I had no reason to be trying on wedding gowns!

Editor’s note: this is the final segment of our wedding gown series

By Susan Clarkson Keller

CHARLESTON–When I was about 24, I went all over town hunting for a pair of white dress shoes for a bridal party for my sister. By then I had gone back to school for nursing and had very little money.  I searched in vain for something I could afford.

A few days before the event, I still did not know what I was going to wear on my feet. However as I was coming down the steps from my apartment on the third floor, I spied what looked like the tip of a ladies shoe sticking out of a neighbor’s trash bag on the landing.  A white shoe.  I stopped to open the bag, only to discover a pair of size 7M, brand new, Aigner flats.  Those shoes were getting ready to go out to the street with the trash!!!  Yep, I took them right then and there and said, “Thank you, Jesus!” 

I wore those shoes to the party and for many years afterward. This is just one example of God’s faithfulness during my three decades as a single, working woman who was committed to tithing. Strange coincidences occurred to reinforce my trust and teach me that God cared about my specific needs. I am convinced that Jesus has a very special place in His heart for His single girls.  I leaned into Jesus as my husband and maker and felt that I was very loved.

However, in 2001, I found myself trying on wedding dresses just for fun. As it turned out, God had his reasons…

Some months earlier, I had reconnected with an old boyfriend who had moved away. Kent was still single when he came back to Charleston for the wedding of mutual friends. We decided to go together to keep one another company.  We had not seen each other in about 10 years, yet we ended up dancing the entire night at the wedding.  A bit later, we agreed to begin writing intentionally, to see where God might lead us. 

Not long after that, my friend Sara, who loves a great sale, called to tell me that the Salvation Army Store had some designer wedding dresses in my size.  Up to this point in my life, I had never had any reason to look at wedding dresses.  I didn’t know anything about anything related to the subject. 

Despite that, my godchild Ruth and I went out there; the Salvation Army store was a big warehouse with what felt like endless rows of clothes. Eventually we found the wedding dresses; I pulled one out and decided to try it on.  We had to step into the bathroom for me to change.  It took Ruth about 10 minutes to button up the back.  I looked at myself in the mirror. To my surprise, I realized that — I kind of liked it. In that moment, I felt something being spoken into my spirit.

You are going to get married in this dress.

This was unexpected, because Kent and I had only just begun talking regularly.  Yet soon I found myself asking the shop ladies if I could take the dress home to show my friends.  They said, “Sure!” They didn’t want me to pay them or even give them my name.

After we returned home, I asked Sara and Tammy, another good friend, to come over.  For years, the three of us had been single girls in Bible study together, yet they had both recently married.  When they saw me wearing the dress, Sarah and Tammy encouraged me to buy it, even though I was not engaged—or anywhere near it.  The moment of truth still to come, however, was when I took the wedding dress over to Maria’s Alterations. 

Moments later, she repeated, “That is so beautiful.” I could hardly believe what I was hearing.

Maria is a stern, all-business kind of woman.  Whenever she had altered things for me in the past, she had barely said more than turn around, or to suggest, this high?  Yet when I came out of the dressing room in the bridal gown, Maria exclaimed loudly, “That is beautiful!”  Moments later, she repeated, “That is so beautiful!”  I could hardly believe what I was hearing. 

Maria assured me that the dress fit me perfectly. It needed absolutely zero alterations. That finalized my decision. I went back to the Salvation Army and paid the $50, still not knowing the who, when, and how of my supposed marriage.

Well, you have probably guessed it by now! Kent and I did get married; on September 28, 2002, my precious father walked me down the center aisle of St. Philip’s Church in that dress.  Before the wedding, I didn’t dare tell my sweet parents or anyone else that I was wearing thrift store fashion. That was top secret. But afterwards, they were amazed and pleased to hear how I had been led to find the perfect dress. To me, this was another example of God’s loving provision.