One woman is making her wedding dreams come true and saving brides a ton of money at the same time! Enter Adele Puccio, director of the Maurice M. Pine Free Public Library in Fair Lawn, New Jersey, and proud curator of a collection of vintage wedding dresses available for rent.
Speaking to NJ.com, Puccio revealed that she has borrowed at least 30 dresses over the years, carefully stored in both the library and her New Jersey home. She even turned her office into a bridal retreat, displaying some of the vintage dresses on display mannequins.
“It’s not like I put a barcode on it and check,” Puccio explained. “If someone comes and wants a wedding dress, all they have to do is express their interest and tell me what they need it for.”
But Puccio’s generosity does not stop there. It allows brides to alter dresses to ensure the perfect fit, with one simple requirement – that the dresses be cleaned after use. “Even though I ‘borrow,’ I don’t always expect them back,” she revealed. “People get tied to their dresses.”
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Puccio told the outlet that the passion project began in 2000 when she began collecting dresses from second-hand stores including Freecycle, a nonprofit network that encourages the reuse of items through free donations.
The initiative began while she was working in the program department for the Bayonne Public Library, where she organized a charming “greeting to the brides,” decorating the library with wedding dresses and wedding memorabilia.
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Photo of a beautiful woman trying on a wedding dress. The woman turns her gaze towards the wedding dress shop. She wears a white dress.
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For the event, staff members contributed dresses from various eras, including a 1920s flapper dress, a 1968 fur dress and a 1992 Arnold Scaasi piece.
Although Puccio eventually got rid of several dresses and stopped collecting, her hobby was revived when she began working at the Fair Lawn Library. A few years ago, word got around town that I was collecting wedding dresses, she explained. “Before I knew it, people were leaving wedding dresses here again, reigniting my passion for the project.”
The avid collector, who got married at the age of 19, added that library visitors are not the only people familiar with her rental service. Pucci uses a Facebook group called “Shared Dream Dresses,” a private page that has more than 20,000 followers, to advertise her rental collection.
For Pucci, the joy of helping brides feel special on their big day is the greatest reward. Through his generosity and love of bridal nostalgia, Puccio continues to spread happiness and change the lives of countless brides-to-be.
Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education