The wedding dress that keeps saying ‘I do’

A dreamy, fitted wedding gown worth more than R20,000 will float down the aisle for the third time later this year, adding special meaning to the tradition of wearing something borrowed.

The gown, now something of a travelling heirloom, was offered to brides-to-be earlier this year on the I Love Fourways Facebook page by cybersecurity professional Meg Johnson, who decided it was time to pay it forward and let it go.

“I would like to give away my wedding dress. I want to give it to someone who really adores it but can’t afford a dress. It’s a size 34 and was my absolute dream dress. Tell me your love story and why you would like it,” she wrote.

Her post drew a flood of responses — many simply thanking her for the kindness behind the gesture, others sharing personal stories of love, loss and second chances.

“I’ve been a single mom for seven years,” wrote one engaged woman. “Life hasn’t been the best. I found my person and my daughter loves him. We want to get married at home affairs and do something special at home as finances have been a factor.”

Others suggested Johnson donate the dress to former Miss South Africa Lorna Potgieter-Rossetti, who runs a small charity providing evening gowns and wedding dresses to women in need.

But Johnson had a different plan.

Speaking to the Sunday Times this week, she said she was drawn to one particular bride — partly because of how the dress first came into her own life.

“I had my eye on this dress for two years. A friend of mine bought one and I completely fell in love with it. But I was a single mom with three little boys and there was absolutely no way I could spend R20,000 on it,” she said.

Then, by chance, Johnson spotted a Facebook post from another bride offering the same designer dress for free.

“It was the exact dress I wanted, and it was in my size. It was perfect,” she said.

Johnson was given the dress by the woman, with whom she has since lost contact.

“I was given the dress by Janie, who said the only condition was that I pass the dress on after my wedding. I would love to speak to her again, but I’ve lost contact with her on Facebook and haven’t been able to find her,” she said.

So Johnson became the second woman to wear the gown when she married her now-husband at their Melville home during lockdown in 2020.

“I loved the dress so much, but it’s been sitting in my cupboard for five years. So I figured now is the time to pay it forward,” she said. “And that’s how I came to meet Star.”

Star Borrageiro — a biokineticist based in Helderkruin, Roodepoort — will wear the dress when she gets married later this year at a nature-filled venue in the Magaliesberg.

Like Johnson, Borrageiro is a mother, divorced once before, and building a second chapter with renewed faith in love. She met her fiancé, Reginald Waardenburg, when she had a young son, and the connection was immediate. They are now engaged and recently had a baby boy.

“My fiancé has been struggling to find work for about a year now, we have a one-month-old baby, we’re planning to get married before the end of the year and I’ve just been thinking, ‘How am I going to get a dress?’” she said.

Scrolling through Facebook, she came across Johnson’s post.

When she collected the gown this week, she tried it on immediately. The fit was perfect; overjoyed, she photographed herself in the mirror and sent the image off to Johnson, who was delighted.

And when her wedding day is over, Borrageiro plans to pass the dress on again.

Potgieter-Rossetti, who had been tagged repeatedly in the original post, said she was delighted to hear the gown had found a new home.

“I have been running a small charity for the past 30 years called the Matric Dance Project, aimed at helping girls who need heels and an evening gown for their farewell,” she said.

Over the years she has built up a collection of donated dresses and shoes, offering them free to young women who cannot afford to buy or make their own.

“But after Covid I started getting lots of requests from women asking if I had any white dresses or wedding gowns, and that’s how I started the wedding store,” she said.

The demand has since grown beyond what she can manage.

“It’s been a great experience, but the wedding dresses have started taking over,” Potgieter-Rossetti said. “I’m in my sixties now, I want my life back and so I would love to hand that project over to a passionate somebody who wants to do some good with it.”