Wedding dress returned 32 years after dry cleaner mix-up

By: Cody Cepeda - 7 years ago

Scott Iwan and his fiance Ame Bartlebaugh hold a 1980 photo Ame’s mother in her wedding dress the day she was married. Bartlebaugh posted pictures on Facebook of a lacy wedding dress, a veil and a hoop skirt with an explanation of a1985 mix-up with the now-defunct, dry cleaner who gave her the dress, thinking it was her mothers. Bartlebaugh found the rightful owner of the dress, but is still searching for her mothers dress that she hopes to wear at her wedding in December 2019. Image:
AP/Phil Masturzo; Akron Beacon Journal

WILLOWICK, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio woman had given up hope of seeing her wedding dress again after a dry cleaner mix-up three decades ago until her daughter’s friend saw photos of the dress on Facebook

Michelle Havrilla was nearly speechless after getting the dress back last week for the first time since her 1985 wedding.

Her dress was put in the wrong box by a now-defunct dry cleaner in Willowick and stored in another family’s attic.

The Akron Beacon Journal reports Ame Bartlebaugh found the dress on Feb. 4 when she went looking for her mother’s wedding dress.

She posted about the mix-up on Facebook, and Havrilla was reunited with the dress within a day.

Bartlebaugh hopes social media will help her find her mom’s dress before her own wedding next year. CC