The bride's brother, Christopher Cepeda, submitted an online form to the TSA's Lost and Found office at the airport. The brother of the bride said his heart sank when he saw the estimated time to receive a response was about five days.
"As soon as I submitted the request, we lost hope of retrieving the luggage on time for the wedding," Cepeda said.
Loletta Nathan-Gordon, a TSA administrative assistant at the Newark airport, saw the form on the day it was submitted and decided to take swift action.
"I put myself in the bride's shoes. I could only imagine how stressful that would have been for me if my mom would have left the dress behind. I would have freaked out," Nathan-Gordon said.
She located the bag in the TSA Lost and Found and coordinated with Cepeda to have it shipped overnight for an early-morning delivery.
"Thanks to Loletta, she called me immediately after the request and I was ecstatic to hear from TSA so quickly," Cepeda said.
The dresses arrived at the hotel Saturday at 8:55 a.m., plenty of time for the bride to walk down the aisle later in the day.
"She literally saved my sister's wedding," Cepeda said. "If it wasn't for her, everything would have been a disaster."
