Wedding dress found after Facebook appeal goes viral
A woman has been reunited with her lost wedding dress - an heirloom made nearly 150 years ago - after a Facebook appeal went viral.
Tess Newall turned to social media for help when the beloved gown vanished.
The dress, made by her great-great-grandmother Dora in 1870, had been taken to a dry cleaners in Edinburgh after Mrs Newall's wedding last June.
When the shop shut down and went bust, she and her husband Alfred were told it had gone missing.
But the antique lace dress has now been found in the abandoned shop in a crumpled heap on the floor.
Mrs Newall wrote on Facebook: "It's been found!"
She had been told by the administrators that the dress was not in the shop, but after seeing the appeal, the shop landlord had another look and found it.
Mrs Newall's parents went to the shop on Saturday to confirm it was the right one.
"To their amazement and joy it is our dress! (not cleaned but still with our ticket)," she said.
She told Sky News: "I am just so happy and can't thank everyone enough for creating this frenzy which allowed us into the shop before it was cleared.
"The dress is completely beautiful, hand-made lace with flower design silk ribbons.
"It's such an important piece of my family history and I was just essentially borrowing it."
She described the Facebook response as "overwhelming".
The dress is currently with the administrators for "procedural reasons" but Mrs Newall has been assured it will be returned to her family on Monday.
In her Facebook appeal, she had said: "I realise there are far greater issues in the world but it means the world to us.
"More family memories need to be woven into its threads."
As of Saturday afternoon, her post had been shared around the world more than 284,000 times, with 36,000 people taking the time to comment and wish her luck in her quest.
