer. Thank you, Jennifer (and Josh!), for sharing your day, your dress, and your doubly-exciting baby news with us! Twins!

More photos by J and J Photography of Guelph can be viewed by clicking on the thumbnails:

Photographer: www.littlebluelemon.com

For those of you who haven’t heard of The Brides’ Project before, it’s natural to compare us to a bridal salon, but we are so much more than that. Not only do the funds raised by the sales of our wedding dresses go directly to cancer charities, but what bridal salon sees their client return… happy?

Very often, we do!

Brides like Natalie who buy their wedding dress from us then donate it back after they get married, are the cornerstone of our social enterprise. We have dresses that have been altered several times, dry cleaned between weddings, and returned in fantastic shape to the racks to make more brides happy. These are our “good karma” dresses and each time the dress is sold more funds are donated. Imagine how much good one dress can do!

We were thrilled to receive Natalie’s e-letter and her September 2011 wedding photos by Little Blue Lemon Photography. Now you can see what the dress really looks like — not on a mannequin, but in all its beauty!

Our heartfelt congratulations and huge thank you, Natalie, for adding your good karma to another Bride’s Project dress!

Click on any of the photos to view larger:

Photographer: Travis Allison (travisphoto.ca)

Could you find two happier people? We think not. Kimberly and Stephen were married just last month and Kimberly has already brought the dress back to us, ready to make another bride happy on her wedding day.

Could you think of anything more selfless to do after your wedding day?

After you read Kim’s story, if you are inspired to love and be loved and share your love with others, we know we’re doing something special here — much more than selling wedding dresses.

An excerpt from Kim’s email, shared with her permission:

Our background and planning our wedding:

We met over 4 years ago at a course for work involving computer programming.  We had lunch every day for four days during the course and then Stephen asked me to dinner afterwards and we’ve been together ever since. We were engaged in July 2011 and our wedding took place at the Glenerin Inn on January 14th, 2012 on a very cold, but beautiful sunny day with snow on the ground.  The Glenerinn was a cozy warm respite from the weather and was the perfect venue for our wedding of just over 100 guests. Over the course of our relationship, we’ve made a lot of decisions based on a gut feeling of just “feeling right”.  It was how we first said “I love you”, how we decided to move in together, to purchase our first condo and here, to pick our wedding venue.

The dress story:

For many reasons, we decided to have a quick engagement.  We were 5 months away from our wedding, so I knew going the traditional bridal salon route was not for me.  I decided to take a look at second hand and off the rack options.  I had considered making an appointment at another shop selling second hand dresses, and when I googled to find their phone number, The Bride’s Project came up in the search.

I was happy that TBP was much closer to me and I was floored that all of the proceeds went to cancer charities. Stephen and I have both been touched by cancer in more ways than anyone should be, so checking out the store became a first priority because it “felt right”.  We both support cancer charities including the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and the Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation through various running events. We both ran the 2011 Scotiabank half marathon in support of the Molly & David Bloom foundation that funds drug development for Multiple Myeloma (a blood cancer) at PMH.

I brought my bridesmaid Tawnya along with me.  I loved the setup of TBP – organizing each room by size so you never have to leave the room to check out other dresses.  We picked a few out and this dress was the first one I tried on.  We nicknamed her “Miss Chastity Belt” because there was an inner belt in the dress before zippering from the outside.  Miss CB fit perfectly and it pretty much had all of the elements I was looking for – A-line, lightweight, detailed beading, sweetheart neckline, and intricate back. Tawnya agreed that it was fantastic, but she knew it was her duty to persuade me to try on other dresses.  It was hard to take off.  I tried on some others, which I don’t remember now, and immediately went back to Miss CB.  Again, it “felt right”, so it was a done deal.  I purchased her on the spot, and drove her over to Tawnya’s place for safe keeping.

The dress worked perfectly for me on our wedding day.  I was able to sit, move and dance easily and the bustle my seamstress installed held up well. Most of all, I felt wonderful in it, and that’s what a wedding dress should do for a bride. After the wedding, there was no doubt in my mind about returning Miss CB back to the Bride’s Project. When I returned the dress, there was a lot of evidence that I had a pretty good time in it, but I now know that it’s not a big deal to get it cleaned. I told one of my friends Josephine about Bride’s Project and she became interested in becoming a volunteer. I waited until one of her shifts to come over with Miss CB to donate her back.  It was a little emotional, but I’m very happy about the decision.  Hopefully another bride will love her just the same as I did.

All the best to you,
~Kimberly McCormick

*sniff*

Kimberly, THANK YOU from the bottom of our volunteer hearts for taking the time to write to us, to let us be a tiny part of your Beautiful Day, and to give us the opportunity to make another bride happy. Our donations to cancer charities are only possible with brides like you who support us in so many ways! We wish you and Stephen all the happiness in the world!

Brides-to-be, you would be hard-pressed to find a dress with more good karma. Click on any of the thumbnails to view the dress photos larger.

All photos by Travis Allison, you can find more of his work here: http://subtlevoxphotography.com/

Photo: Azure Blue Photography (azureblue.ca)

I had a fabulous time in this dress on an absolutely magical day. I hope that some other lucky lady can feel the same way!

