Stranger buys wedding dress for financially-strapped bride-to-be

[Still_Small_Voice]

She said yes to the dress, and then a stranger paid for it.

About a month ago, Liz Jensen accepted her boyfriend’s proposal.

Last Friday, the Provo, Utah, woman found her dream dress at a pop-up shop called Elizabeth Cooper Design.

Unfortunately, the full-time Brigham Young University student — and seventh of eight children — couldn’t afford the gown’s $480 price tag.

 

Read more at:

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/good-news/stranger-buys-wedding-dress-for-financially-183306670.html

[Bini]

What a generous donation.

 

I would feel very uncomfortable if someone purchased a big ticket item like that for me without discussing it with me first. But who turns down something fabulous like that? I hope this bride-to-be finds a way to pay it forward, whether it reaches the secret stranger or not, maybe she can spend that same amount of money on someone else once she gets her finances in order.

[omegaseamaster75]

Good for her, but it sounds like someone who is not financially prepared to be married yet...

[pam]

Good for her, but it sounds like someone who is not financially prepared to be married yet...

 

I disagree with that assumption.   She's a student.  And she is the 7th child.  I'm sure her parents are stretched thin on paying for many of the expenses.  Doesn't mean she's not financially prepared to be married.

 

And seriously..$480 is a very modest amount to pay for a wedding dress.  So I'm glad that someone could help her out to make her day special for her.

[Bini]

I disagree with that assumption.   She's a student.  And she is the 7th child.  I'm sure her parents are stretched thin on paying for many of the expenses.  Doesn't mean she's not financially prepared to be married.

 

And seriously..$480 is a very modest amount to pay for a wedding dress.  So I'm glad that someone could help her out to make her day special for her.

 

There are prom dresses that cost that much, so I'd agree that for a wedding gown, it's a pretty modest price tag - but I suppose that all depends on how well off you are.

 

I guess it's a common notion that parents of the bride pay for all the wedding expenses, including, the gown. If this young woman falls into that category, then I can understand how being the 7th child is noteworthy of being mentioned, in reference to her financial position. But I know plenty of ladies that bought their own gown and paid for their own weddings on their own dime, and they're not rolling in the dough, either.

[pam]

There are prom dresses that cost that much, so I'd agree that for a wedding gown, it's a pretty modest price tag - but I suppose that all depends on how well off you are.

 

I guess it's a common notion that parents of the bride pay for all the wedding expenses, including, the gown. If this young woman falls into that category, then I can understand how being the 7th child is noteworthy of being mentioned, in reference to her financial position. But I know plenty of ladies that bought their own gown and paid for their own weddings on their own dime, and they're not rolling in the dough, either.

 

 

Oh I agree.  My point was that these are things that are above and beyond the normal everyday living expenses one expects after they get married.  Saying they aren't financially prepared to get married just isn't true in my opinion just because they don't have the finances for a wedding dress at the time.

[Still_Small_Voice]

It was very generous of the person to purchase the dress for her.  I wish this couple the best.  I hope they work diligently and are wise with their finances.  (I have learned to say: "We can't afford it, we don't need it and we don't even want it.") 

 

If you continue to work diligently, pay your tithing and keep saving what you can things will work out.

 

 

[omegaseamaster75]

I disagree with that assumption.   She's a student.  And she is the 7th child.  I'm sure her parents are stretched thin on paying for many of the expenses.  Doesn't mean she's not financially prepared to be married.

 

And seriously..$480 is a very modest amount to pay for a wedding dress.  So I'm glad that someone could help her out to make her day special for her.

I respectfully disagree, and this is a subject for another thread, so I will comment and move on. These are some of  the reasons that she should not get married, and I am making some assumptions here because we only know part of the story.

 

1. She knows her family is of limited means yet she still thought it was a good idea to go dress shopping, very selfish. 

2. if her family can't afford a dress where is the fiance? Is he broke also?

3. She is a student...aka unemployed

4. same as #2 is the fiance broke also?

5. Lastly if she is not self sufficient, and we can extrapolate that to mean that her BF is not either otherwise he would have bought her the dress they have no business getting married and becoming a burden. 

[EarlJibbs]

I respectfully disagree, and this is a subject for another thread, so I will comment and move on. These are some of  the reasons that she should not get married, and I am making some assumptions here because we only know part of the story.

 

1. She knows her family is of limited means yet she still thought it was a good idea to go dress shopping, very selfish. 

2. if her family can't afford a dress where is the fiance? Is he broke also?

3. She is a student...aka unemployed

4. same as #2 is the fiance broke also?

5. Lastly if she is not self sufficient, and we can extrapolate that to mean that her BF is not either otherwise he would have bought her the dress they have no business getting married and becoming a burden. 

A burdent to who? To you? Society? So now, since she couldn't afford the dress she will be on welfare for the rest of her life collecting hard earned cash from self sufficient tax payers? With all respect, the argument is laughable. 

