The ECHO helped find a dead mum's wedding dress so her daughter could wear it in her memory.
Victoria Bullen, who grew up on Ackershall Avenue in Dovecot, was proposed to by her partner of eight years, Bradley Davies, on November 6 of this year. After saying yes the 32-year-old, who now lives in Bolton, started searching for her dead mum's wedding dress.
Victoria's mum, Lesley Anne Bullen (nee Austin) had a brain aneurysm in 2005, which resulted in her slipping into a vegetative state for six years. She died on July 21, 2011, aged 55.
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Victoria's dad, Edward William Bullen, was diagnosed with lung cancer in April 2009 and died just two months later, aged 63. The 35-year-old got in touch with her family while on the hunt for her mum's beautiful dress, which was handmade by her uncle's wife as a present, but nobody knew where it was.
But after seeing an article in The ECHO, people started to get in touch with Victoria with clues.
Victoria said: "After the article was published I shared it across multiple pages on Facebook, such as Scouse bay and the Old Swan Community Page. After a few days someone commented on the post with a screenshot saying they'd spotted an identical dress on the vintage site, The Frockery, unfortunately though when I went on the site the dress had been sold.
"I then messaged the site through their inquiry link and the owner was nice enough to reply, letting me know that the dress was sold back in 2019 but would look through her sale records and forward my details over to the buyer asking them to contact me. A few more days went by and then I got an email from the buyer, I sent her photos of my mum in the wedding dress and she confirmed that the dress was indeed the same one in the photograph and she was kind enough to sell it back to me for the price she paid, plus postage and packing.
"She didn't end up wearing the dress, due to covid and the restrictions she ended up having a smaller ceremony so wore something more casual. I was quite happy to hear it hadn't been worn if I'm honest."
When the parcel arrived at her front door, Victoria said she had a "mix of emotions".
She said: "I'm absolutely ecstatic that I actually found the dress, I was hopeful that it would be found but wasn't holding my breath as I knew it was a major long shot, after it being lost for over 12 years.
"It was quite overwhelming, I was so happy to have it but at the same time I was a little sad as it reminded me that my mum won't be there on my wedding day. I'm just thankful to have this piece of her and have something she wore on her wedding day to be a part of our big day too."
Victoria now plans on either losing weight to try and fit into the dress herself, or having it altered to fit her five-year-old daughter as a bridesmaid dress.
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