WATCH: Wilmington Bridal Store Travels by Boat to Save Wedding Dresses from Florence Flooding
Talk about going the extra mile. Camille's of Wilmington, a locally-owned bridal boutique took impressive measures to ensure that their customer's wedding dresses stayed out of harm's way during Hurricane Florence and the subsequent flooding.
As Raleigh's WRAL-TV reported, co-owner Angela Woodcock and her seamstresses decided to take all the dresses they could from the shop for safekeeping. “I held onto that tote [with the dresses],” Woodcock told the network. “I had a life jacket on; the tote had a life jacket on. And we were getting those dresses there. We were determined.” In fact, so dedicated were Woodcock and her team to these brides that they even continued with sewing and alterations by candlelight when the power went out.
"With my generator I powered four things: I did my refrigerator, my freezer, a light so I could see, because we boarded the windows and the house was dark, and my sewing machine,” Lorraine Seibold, alterations manager at Camille’s of Wilmington, told WRAL.
But when Woodcock's home flooded, she knew she had to navigate her way across the currents of the Cape Fear River to make sure the dresses could be delivered to anxious brides. With life jackets on both people and dress boxes, Woodcock was able to return the dresses safely to the store.
"I had an appointment to finish up alterations and pickup last Sunday and of course we had the hurricane so I could not go, this amazing woman has hand sewn my dress, in candlelight, in the middle of hurricane Florence, so that I could do a final try on and take home my dress today! It turned out better than I could have ever hoped for! 5 stars all the way!!!!" wrote Victoria, one happy customer, as shared by Camille's of Wilmington in an instagram post. Even sweeter: The store plans to donate 10% of their September sales to help Hurricane Florence victims.
A post shared by Camille's of Wilmington (@camillesofwilm) on Sep 26, 2018 at 9:55am PDT
Something old, something new, something borrowed, and something rescued is the refrain these lucky brides will surely be chirping on their wedding day. As for Angela and her team? We say six stars all the way.