Have you seen this dress? Preserved wedding gown mix-up leaves Lakes Region bride hoping for 'miracle'

Amanda Perry was recently entertaining the idea of wearing her wedding dress again for a girl’s night out. She preserved her dress in 2017, using a Plymouth laundromat, and was eager to open up the box.

When she did, she stomached a hard reality: She had the wrong dress. Not only was it not her gown, but it was 12 sizes too big.

“I was just like, ‘That is not my dress,’” said Perry, the surreal realization of the situation setting in. “What I saw was just like the front of the dress and I was like, ‘No, it's completely not my dress.’”

In 2015, following a proposal from her longtime boyfriend Russell, an engaged Perry set out to find the wedding dress of her dreams, an intimate hunt with just her mother. She made a point to avoid a ball gown after some questionable prom dress choices, opting for a lace dress.

Featuring sheer elements and buttons up the back of the fitted silhouette, Perry chose the second dress she tried out of five. It was a whirlwind year-and-a-half-long engagement before their wedding at the Common Man Inn in Plymouth in 2017.

“The colors were blush and nude. We kind of kept the wedding party small,” she said, adding her wedding was very seasonal for the spring.

Losing a core piece of her wedding memories saddened Perry. She and her husband now have two daughters, Adeline, 6, and Nora, 4, who might have worn the dress themselves.

“I've kind of come to the terms of I'm probably never going to get it back. It's a miracle if it happens,” Perry said. “I don't want to get rid of someone's dress in any chance that they open their box in 10 years and they're like, ‘Oh my gosh, this isn't my dress.’”

Quest for the dress

Over a cup of coffee at Mad River Coffee House in Campton with Nora nearby eating a sugar cookie, Perry shared her story.

After she was married in 2017, she had the forethought to preserve her wedding dress, the process involving dry-cleaning and specific storage details. She picked up the dress after her honeymoon to New York City, paying $200, and showing the receipt to The Sun.

Flash forward to the recent moment Perry opened her dress. She made calls, went by the laundromat and even visited the retail store where unclaimed laundry was donated, as directed by a former employee.

“I went through, like, every single wedding dress. There weren't as many as I thought, which was nice, but who knows if it was donated and someone bought it. It wasn't there. My hope is that someone has my dress and I have theirs, because the dress I have is a ball gown.”

She believes the owner of the now-closed laundromat acted negligently.

“I said to her, ‘In my job, negligence can get you in trouble, and this was negligence. I'm not saying it was purposeful, but you or your employee lost my wedding dress, and you're not not trying to make it right,’” Perry said.

A request for comment from the business owner was not returned.

Once she exhausted her efforts with the laundromat owner, Perry turned to Facebook for help.

Perry posted a photo of the mystery wedding gown in the Plymouth NH News & Events group, hoping the image would motivate members to try and reunite her with her dress.

“I’ve contacted the owner since that shop closed and she has erased the system so I am unable to see who got their dress preserved around the same time I did,” she wrote in the post.

She received about 20 comments, but no real leads.

Anyone with information about the dress can contact The Daily Sun.

Perry said she's filed a claim against the laundromat owner for the loss of her wedding dress.

Preservation dos, and don'ts

While you can certainly do your best DIY attempt at preserving your wedding dress, it’s best to leave it to a professional dry cleaning service.

Not only do they safely clean the dress for unseen blemishes, they pay extra care to utilize acid-free paper and boxes to keep the air sterile. Store your dress in a cool, dry place, checking on it every once in a while to make sure its environment is still safe.

While it’s best to leave the preserved garment untouched — most come with see-through covers revealing the gorgeous dress inside — it's OK to check it. Perry’s preserved dress came in a big white box with a handle, no see-through cover and taped indulgently — to the point she didn’t even want to fiddle with it.

Instead, she lugged it around to various storage areas in her home, including her daughter’s closet and the dining room table, until she recently opened it.

She has received criticism as to why she waited so long to open it up, but she still thinks her story can serve as a cautionary tale.

“Some people are critics and are like, 'Why did you wait eight years to open your dress?’ But if you talk to a lot of women, they're like, ‘I haven't opened my dress in 20 years.’ I'm like, ‘Well, you may want to check it.’”

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Katlyn Proctor can be reached at katlyn@laconiadailysun.com or by calling 603-524-0150.