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After Bridal Store Abruptly Closes, Seamstress Takes 60 Dresses Home And Finishes Alterations For Free

July 28, 2017

Rose Ellis, a seamstress at Alfred Angelo Bridal in Oklahoma City, was informed about a month ago that the store was permanently closing. The chain declared bankruptcy and abuptly closed all 60 stores in the U.S.

Ellis, who worked at Alfred Angelo for the past seven years, gathered around 60 dresses in the Oklahoma City store that had been paid for and needed alterations and brought them home with her.

She began individually calling each customer she had contact information for, telling them their dress was in her possession and would be returned to them, with the alterations done, at no additional charge.

Rose Ellis (right)

Stephanie Huey, 33, found Ellis through Facebook after posting in panic because her bridesmaids' Alfred Angelo dresses were at the Oklahoma City store awaiting alterations.

When Huey found out that Ellis had dozens of paid-for dresses in her possession, she began connecting her with other brides-to-be searching for help on Facebook.

She also arranged for a local hotel in Oklahoma City to donate space where Ellis could reunite Alfred Angelo customers with their wedding gowns.

"When I got to the hotel, she had only brought four or five dresses and I asked her, 'Where are the other dresses?' and she said, 'I'm not finished with those yet,'" Huey told ABC News.

"I was just dumbfounded," she continued, "I thought her good deed was just to bring the dresses back to everyone, but she was still doing all the alterations -- and for free."

The women who were helped by Ellis have started a GoFundMe page to help defray her travel expenses and the cost of doing the alterations for free.

"I really understand that when you own a business, every drop of your sweat has a price on it," said Huey. "This woman is just doing so much out of the goodness of her heart."

"My agenda is to make sure that all my brides I have come in contact with have that fabulous wedding day that they were expecting to have from the beginning," said Ellis, who called herself "very grateful" for the outpouring of support.

After she finishes with these dresses, then she will worry about her future.

"All I can do is wait and see," Ellis said. "But I can just say, 'Hey, if my girls are taken care of and they can walk down the aisle with a smile, there's no worries.'"