[Vort]

Is the dress blue with black trim or light ecru with gold trim?

[Guest]

Is the dress blue with black trim or light ecru with gold trim?

 

Vort, Vort, Vort... she's still waiting for her bridesmaids to buy their blue black ecru and gold dresses...

[Bini]

My last thought on this is if she knew her budget (hopefully she had an inkling of what that was) she should have browsed stores in that budget range. I have walked into many malls that sell formal dresses, and they tend to also sell affordable bride's gowns, I'd say easily in the $200 range. Certainly, if you go into a boutique, you should expect to pay a pretty penny.

[Backroads]

Used dresses can be quite budget friendly. Check out your local classified

[pam]

I respectfully disagree, and this is a subject for another thread, so I will comment and move on. These are some of  the reasons that she should not get married, and I am making some assumptions here because we only know part of the story.

 

1. She knows her family is of limited means yet she still thought it was a good idea to go dress shopping, very selfish. 

2. if her family can't afford a dress where is the fiance? Is he broke also?

3. She is a student...aka unemployed

4. same as #2 is the fiance broke also?

5. Lastly if she is not self sufficient, and we can extrapolate that to mean that her BF is not either otherwise he would have bought her the dress they have no business getting married and becoming a burden. 

 

How do you know she is unemployed because she is a student? When I was away at college I worked a part time job to pay for living expenses to relieve my parents of having to send me money.

[omegaseamaster75]

Not employed enough to buy a wedding dress. 

[NightSG]

Just because they're getting married doesn't mean she's going to start spewing babies like a clown car on their nine month anniversary whether they can afford them or not.  I fail to see how a male and female sharing resources is any more of a financial burden than the situation they're likely currently in of having same-sex roommates, especially since they will share more resources than typical roommates.  (Neither is going to have their own box of Frosted Flakes, nor likely their own tube of toothpaste.)

 

And besides, it never says she was even considering how to get the dress; just admiring it.  When I was shopping for a <$1500 car, I stopped to drool on the carefully restored 1979 Stingray even though I knew it was out of my price range.  I had no intention of even asking the price, but I did want to look it over and daydream a bit.  A stranger with plenty of extra cash and a soft heart could have done the same for me.  (Now that I think about it, maybe I should go visibly ogle that car every day just in case a kind, rich stranger happens to wander by.)

[Palerider]

That's awesome. Love stories like that.

[pam]

Why can't we just have a feel good story showing how someone did something nice for someone without all of the negativity?

[Palerider]

Why can't we just have a feel good story showing how someone did something nice for someone without all of the negativity?

I agree.....it's called pay it forward. Nothing wrong with it. Compassion for your fellow man

[NightSG]

A couple of other things occurred to me last night.  

 

First is that when I go looking for a suit, I often check the high priced stores first, and look at what they have to see if there are any elements I particularly want to find, then go browse Goodwill stores until I find a $25 suit that I like based on that research.  So she probably had no intention of trying to get the nicer dress, but wanted to look around and get some ideas to take with her while shopping for cheaper options.

 

Second is what my missionary friend is learning in Chile; "the necessities of life and protection" aren't set by modern American standards.  If they were, then 99% of our ancestors would never have been "ready to get married," nor would more than 75% of the current world population.  She's seeing happy families living in houses the size of her bathroom back home, with annual incomes of less than she spent on hair products.  Yet they remain faithful, loving, cheerful and generous with what they have, which is often only a good supply of fairly simple but nutritious food.  It's driving home the point of what really is important and what is just window dressing that we tell ourselves we need.

Edited March 17, 2015 by NightSG

[Jedi_Nephite]

It's also quite possible that she was just checking out the nice stores first in order to see if she could find any good deals.

[NightSG]

It's also quite possible that she was just checking out the nice stores first in order to see if she could find any good deals.

 

Yup; not that unusual to find a custom item that was never picked up, or a slight defect at half or more off the regular price.

[Guest]

I don't understand why we have to come up with "acceptable" reasons for the bride to be looking at the dresses on that store.

There's nothing wrong with a bride who doesn't have 2 pennies to rub together window shopping at high-end bridal fashion stores with bridal gowns priced in the thousands. Nothing.

There could be something wrong with a bride who doesn't have 2 pennies to rub together BUYING a gown priced in the thousands by maxing out her credit card. But even then, it is pretty idiotic for us to assume she and her husband are going to end up to be worthless bums.

The story is about a stranger doing a random act of kindness. Questioning the worthiness of the recipient smacks of Scrooginess.

[NightSG]

Either way it's better than a divorcee I dated a while back; ex husband bought her a >$2k engagement ring on a credit card.  After the wedding, he quit his job "to go back to school" and left her stuck paying the bill.  17 years later he was still working on that degree.

[Palerider]

It's nice to know there are awesome people among us. Hope they can pay it forward in some small little way.