Exactly one week ago tonight I drove home with my Mum and my future Mother-in-law from a trip to Toronto... with my WEDDING DRESS. This, folks, is something that I have been saving for since high school. In the eight-ish years since I began, I am proud to say that I haven't spent a dime.
Well, maybe five or six in that time, but with a burdensome reluctance.
In my room at my parent's house I have an old five gallon water jug that I found at a second hand store somewhere for the purpose of having somewhere lovely to store all my dimes. About a month ago Ben and I sat down with a couple bags of paper coin rollers (and a delicate kitchen scale to double-check) and started counting. By the time we finished we'd made it to just shy of $650! Over the next few days we raided our cars, closets and couches (and Tim and Carolyn gave me a jar of dimes that they have clearly been working on for a long time too!) and made it to my long-time goal of $700. And what did I do with all that money? I bought a wedding dress. For cancer.
Attention all awesome women (and men who one day plan to marry one)!
If you haven't heard of the Bride's Project, listen to me. They're a not-for-profit "social enterprise" organization run completely by volunteers that collects donated wedding gowns from brides and designers (if a style has been discontinued), sells them for half of what they are worth and DONATES 100% OF THE PROCEEDS. Check out their website.
I can't remember who told me about this first [credit claimed by the beautiful Sarah Jones], but I loved it instantly. I knew that I wanted my dress to come out and my dimes to go in to this magical place. So, last Sunday, I went in with my $700 budget and found a $700 dress. It was perfect except for one last tiny detail... I forgot about taxes.
So, I'm $91 short of accomplishing my dream of paying for my wedding dress in dimes. Usually I would have ended this post before explaining that, but because the Internet is making me bold I've decided to throw it out to you, my online community or supporters. If you open your wallet today and find that a couple of blue-nose-backed coins fall into your hand, would you consider donating them to me? If you buy your coffee tomorrow and they hand you a dime with your double-double, would you set it aside with our marriage in mind? And if all these 1.75gram gifts add up to more than the cost of my dress, I will pass it along to the amazing Bride's Project people so they can keep going strong. I want to bring them a couple of dresses I have anyway.
So there you have it, everybody. Pictures available in 89 DAYS!?!
