Bride Transforms Mother’s Wedding Dress into Her Dream Bridal Shower Gown: 'It Was an Honor to Wear' (Exclusive)
“Once I had [my mom's dress] on, the idea ... to use the bodice as a top and wear it for one of my wedding events" just "came to me," she tells PEOPLE
Courtesy of Gillian Duffy; Paige Thompson
Gillian Duffy (right) and her motherGillian Duffy posted a viral TikTok video sharing that she repurposed and “wore” her mom’s wedding dress for her “bridal shower"
She said that she came up with the idea while trying on the dress for fun with her mom and sister, two months after her engagement
She said that her mother "was along for the whole" ride and helped her find a seamstress to alter the dress and went with her to fittings
A bride is bringing something borrowed into her wedding celebration — courtesy of her mom!
Gillian Duffy, 30, revealed in a viral TikTok video, that garnered nearly half a million views online, that she repurposed and “wore” her mom’s wedding dress for her “bridal shower.”
In the video, the bride could be seen smiling as she walked into the shower wearing the white bodice from her mother’s original lace dress. In a separate clip, she could also be seen trying on the wedding dress prior to its modification and showed a closeup of the section of the dress that she kept.
The post had nearly 3,500 comments online from people who commended Duffy on the choice. One person wrote, "This is so so sweet. As someone that’s really sentimental I think this is one of the besttttt things." Another said, "This is the perfect way to do this. Best one I’ve seen to date."
Duffy tells PEOPLE that she came up with the idea in Oct. 2024, just two months after she got engaged. She says during that time that she, her sister and mother, Tracy Duffy, 62, thought it “would be fun and cute” for her to try on the dress — which was last worn more than 30 years ago at her parents’ wedding on Sept. 25, 1992.
Related: Bride Surprises Mom by Wearing Her ‘90s Wedding Dress: See Her Sweet Reaction!
“I always thought her dress was beautiful but in the old photos I could never really tell just how gorgeous the delicate floral lace and beading was,” Duffy says. “It was sealed for the past 30 years so we took it out of the box just for me to try it on!”
“Once I had it on, the idea to take off the sleeves and skirt came to me, to use the bodice as a top and wear it for one of my wedding events,” she adds.
So, with her mother’s permission and help, the bride-to-be did just that. Tracy used “a seam ripper to detach the bodice from the skirt” and they took the cloth to a seamstress, who “took off the sleeves and finished the seams,” Duffy recalls. She says that there weren’t any alterations that needed to be made as “it fit me perfectly” and the whole process was done in a “few weeks.”
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“My mom was along for the whole ride!” she explains. "She was super supportive of the idea right from the get-go and joked that the dress had enough material for two new outfits. She helped me find the seamstress and came with me to the appointments.”
“My mom loved it and loved seeing me breathe new life into it!" she continues. “She was touched by the idea of it and thought it was such a nice little project for us to work on together. She was really proud to see me in it.”
Her mother wasn’t the only one who loved the idea. Duffy says that her dad, John Duffy, 63, also knew they were working on altering the dress, and when he finally got to see it on her for the first time on the day of her bridal shower on March 22, he got “quite emotional.”
“I think it was a mixture of seeing me really look like a bride for the first time, and seeing my mom's dress on me. He loved the look too and thought it was such a cute and special thing to do,” she shares.
The bride-to-be notes that she felt “really beautiful” in her new dress, and says that she particularly enjoyed informing guests about the special detail of the dress. She also got to do some “reminiscing” on her parents’ wedding ahead of her own nuptials to her fiancé Owen White, 30.
“It was meaningful to me because it was a way to honor my mom, and my parents, and the marriage they have shared and the family they created,” Duffy tells PEOPLE.
“It felt like the perfect way to kick off my ‘bridal era’ and I felt really surrounded by love and family. In a way it made me feel really sentimental and close with my mom too. She's always right by my side, and it was an honor to wear her dress that way,” she adds.
As for what’s next for the bride, she and White are set to say their “I do’s” in May.
Read the original article on People
