Bride Surprises Groom at Wedding by Wearing Dress They 'Randomly' Found at Goodwill 1 Year Earlier (Exclusive)
"He cried. I cried. We all cried," the bride tells PEOPLE
Charlotte Bennett; Sunglow Photography
Charlotte and Canaan Bennett went thrifting together on April 3, 2022, at Goodwill, where they "randomly" found Charlotte's dream wedding dress. Charlotte bought and secretly saved the dress to wear at their wedding almost exactly a year later on April 2, 2023
"He cried. I cried. We all cried," Charlotte tells PEOPLE. "I wore my grandmother’s pearls, my mom’s veil, and my dress — hand-picked by my husband himself. I was so excited to finally put it on again for him. There was magic in that dress"
Charlotte and Canaan are now saving the dress for their daughter
A bride surprised her groom by wearing a wedding dress they found while thrifting together a year before their nuptials.
Charlotte and Canaan Bennett's wedding ceremony on April 2, 2023, at Adam's Estate in Lake Alfred, Florida, was made even more special by the bride's dress surprise.
Almost exactly a year prior on April 3, 2022, at a Goodwill in Lakeland, Florida, the couple "stumbled upon the dress" of the bride's dreams. At the time, Charlotte told Canaan a "little white lie" and said she'd buy the dress to resell it because they weren't engaged yet. In secret, she saved the gown for their big day.
"Canaan begged me to buy the dress and I knew I couldn’t leave the store without it in case someone else bought it, but I also didn’t want him to find out I was going to wear it whenever we got married," Charlotte tells PEOPLE. "We were still just dating…..I couldn’t look too crazy, ya know?"
When Charlotte walked down the aisle, Canaan couldn't believe his eyes.
"He cried. I cried. We all cried," Charlotte says. "I wore my grandmother’s pearls, my mom’s veil, and my dress — hand-picked by my husband himself. I was so excited to finally put it on again for him. There was magic in that dress."
The second Charlotte "randomly" saw the dress on the rack, she knew it was the one for her. Charlotte and Canaan — who are now 22 and 24 years old, respectively — were at the Goodwill simply because one of Charlotte's favorite hobbies is thrift shopping. "It's like treasure hunting!" she says.
While growing up in Malawi, Africa, Charlotte often went to local markets to dig through piles of clothes shipped over from Europe to find prom and wedding dresses to try on because she "loves pretty dresses."
"So when we walked into Goodwill, I dragged my boyfriend over to the dress section very first (like usual)," she recalls. "We spotted the dress right away and I was in awe. Hanging on the hanger in the middle of a bunch of dresses from the '70s, this dress sparkled! Canaan immediately made me go try it on!"
Although it felt "silly" to try on a wedding dress when she wasn't engaged yet, Charlotte knew "deep down" that she couldn't pass the opportunity up.
"I gasped the second I slipped the dress on and it fit like a glove. It felt like….MY dress?! I couldn’t believe how much I loved it," she says. "I felt nervous to open the dressing room door and show Canaan. At this point I think I KNEW that this was the dress I was going to become his wife in."
"Opening the door and stepping out of that little changing room felt like our first look. I still remember his face," she continues. "After playing 'fashion show' countless times at thrift stores, this time was different."
Even onlookers could see that it was fate.
"Before I knew it, there were two little old ladies that came running up to me," Charlotte says. "They oohed and ahhed over the dress. They spun me around and bustled it and could not get over how beautifully it fit. They asked about our relationship and prayed over our future marriage. We didn’t ruin the moment and tell them that we weren’t engaged. But that moment in the middle of our small town Goodwill felt magical."
Once she got home that day, Charlotte told the story of her "Goodwill fairy godmothers" and tried the dress on for her family. Her parents agreed that she had to keep the dress for herself, and her mother "worked tirelessly" to alter the back of it.
Just a few months later, Canaan popped the question. Charlotte was excited to know that her wedding dress was "already hanging in [her] closet."
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Canaan and Charlotte began dating in the fall of 2021 after being set up by Charlotte's siblings.
"My brother was always trying to play matchmaker. He called my mom in the spring of 2021 and told her he found the guy I needed to marry," she explains. "A few weeks later, my sister-in-law called and asked me to come to Florida for a few weeks in the summer to help with their youth camp at church. I was super excited for the chance to visit my family and help mentor their students, but my brother and sister-in-law had ulterior motives."
Charlotte had "immediate butterflies" and was "memorized" by the camp's new intern, Canaan. A few days after camp, the couple went on their first date and Charlotte was "hooked."
"Long story short, I took a leap of faith and decided to pack up everything and move to Florida the next week to live with my family," Charlotte says. "And while I swore I didn't move for a boy, it sure worked out."
Charlotte eventually realized she loved Canaan at a thrift store when he picked out various dresses for her and then bought her favorite ones. The pair thrifted many elements at their wedding, the service of which was performed by Charlotte's brother and Canaan's father.
As for the wedding dress, that's saved for their daughter, whom they welcomed in July 2024.
"I will be saving this dress for her," Charlotte says. "She’ll grow up thrifting with Mom and Dad and hearing our love story unfold as we peruse the dress aisle of Goodwill."
Read the original article on People
