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Best Friends Wear Their Wedding Dresses Out After Divorcing Cheating Husbands

Ciara Sheppard

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Best Friends Wear Their Wedding Dresses Out After Divorcing Cheating Husbands

Featured Image Credit: Media Drum World

Wedding dresses usually cost hundreds if not thousands of pounds and are only worn for a matter of hours.

It seems hardly right to box up your white gown after the wedding day never to wear it again, doesn't it?

Well two divorced best friends are turning this tradition on its head by wearing their wedding dresses on girly nights out.

Self-employed Julie Frugé, 46, and hairstylist Sarah Kralowski, 33, from Illinois and Michigan in the US, met when Sarah cut Julie's hair.

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Credit: Media Drum World
Credit: Media Drum World

At the time they were both married, and Julie confided in her new friend about her husband cheating. Later, in 2015, Julie discovered her husband was cheating again, and Sarah discovered that her own husband was having an affair months later.

The infidelities left irreparable holes in their marriages and the pair divorced their husbands in 2017.

When Julie couldn't bear to give up her 20-year-old Vera Wang dress, and Sarah wasn't keen on giving hers up either, the pair discussed what to do with them.

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Over a bottle of wine one night, the pair remembered that scene in Friends where Rachel, Monica and Phoebe wear their wedding dresses for a night in.

Credit: Warner Bros.
Credit: Warner Bros.

The iconic scene led the ladies to create their Instagram page @itsonlyadress, where they post photos wearing their dresses, whether it's down the park, at the bar or for a girl's nights in.

"I married my husband in April 1998, while Sarah married hers in May 2012," Julie explains.

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"I was looking for a new hair stylist and the universe put me in Sarah's chair as she'd had a cancellation that day and we connected very quickly.

Credit: Media Drum World
Credit: Media Drum World

"We hit it off immediately during that appointment and found out we had lots in common. What we didn't know was that we'd have more in common three years later as I uncovered another of my husband's affairs, and not even a year after that, Sarah uncovered her husband's affair.

"We got through the trauma of that together as well as the impending divorces. By July 2015, I'd had enough. Sarah wanted to see if she could salvage her marriage, so she gave her husband another chance. He didn't do anything their marriage therapist suggested and she'd been thinking about divorce a lot in that time. In February 2017 it was clear that nothing would change and she filed for divorce.

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Credit: Media Drum World
Credit: Media Drum World

"My wedding dress was a sample dress which cost about £650, and Sara's dress was a Vera Wang dream dress.

"I was trying to find a way to donate my wedding dress and the only option was an organisation that repurposes them to bury stillborn children as it was 20 years old by that point.

"Over a glass of wine, I told Sarah that if she wanted to sell hers, she better do it quickly before it goes out of style, but Sarah loved her dress so much she didn't think she could part with it.

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"One more glass of wine later and our love of Friends, which was our favourite show, and our idea was hatched when we were reminded of the episode where the girls sit around in wedding dresses."

Credit: Media Drum World
Credit: Media Drum World

Wearing their wedding dresses is mainly a bit of a laugh for the ladies, but they're also hoping to break the stigma around divorce. Their Instagram bio reads: "Just because the marriage was a mess, don't take it out on the dress.Best friends who survived and thrived after divorce. Hoping to inspire others."

Sarah said: "Too many people let the fear of being divorced impact their lives, so there's a veil of shame or a feeling of failure that comes with divorce."

She continued: "Divorce was the best thing to happen to both of us, although it was hard to see in the beginning.

"Creating new memories with the dresses has helped us both mentally as we can't put them on without giggling. We rarely think about the first time we wore those dresses because now we laugh at the silly things we've done in them.

"We've gone out in public wearing the dresses to a local park, and people stared at us and some even left the vicinity.

Credit: Media Drum World
Credit: Media Drum World

"We want men and women to know that they are not alone in the struggle to get through divorce. Don't look at it as a failure, instead look at it as a brand new beginning with fun chapters to write in post-divorce lives.

"It's an opportunity to create new memories with things that have bad ones tied to them. The newfound freedom is invigorating. We want to show people that they don't need to look at things or places connected to their marriage with deep hatred and hurt. You can just change the memory and make it positive or funny.

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"We have found a lot of happiness after going through hell by finding humour doing funny things in our old wedding dresses, and hope we inspire others with our posts."

Good for you, girls.

Topics: Life News, Life

Ciara Sheppard
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