There were more than “27 Dresses,” and no noticeable “Runaway Brides” or a “Father of the Bride” in the house.
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Friday, March 14, 2025
As reported by Barry Adams, Wisconsin State Journal
There were more than “27 Dresses,” and no noticeable “Runaway Brides” or a “Father of the Bride” in the house.
But mother of the bride, Laura Trotter, had her fingers crossed that somewhere in the racks of over 1,200 dresses, there would be a wedding gown for her daughter, Ellie Trotter of Stoughton, who is getting married in June.
The Trotters, who have a budget of $2,000, had been to dress shops in Cambridge, Burlington and Rockford, Illinois, and were headed Thursday to Chicago to continue their search. But they started their day at a unique pop-up shop at center court of East Towne Mall, hoping for the bargain of the year.
This is where, at the “Dream Dress for Less” store, new, never-worn wedding dresses are being sold for just a few hundred dollars. And when the doors opened for the first time, the Trotters were among those first in line.
“Right now, price isn’t our biggest problem. It’s finding something that fits her vibe,” said Laura Trotter, who paid $700 for her wedding dress 30 years ago. “I mean, it would be great if we found a dress here, I’m not going to lie.”
But perhaps more remarkable than the deep discounts on brand name dresses like Da Vinci, Jazzman, Modeca and Lenovia is the origin of the dresses that fill the 10,000-square-foot space that at one time was an Express clothing store.
Arlene DeForest has been selling and altering dresses for 15 years at her Moments to Cherish Bridals shop, which started in Fitchburg before moving in 2015 to Verona. But with persistent back issues taxing her ability to maneuver wedding dresses up and down steps at her Main Street shop, DeForest was looking for a way to reduce her inventory so she can focus more on alterations. The shop is too small and DeForest didn’t have the staff for a clearance sale, but she did have many family members and friends who have benefited from the services of Agrace Hospice.
After speaking with her two adult children, DeForest’s husband, Wayne DeForest, paid a visit in early February to the Agrace Thrift Store on Junction Road on Madison’s Far West Side to inquire about donating the dresses. But because the store, and its sister stores on the East Side and in Janesville, have limited space, the idea of a pop-up shop was born. Earlier this month, the Agrace “pack and pick-up” team arrived at DeForest’s shop and began filling a panel truck with dresses.
DeForest, 71, estimates that the full retail value of her donated dresses, which includes bridesmaid, quinceanera and prom dresses, is more than $500,000. All of the proceeds from the sale, which could top $100,000, will benefit Agrace.
“It was like a whirlwind,” DeForest said Thursday. “I know it’s very generous, but this is just my way of giving back.”
The pop-up store is open through March 23, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sundays.
Agrace routinely receives donations of clothing and household goods and on occasion has received new clothing donations from retailers. None have been on the scale of DeForest’s donation, said Katie O’Grady, a manager for Agrace’s retail arm.
In 2017, a collector from Platteville donated 21,000 vinyl record albums, which were sold in the Agrace Thrift Stores, but the donation of dresses required a space of their own. Agrace used the same spot at East Towne for its holiday pop-up store that ran from October through December.
Many of the wedding dresses are under $200, with several starting at $100. The most expensive was a $2,700 dress selling for $500. The vast majority of the dresses have never been out of their clear, protective bags.
“We’re really excited because this is such a unique opportunity,” O’Grady said, just prior to the doors opening. “All of these (dresses) are designer, high-demand dresses. So all of these have a lot of value and people are really getting a great deal.”
For Ellie Trotter, who took the day off from her job at American Family Insurance, the wedding is set for Halloween, so she was after something with a little more color. However, a $100 or $200 dress would also allow her to experiment with alterations that, if they don’t work out, wouldn’t be financially devastating. Buying a dress for just a few hundred dollars would also free up money for other aspects of her wedding, like entertainment.
Trotter heard about the sale from Mary Jo Timm, her former second-grade teacher in Stoughton. Now retired and a volunteer at Agrace, Timm gave Trotter a big hug when she entered the store. Ten minutes after the doors opened, Trotter was twirling in front of a set of 9-foot-tall mirrors checking out a possible dress. Eight minutes later, she was in a second dress in front of the same bank of mirrors.
“I like it,” said Trotter as she stared into one of the mirrors next to the crowded changing rooms. “I don’t know that I love it, so we’re going to keep trying.”
Lauryn Baier, 25, works at the mall, which allowed her to be in line before the mall opened at 9:30 a.m. Baier, who lives in Evansville, is getting married in June but Thursday was her first day looking for dresses.
“I’m really excited,” Baier said. “The prices are cheap.”
But not everyone was shopping for just themselves.
Michelle Manriquez and Chrissy Tachick drove from Lodi to search for a dress, not for a daughter, but for Manriquez’s 67-year-old mother, who lives in Florida. Michelle’s father died but her mother recently became engaged and will be married in July. Manriquez and Tachick spent their morning thumbing through dresses, stopping to take pictures of promising options and then texting them.
Manriquez and Tachick also were shopping for dresses to wear at Tachick’s daughter’s wedding and at Manriquez’s mother’s wedding, but Manriquez also will be meeting her mother in Florida in the coming weeks to look for dresses there. But at Thursday’s visit, Manriquez wasn’t ruling out the possibility of actually trying on a dress for her mother, who is formerly from Elkhorn.
“It’s very interesting,” Manriquez said of shopping for her mother. “She’s looking for something very simple since she’s 67 and it’s her second marriage. She really doesn’t know what she wants.”
“It was like a whirlwind. I know it’s very generous, but this is just my way of giving back.” – Arlene DeForest, who is voluntarily reducing her inventory from Moments to Cherish Bridals shop in Verona
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