Bridal shop helps woman find same wedding dress lost in Jean’s Bridal fire, donations continue throughout the week

MT. PLEASANT, S.C. (WCBD) – Donations continue to pour in after Thursday’s bridal shop fire in Mount Pleasant.

The fire destroyed Jean’s Bridal, Auto Money Title Loan, and LHT Accounting Thursday on Johnnie Dodd’s Blvd.

The community has come together donating wedding dresses, tuxedos and even helping brides find their original dresses.

“We have over 260 dresses which is insane I didn’t expect this many I thought we were going to have 10 to 15 dresses,” said Taylor Rodgers, Pivotal Fitness trainer.

Brides are gathering at Pivotal Fitness in Park West to try and find the dress they will wear when walking down the aisle.

Chiara Russo lost her original dress and believes she was one of the first brides to learn about the fire.

“One of the girls I work with drives past Jean’s Bridal on the way to work at 5:45 a.m. in the morning and she was like I think your dress caught on fire,” said Chiara Russo.

Russo said that with her wedding is in August and with no dress, she went into a mild panic. She began calling bridal shops across the state.

A bridal shop a couple of hours away ended up finding out about the situation and contacting her personally after hearing about what happened.

“I called a bunch of places, but I didn’t even call the bridal store that called me, they called me and said hey I heard you’re looking for this dress and we have it in your size,” said Russo.

At first, she didn’t believe it could be the same dress. When she got it 3 days later, her emotions got the best of her.

“I cried, of course, I was relieved is didn’t believe it wasn’t until I have the dress on and in my hand that I was like wow it is the same dress. Just because the manufacture didn’t have any more of that size and I wasn’t ready to start looking for another one. It was a deep breath but also I just didn’t believe it I was shocked,” said Russo.

Bridal shops, the community, and Pivotal Fitness say they are honored to help brides like Russo who lost their dresses in Thursday’s fire.

“Every single bride that has come has found a dress not one has walked out empty-handed,” said Rodgers, Pivotal Fitness trainer.

Dresses not picked up by Thursday will be sent to charities such as Military Brides, The Junior League of Charleston, and MUSC Angels to make gowns for babies.