How Elizabeth Smart Found the Perfect Wedding Gown

With just one month to plan her secret Hawaiian wedding, Elizabeth Smart had mere days to finalize details like flowers, a guest list … and her wedding dress.

“I tried on just about every bridal dress in Utah,” Smart tells PEOPLE. Frustrated, she hoped a quick cross-country trip would prove fruitful. “I was going to New York with my friend for the weekend and we thought, ‘Why don’t we just see if we can get into Kleinfeld’s and look around?’”

Miraculously, she scored an open appointment slot at the famed Manhattan bridal shop (featured on TLC’s Say Yes to the Dress) — and found her dress, too. The Alita Graham gown — with lace sleeves, a sweetheart neckline and satin-covered buttons down the back — was an ideal fit for her nuptials.

“It was traditional, but still was different,” she explains. “I felt like it was just perfect.”

And while she did plan her dream wedding in record time, she also had to gloss over a few traditions. When asked if she chose “something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue” for her big day, the newlywed laughs. “Are you kidding?” she says. “There’s been no time!”

Slasher Attacks Charity Shop Wedding Dresses

CHARITY shop staff were left devastated after £500 of clothes were deliberately slashed.
The unknown culprit targeted Oxfam in Mealcheapen Street, Worcester, on Monday morning.
Wedding dresses, bridesmaid dresses and designer frocks were among the items hanging on the shop’s wedding rail that were shredded with a sharp blade.
The clothing would have raised about £500 in takings for the shop, but would have been worth thousands of pounds brand new.

Manager Julie Skipp said it was a senseless attack.
“We’ve had such a lot of interest in our wedding rail,” she said.
“The times we’re in at the moment, people can’t afford to pay £2,000 for a wedding dress.
“My staff were devastated. It took me a lot to open up the store yesterday. I was really gutted.
“We struggle to get wedding dresses. We’ve got to rebuild the stock now if we can.
"It’s not just Oxfam that loses out, but it’s also the people who would have benefited from those dresses. It just doesn’t many any sense.”
The dresses were still intact when they were checked by staff as the shop closed for the weekend on Saturday afternoon.
It is believed the attack happened on Monday morning before the damaged clothes were discovered at about 2pm.

The store is now looking to replenish its stock and is urgently appealing for donations of unwanted bridal and bridesmaid’s dresses and designer dresses.
Anyone able to help can call the branch on 01905 611289 or drop items off during opening hours.

Ex-wife's wedding dress has no supernatural powers

My stepson will be married this spring, his first and her second marriage. His fiancee has chosen to wear his mother's wedding dress.

My husband will be walking my stepson's fiancee down the aisle. I'm uncomfortable about seeing this wedding dress reincarnated on the arm of my husband. (Interesting that his ex-wife kept the dress for 40 years.) Am I out of line?

GENTLE READER: You know you are. You must be exposed to the usual wedding prattle of "It's all about the bride," a selfishness-promoting concept Miss Manners loathes. But surely it did not make you think, "No, it's all about me."

Still, the situation bothers you, so it might be useful to think about why. Do you suppose that the dress will transport your husband back into feeling that he has his beloved first bride on his arm? That seems doubtful, but in any case, the reality, in the form of the lady he divorced, will be right there to shatter the fantasy.

Anyway, he might be oblivious to it all. Every time Miss Manners has asked any gentleman who attended a wedding what the bride wore, the answer was, "I'm pretty sure it was a white bridal dress."

DEAR MISS MANNERS: What is the best course of action when a friend request is denied on a social network — particularly when that person is someone with whom one had long wished to reconnect?

I recently came across a friend online who was very dear to me in middle school — more than two decades ago — and was very excited. We'd fallen out of touch in college. However, I noticed later that she apparently had denied my request. I was hurt that she apparently did not share my desire to reconnect, but made no further efforts. (I assume she knew who I was, as my profile has a photo and, while I now go by my married name, my first name is not common.)

If this were another person, I would just brush it off, but this is someone whose rejection I find rather baffling and saddening. Is there any polite way at all to address the matter, or do I need to just let it go?

GENTLE READER: Miss Manners believes it possible that the lady is limiting her Facebook commitment in time spent or the number of correspondents acquired. Or that she did fail to recognize you with your changed name and grown-up photograph.

There are many other forms of communication still open, such as the telephone, email and even actual letters. Try another means before you feel snubbed enough to let it go.