GORDON—Though some brides save their dresses for decades, thinking they’ll pass the gown on to their daughter, it rarely works out that way. But for one Manitoulin family, the same wedding dress has been worn by three different brides.
“I had heard stories about this dress as I grew up, so it had taken on an almost magical quality,” said Melissa (Hall) Ross (originally from Manitoulin who now lives in Lively with her husband), the third bride to wear the dress. She explained when Reta (Burt) Hall was preparing to marry her sweetheart Steve Hall in 1956, she bought the dress at a department store in Sudbury and when Marilyn (Hall) Trick, Reta and Steve’s daughter, was planning her 1988 wedding, she decided to wear her mother’s dress.
“Initially, my aunt said she was surprised that I wanted to wear the dress, but she was happy I did,” said Ms. Ross. “I know my grandma would have been really proud, like my aunt was, that I was wearing the dress on my wedding day.”
Melissa explained, “the first time I put it on, I was very excited and nervous. I was scared that it might not fit, but it did, thank goodness. I only had to make some minor alterations to it, but kept the lines of the gown the same. I also added a piece of my grandfather Steve Hall’s plaid shirt to the bottom right hand side of the dress for something blue with all three wedding dates. Whether the dress will be worn again remains to be seen. The dress has seen the spotlight for this generation, so I will definitely keep it as an option for the next.”
Reta (Burt) Hall and Steve Hall were married September 22, 1956; Marilyn (Hall) Trick and Brian Trick were married on June 4, 1988, and Melissa (Hall) Ross and Dan Ross were married on October 1, 2016.
“For me it symbolizes generations of happiness in my family. Every woman who’s worn it has been happily married,” said Ms. Ross. “The enduring feeling of happiness and contentment began 60 years ago when my grandmother married my grandfather Steve Hall.”
