How One Librarian’s Wedding Dress Collection Brings Joy to Brides on a Budget

One day last year, Adele Puccio, the director of the Maurice M. Pine Free Public Library, in Fair Lawn, New Jersey, received a call from a librarian from a nearby town. “My director told me you might be able to help me,” she began.

The woman wasn’t looking for a rare book. The fellow librarian was a bride-to-be.

“I was told that you have wedding dresses in small sizes,” she went on to say.

“Yes!” Adele said and invited her to stop by the library and have a look at her collection.

Since girlhood, Adele has had a fascination with bridal attire. She would sneak into the famous Kleinfeld Bridal near her Brooklyn, New York, home and watch brides-to-be model all types of dresses, and she devoured BRIDES magazine. In 1985, she was thrilled to pick out her own wedding gown—a beautiful chiffon dress with embroidered flowers.

After her wedding, like most wedding dresses, Adele’s was stored in the back of a closet. Then in 2000, Adele was asked to organize a bridal show at the Bayonne, New Jersey, library, where she worked at the time. Searching eBay and other sites, she gathered an array of beautiful dresses. After the show, Adele slowly gave away the collection to prospective brides. And the idea to start a wedding dress recycling program took hold.

Adele began collecting wedding gowns, from donations or freecycle.org, and either loaning them to brides or even giving them away for free. Word spread of Adele’s generosity and people from all over the country started sending or dropping off their used gowns.

About 150 gowns—including- her own, which she donated last April—now hang on racks in Adele’s office or in boxes in the reference department. 

Brides-to-be make an appointment to check out the dresses, which include many vintage and designer gowns.

“I know that a wedding dress is so important to a young woman on her special day,” says Suzanne K. Elliott, M.D., of Vermont, who donated her gown in August. “I also know that the money spent on this can be ridiculous and put to much better use. Why not pay it forward?”

The next day, Suzanne’s dress was selected by Stephanie Flores, 30, of Linden, New Jersey. “It fit like a glove,” she says. “Adele’s program isn’t just about beautiful dresses, you can truly see she wants to share joy.”

Adele is over the moon about helping the brides. “You have women who come in, who either love vintage or have a budget issue,” Adele, 58, says. “I’m thrilled we’re getting these dresses out of people’s closets and attics. It just makes me giddy.”