Woman excitedly opened her wedding dress 33 years later — the heartbreaking discovery sent women everywhere rushing to their preservation boxes
Time changes many things, but some moments are preserved with the hope they never will. A Maryland woman who got married in Tulsa was left stunned after opening a box that had been carefully stored for 33 years. When Tammy Gaddis finally saw the wedding dress inside for the first time, she realized it wasn’t hers. Gaddis, who tied the knot at First United Methodist Church in Tulsa in 1992, had her wedding gown professionally cleaned and sealed in a gold Keystone preservation box, where it remained untouched for years, reported News On 6 on Tuesday, January 6, 2026. But when she opened the box with her daughter, they saw something that raised questions, and none had easy answers.
Gaddis’ daughter was preparing to get married this summer. Gaddis wanted to repurpose part of the dress so her daughter could wear it on her big day. She explained, “My daughter and I opened it because she’s getting married this summer, and we were going to have it repurposed into something she could use and wear on her wedding day,” she explained. “When we opened the box, I immediately knew that it was not my dress.” However, at first glance, the dress looked similar to hers, with detailed beading and a familiar bodice.
Gaddis said that the dress in the box had a full skirt and an attached train. “My train was detachable. It came off, so I knew it was not my dress,” she explained. This discovery left her sad and confused, as the Tulsa business that originally preserved the gown has since shut down. She tried making inquiries with other preservation companies, but it led nowhere. Gaddis expressed, “I have gone through a roller coaster of emotions. But right now, I am really hopeful that somebody may have my dress—and this may be their dress.”
Gaddis came up with the idea of asking anyone who owns a similar gold Keystone preservation box to carefully check the dress. These boxes have multiple protective layers, including a cellophane window through which one can see the dress inside without disturbing the preservation. She said, “So, you can check to see if it is, in fact, your dress.” For Gaddis, it isn’t just about the dress but goes beyond lace and fabric. For her, it is more about a tradition, a memory, and passing something memorable to her daughter. “It would mean the world,” she said. She hopes the swap becomes a way for both brides to find the dresses meant for their own weddings.
Just as wedding dresses can hold decades of meaning, the details added to them can honor loved ones who cannot be present. In another story, a bride named Cait was missing her beloved grandmother, who was suffering from dementia, on her wedding day because she was too unwell. "I felt a huge rush of joy with a tinge of sadness that none of the grandparents could be there on the day, as much as they would have all loved to," Cait expressed. Learning this, her mother decided to surprise her by hiding a blue brooch inside her wedding dress. The idea was to do something that allowed her grandmother to be present in spirit, and the brooch found in her nursing home's room turned out to be perfect. Although her grandma was unaware of the gesture, she later saw the wedding pictures and said the bride looked beautiful.
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