“They had such a big selection of dresses and they were beautiful,” said Rhiannon Ward, who shopped Goodwill’s annual Bridal Pop-Up Sale at the Goodwill Opportunity Campus in 2022.
Ward, like many brides, came to Goodwill hoping to find the perfect wedding gown at an affordable price. Prior to the event, she shopped at a boutique and fell in love with a gown that was $2,000, but unfortunately it was out of her budget.
“I went home and was trying to figure out how I was going to get the dress, but I couldn’t make it work,” Ward said.
So, she bought a used gown on Facebook Marketplace. She liked it, but she didn’t have the same feeling that she felt with the dress at the boutique.
“My friend sent me a reminder that Goodwill was having their pop-up sale,” Ward explained.
Although she had a dress, she decided to go to the sale anyway.
“I didn’t know what to expect. When I walked through, I saw really nice dresses; brand new, really expensive looking dresses in all sizes.”
What she found was greater than she ever imagined.
“It was the exact dress that I tried on at the boutique,” Ward shared. “It was just a different undertone, but this one was actually better than the boutique.”
She left the pop-up with her dream dress for $200 – a fraction of the price! Ward also had minor alterations done to the gown, but ultimately got married in her dream dress in October of 2022.
Like Ward, Courtney Houge also found her dress at last year’s Bridal Pop-Up Sale for a fraction of the price. She paid $399 for her gown, but it wasn’t the first dress she purchased.
“I actually tried on dresses at a boutique, found the dress, (thought I) liked it and then got home and didn’t like it,” Houge said. “I didn’t think buying another dress was going to be possible because of how much dresses cost.”
With the help of her mother, Houge was able to find her dream dress, which she wore during her wedding, one month after the pop-up on April 4, 2022.
“I feel amazing. I feel like I probably will not even be able to put it on without crying on the actual day,” Houge said while shopping the sale.
The Bridal Pop-Up Sale not only provides gowns at an affordable price, but it also creates the experience so many brides long for when shopping for their special day. For Houge, her mom was right by her side as she said yes to the dress.
“I just love it because a lot of parents don’t have that connection with their daughters. And she’s involved me in every aspect of her wedding,” said Houge’s mother, Carmen Blackmon.
Brides who shop this event are helping the community. Houge, a social worker for Mecklenburg County, and her mother are longtime supporters of Goodwill, and they were happy their dollars went to a good cause.
“As a social worker, agencies like Goodwill that are able to give back to the community are important,” Houge emphasized. “We refer so many clients to Goodwill for job training, basic needs, resume building and things of that nature and so it’s great to be able to benefit from Goodwill and what they give out to the community but also to see it with my clients that we work with as well.”
The revenue generated from selling dresses at the Bridal Pop-Up Sale will fund career training courses, job search support, family stability services and more — free of charge to people in our community.
This year, the sale returns for its fourth annual event Saturday, March 4, 2023, from 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. at the Goodwill Opportunity Campus, located at 5301 Wilkinson Boulevard in west Charlotte. Bridal gowns will range in price from $99 – $499. Special occasion and bridesmaid dresses will be priced $29 – $149.
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