Donations replace stolen wedding gown

LUFKIN, Texas, Aug. 19 (UPI) -- A Texas woman whose wedding dress was stolen said she replaced the gown using donations from regulars at a diner where she used to work.

Crystal Wilson, 30, of Lufkin said her wedding dress was one of four stolen during a Sunday night break-in at Elite Cleaners, the Lufkin Daily News reported Thursday.

"I got the dress at Second Blessings in Huntington for $150. I had been looking for a dress for four months. It was a $1,500 dress originally with beading and a 4 1/2-foot train," said Wilson, who is scheduled to marry David Allen Saturday.

Kelly Wilson, a close friend of the bride, said she mentioned the situation to regulars at the diner where she works and the customers, who knew Crystal from her former job as a waitress at the eatery, donated $900 for a replacement dress.

"It was thanks to some good people in this world who made donations that I was able to get enough money to go buy another dress," Crystal Wilson said.

"I was able to fix it, but had it not been for those people it would have absolutely ruined my wedding day. There are three other girls in this town going through what I'm going through. Hopefully their weddings aren't as close around the corner as mine. They made a big disaster out of people's wedding days by stealing dresses," she said.