Laura was also kind enough to put together some pictures and information about the dress for the future lucky bride:

• Designer: Mori Lee
• style 2856
• Size 8
• colour: off white
• lace up back makes a perfect fit for multiple sizes
• strapless with sweetheart neckline
• Swarovski beading at top and where ruched
• altered for height around 5’4″/5’5″
• comes with matching shawl and removable panel for back
• 3 bustle ties underneath

Laura, thank you for sharing your wedding joy with others and helping us raise funds for cancer charities!

Ladies, Mori Lee dresses don’t last long in the shop, make an appointment to try it on.

Click on the images to view larger (all photos except mannequin by Azure Blue Photography):

Photo: Gerri Photography

We get the best mail, seriously. We were incredibly touched to receive this one from Meagan Joy, who was married last autumn in a wedding gown purchased from us and is already planning to bring it back along with other dresses she will be collecting for us.

I have attached a pic from our wedding Sept 16th 2011. 1 pic of our wedding party, as well 1 of Myself, husband and Mother-in-law. I purchased my dress from you, and will be returning it in the near future. Not only did I purchase my dress due to the good cause I was supporting, it is a slightly sentimental subject as well. Our wedding was slightly rushed due to my mother-in-law being diagnosed with breast cancer in February of 2011, and has now spread to her bones, kidney and brain.

I want to say THANK YOU for doing such and amazing thing.

Meagan Joy, thank for you for everything: buying from us, sharing your wedding story with us, donating the dress back, and helping us with more dress donations. We simply couldn’t do what we do, without you!

with Mama

Photos: Gerri Photography

Photographer: Daniel Lalande http://www.danphoto.ca

Nicole donated her dress to us a couple of weeks ago and we’re sure it’ll be headed right back out the door again. It’s perfectly suited to her gorgeous outdoor nuptials:  strapless yet low-maintenance (a bodice that stays put!), beaded overlay, A-line with a sweep train, this dress has it all!

Donating the dress has been a nice trip down memory lane.  I hadn’t looked at the dress or these pictures in awhile and it was great taking a look back.  It was a perfect, perfect day.  I really hope someone else loves this dress as much as I did.

Nicole, we’re sure to find your dress a new home with someone who will love it, too! Our very best wishes to you and Mike for a lifetime of happiness together

Photographer: Daniel Lalande
Website: http://www.danphoto.ca/

A huge, huge THANK YOU goes out to Mary Ann of Runway Bridal in Belleville, Ontario, for donating designer gowns to us. These are brand-new, off-the-rack and ready to wear!

We don’t have photos of all the gowns, but here are some taken speedily with a phone so you can see a sample of what we’ve received:

B2

B2
Size 12, ivory
Grecian style, asymmetrical neckline with flower pin at left shoulder

Jasmine

Jasmine
Size 12, ivory
Strapless, straight neckline with brooch beading below left shoulder; ruffled throughout from top to bottom

Ronald Joyce

Ronald Joyce
Size 12, ivory
A-line, sweetheart neckline with straps & beaded detail

Make an appointment while the arrivals are fresh, these styles don’t last long in the shop!

Photographer: Elizabeth In Love

The Brides’ Project isn’t just about wedding dresses, it’s about stories and connections between brides and families and the community at large. We want to share this wonderful story behind these beautiful photos, it’s the best explanation for why we love our little corner of the wedding industry:

I found my dress at The Brides’ Project 15 minutes before you closed. I had tried on a bunch of dresses and was about to give up when one of your volunteers said “why not just try it” about a dress that I had been eyeing but should have been 3 sizes too small. For whatever reason it ended up fitting and I knew it was the one. My bridesmaids, my mom and I had SO much fun shopping since they could be in the room with me. It was the most fun we had in a full day of shopping. One of your volunteers also pulled a veil for me and it was perfect on the first try. They definitely have an eye for what works. I am so happy to be returning my dress so that someone else can love it on their special day.

I’m very happy to have found my dress at The Brides’ Project since I knew the profits were going to many cancer charities. Having had purchased from The Brides Project became even more meaningful to me about 3 months before my wedding when I was diagnosed with a bone tumour. There were a couple weeks that we weren’t absolutely sure what kind it was. Thankfully after surgery it was determined to be benign, and for 2.5 months post major surgery I was non-weight bearing. I started walking 2 weeks before my wedding and with hard work, an amazing medical team and a lot of support, I was able to walk down the aisle and dance the night away without crutches.

Thank you for everything!!! I have recommended The Brides Project to everyone I know.

Marion

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For many more photos of the dress, visit Marion’s photographer’s website, Elizabeth in Love.

We interrupt the Movember moustaches to post some gorgeous photos from Colleen, who writes:

I wanted to share my wonderful celebration photos with you! Katrina (the dressmaker) was wonderful, and I felt very special in this gorgeous dress!

I will donate it for another bride to enjoy and to contribute to the wonderful cause the brides project supports.

It was truly a pleasure meeting you & your volunteers!

Cheers,
Colleen

Thank you for your generosity, Colleen, and our heartfelt congratulations to the both of you!

