Woman freaked out after opening her mother’s wedding dress 11 years later — the devastating discovery made her warn other brides to check their boxes
Most brides keep their wedding gowns as cherished keepsakes to pass on to their daughters or daughters-in-law as family heirlooms. That was exactly what West Bend woman Calyn Strobel dreamed of: passing her dress to her daughters for their weddings. After she got her wedding dress professionally cleaned and preserved 11 years ago, she never opened the box. One day, when her daughter wished to try it on, a shocking discovery broke her heart. As reported by TMJ4 on Friday, February 13, 2026, Strobel now warns other brides to check the boxes in which they have preserved their wedding dresses.
Washington County woman Calyn Strobel married her husband in 2014, wearing a beautiful gown with a tulle design, Spanish details, and no sleeves or belt. Following her wedding, she got it professionally cleaned at a dry cleaner and preserved it in a box. Strobel never opened the box to check it until 11 years later, when her daughter Madilynn wanted to try it on. When the box was opened, what she saw stopped her cold. Inside was a completely different white gown, nothing like the one Strobel had worn on her big day. Speaking to the outlet, Strobel expressed her sorrow over the dry cleaner giving her the wrong gown. "It's just devastating to think I'm not going to see my dress again," she said.
For Strobel, her dress meant everything. She had always hoped to pass it down through generations as a family keepsake. All of the memories attached to the dress were somewhere unknown, a fact that broke her heart. Strobel's daughter, who wanted to include her mother's dress in her future wedding, also expressed her disappointment. She said, "I kind of got a sinking feeling in my stomach. Oh no, this is not the right dress, this is not the one. She was freaking out, and I was freaking out." When Strobel and her family tried reaching out to the dry cleaning company, they found that it now operates under new management. However, they are trying to help her find her misplaced gown.
Following her shocking discovery, Strobel urged brides across social media to check their preserved wedding dresses to ensure they have the right one. Although she is heartbroken about not having her wedding dress, she hopes that sharing her story may lead to finding it, so she can exchange the dress she now owns for her original gown. "It's just going to take that one person to see this or one person to notice this dress to say this is my family's dress and get a hold of them, and we can exchange our dresses," Strobel mentioned. While she is on a hunt to find her missing gown, people across the internet hope she reunites with her cherished dress soon.
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