Just a couple of months out from her big day, Kaila Scally-Chadwick discovered her dream wedding dress.
It wasn’t in a pricey fashion house, but rather in her local op shop in Donnybrook, 201 kilometres south of Perth, for just $90.
She tried it on and, in that moment, decided to do away with the made-to-order gown she had already purchased for the wedding.
Kaila Scally-Chadwick found the gown while searching for winter clothes for her baby. (ABC South West: Jonathon Daly)
Cinderella moment
Ms Scally-Chadwick said she had gone to the op shop in search of some warm clothes for her eight-month-old daughter.
“I was literally just about to walk out the door, turned towards the front room and saw the back of this beautiful gown,” she said.
“And I thought, ‘Oh, hold on, this might be something,'” she said.
She tried the dress but was struggling to see how she looked in it in the small op shop fitting room.
“One of the other customers took my phone and took a photo of it so I could see what it looked like,” Ms Scally-Chadwick said.
“I walked up to the front desk and I said, ‘Listen, I think this is it’, … I could not have dreamed of anything better.
“It fit like a glove and to me that was a sign that this was the dress I was meant to wear.“
Kaila Scally-Chadwick hopes to hand down her dream dress to her daughter. (ABC South West: Jonathon Daly)
Ms Scally-Chadwick said finding the dress felt like it was meant to be.
“The theme for our wedding was western and the details on the lace of this dress — you could not have envisioned anything more perfect,” she said.
“You don’t often put a dress on and it fits like a glove.
“I was on the phone to my mum saying, ‘I’ve just found a dress!’“
Kaila Scally-Chadwick said the op shop dress fit her “like a glove”. (Supplied: Kaihlia Scally-Chadwick)
And as for her original wedding dress, Ms Scally Chadwick said she planned to “pay it forward”.
“I’m going to donate it probably to the same ladies at Donnybrook,” she said.
“I feel like it’s a good full-circle moment.”
Treasure-trove find
Hannah Fox was volunteering at the Donnybrook Op Shop the day Ms Scally-Chadwick fell in love with the wedding dress on display at the front of the shop.
Ms Fox said the dress was different from the usual donations the shop received.
“We tend to get a lot of vintage, very plain wedding dresses, but when this came in, it was quite spectacular,” she said.
“We begged her please if you can come back and share photos with us.
“She made our day coming back and sharing that moment with her … the photos were stunning.”
Hannah Fox works at the Donnybrook Op Shop. (ABC South West: Jonathon Daly)
The Donnybrook Op Shop shared the wedding photos and the story of the dress on their social media page.
“People have been sharing stories saying that they’ve also found their dress in our op shop, so that was pretty special,” Ms Fox said.
“But [Ms Scally-Chadwick’s] dress was a very certain fit, so I just think it was actually meant to be.”
Hannah Fox was working at the op shop when the bride-to-be stumbled upon her dream dress. (ABC South West: Jonathon Daly)
Ms Fox says she believes the purchase is indicative of a larger societal change when it comes to the cost of weddings.
“I think it’s become a lot more trendy,” she said.
“Fifteen odd years ago, you wouldn’t say, ‘It’s from an op shop’, whereas now people are proud to say this is from an op shop.
“And I think people realise the sensibility of that, the cost involved and everything.”