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Photographer: Carolyn Pongracz, In Bloom Photography
Birdcage veil & fascinator: “Love Headmistress” from I Heart Accessories
Dress: Katrina Davis

Well, Mike’s double mo has been surpassed by a whole classful of mo’s!!! Congratulations to Al (and his students) as our FOURTH Movember winner of a $1000 donation from us.   It’s not too late to enter!!  We will be picking the final entry based on reasons for participating on December 1st, along with FIVE RANDOM WINNERS of $1000 each!

Movember class

And this is what Al had to say,

Three years on in Movember and it’s great to see so many more Mo-Bros and Mo-Sis’ getting on board.  My father has been healthy and cancer free ever since the discovery and treatment of his prostate cancer. It’s essential for conversations to start happening with the men in your lives.   Even with regular physicals prostate cancer can sneak up on you.  Get checked, don’t wait.

As an educator it’s great to be able to encourage the future citizens and leaders of our society about such great endeavours as cancer research and the need for continued support, both financial and simple awareness.  It’s great to hear students tell me that their dad is also growing a Mo this month – they’re the ones who don’t usually smirk or outright laugh at my new facial style.  My class was very eager to don their own Faux-Mos for this pic.

Start conversations, ask your doctor, don’t be shy.  It’s vital that prostate cancer doesn’t go unnoticed.

And the winner(s) is (are)… Mike & Matthew!

This picture was too cute for words, and we feel pretty confident that when the little fella can grow his very own ‘mo’, he’ll make his Dad proud!  Meanwhile, he still gets smooches, and what can we say Mike… the suffering will be worth it with our $1000 donation to your fundraising efforts.

This is what Mike had to say about his participation in Movember:

This is my third year participating in Movember and I hope to participate in many more.  I’m doing this for my father, a prostate cancer survivor; for my grand father, who succumbed to his cancer; and my son (pictured) who will eventually be affected by the genes we’ve passed down to him.  I’ve attached a photo of my mo’ from last season with my son supporting me wearing his falsie.  I’m looking forward to my first kiss in a month.  Thanks for supporting the cause and thanks to those willing to endure the wisker burns.

Thank you to all those who have submitted entries so far… and while we’ve selected our first winner, there are still 4 more who will be selected based on their reasons for participating, and 5 random lucky fellas (or mo-sistas!)  Scroll down for more information on Movember and our 2011 contest.

Congratulations Robert! We have made a $1000 donation to your fundraising efforts and put you in the Platinum Club!

Here’s a picture of Robert’s mo from 2010, and this is his second year taking part:

Robert had this to say about his participation:

I found out about your incredible organization through my fiancee, who used you to get her wedding dress. I am honoured to hear that you will be supporting Movember, because it’s an undeniably positive contribution to the subject of mens’ health.

I took part in Movember last year to support my brother-in-law’s team, and that was the first time I seriously thought about prostate cancer and the polite conspiracy of silence surrounding it. As the month went on and I noticed more and more hair on other mens’ upper lips (admittedly much more hair than I could muster), the more I admired the Movember project because it gave men a symbol they could wear that says “we don’t talk about our health enough, and we want that to stop.” I’m not a researcher in a public health project like my sister in South Africa, I don’t tend to the dying in a hospice like my sister in Sault Ste Marie, nor can I say that anyone in my family has died of cancer. In fact, prostate cancer never really was a subject I thought about (much less donated to) before I was invited to participate last year. But that has changed, and I  (as well as many other men) only have Movember to thank for that. That’s why I support them.

Below is the lovely Natalya with her handsome hubby Brett.  Congrats you two!  You look so happy, and obviously had a super fun wedding day. And we LOVE the shoes!!!  This dress was actually worn by Alyssa Milano for a wedding movie… and now the story of the dress grows with Natalya’s wonderful day.

She wrote us a lovely message; “I am writing to thank you for helping me find the absolutely perfect dress for an amazing price! We had a fantastic wedding and everyone complimented my dress a lot!”  Those words are music to our ears, and she has promised to donate the dress back when she’s had a chance to enjoy it some more!  (Photo credit to PhotoSix Weddings / Allen McEachern)

Brett and Natalya

The most lovely Tarin Olding is a great friend of The Brides’ Project, and Helen had the distinct pleasure of performing her marriage to Donny in October 2008.

Tarin recently wrote to say, “Hi Helen, I have been growing my hair for almost 4 1/2 years – ever since Donny proposed!

I am now ready to chop it ALL OFF!!!!  So I thought why not try and raise some money for a charity that helps kids with cancer!  As a bonus they make sure the hair gets to a company that donates wigs to kids with cancer related hair loss!

Please help me to raise funds for the Childhood Cancer Foundation’s research fund (C17 Research Network) that helps kids at all 17 children’s hospitals in Canada.”  Here is the link to her fundraising page: http://childhoodcancer.akaraisin.com/smallhands/tarinolding

And Tarin has a LOT of hair!  Check out her beautiful mane, that will be used to offer wigs AT NO COST to children fighting cancer.  Way to go Tarin, we’re behind you 100%.