Last Sunday, a Washington-based bride-to-be (her name was withheld for privacy) was inside her home on the morning of her wedding, preparing for the ceremony, when someone broke into her car and stole her wedding dress, among other belongings.
Panicked, the woman called 911 to report the crime, and Candice (she declined to provide her last name), a dispatcher at Valley Communications, the local 911 center, answered the call. “We deal with theft calls every day, but this one really touched me,” Candice, 28, told Yahoo! Shine. “I handled the situation as I normally would, but inside, I really sympathized. I couldn’t imagine someone stealing my wedding dress. All I kept thinking was, ‘I have a wedding dress. Maybe she could wear that.’”
By the time Candice got off the phone, she had made her decision: “I wanted her to wear my wedding dress.” So, after getting her supervisor's approval (and with no idea of the woman’s weight, height, or personal taste), Candice asked the responding officer to offer the woman the dress that Candice had worn on her own wedding day 18 months earlier.
“The woman was definitely surprised but very grateful,” Candice shared. “She also asked to see a photo, which, being a female, I totally understood.” Candice texted a picture of the dress to the officer, who, in turn, showed it to the bride-to-be.
It was a match. The woman loved the dress. With only hours to spare, Candice made arrangements to deliver it. “However, that was the difficult part,” she said.
Fortunately, Candice's husband, Brandon, was home, having canceled plans to go camping that weekend. “I called him and asked, ‘Can you do me a huge favor and pick up my wedding dress at my parents' home?’ He was really surprised, but once I explained the situation, he was happy to help," she recounted.
Brandon made a stop at Candice’s brother Peter’s house to pick up house keys before making the 20-minute drive to his in-laws' home. But there were still obstacles ahead. When he arrived, he discovered that Peter had given him the wrong set, so Peter had to drive over to let him in. "Meanwhile, I had no idea where the dress was, so I texted my parents, ‘Emergency. Call me,'" recounted Candice. "They told me that the dress was in the attic."
After Brandon located the bride’s fiancé, he delivered the dress to their home shortly before the ceremony was set to begin. “I’m so happy that I was able to help this woman,” Candice said. “She was very grateful and texted me a photo of her wearing the dress. I would do it all over again, if I could.”
I’m so proud of Candice — what she did was extraordinary," Vonnie Mayer, operations manager at Valley Communications and Candice's manager, told Yahoo! Shine. "More people should be like her.”
The dress will soon be returned, but Candice said she's in no rush to get it back. "I just want to let them enjoy their wedding week. I’m happy it worked out. I believe that there’s a reason I picked up the phone that day.”
http://shine.yahoo.com/healthy-living/911-operator-lends-bride-dress-after-it-was-stolen-172616809.html
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