Robbie Bender is our first Featured Bride of the Month! Each month we will feature a bride who has purchased their gown from us, or donated their gown to us. 

Robbie Bender was looking for a way to give back through her wedding and she found The Brides Project was the perfect place to do so.  Although she thought about supporting a small business by buying a gown on Etsy, she fell in love with the idea of buying a wedding dress to support a charity.  Although she lives in Chicago she knew that she had to come to Ann Arbor for an appointment at The Brides Project. 

There were many reasons why Robbie was so drawn to The Brides Project. The prices and value are unbeatable – she was able to try on many different types of dresses in her size, all priced very reasonably.  “Getting a good deal at other stores is hard because the sizes of dresses on sale are always so small,” said Robbie.  But the biggest factor for her coming to TBP was the cause.  She lost both of her grandmothers to cancer and has other loved ones with the disease as well.  Her and her fiancé lives have been touched by cancer in so many ways it just felt right buying a dress where the money impacted the lives of others like themselves. 

Here is a little more about the bride to be and her upcoming wedding:

Robbie is 27 years old, living in Mundelein, IL, a northwest suburb of Chicago. She works full-time as an associate pastor and loves her job. She says that “being able to impact the lives of others for the better is amazing, and being able to be there for them during the worst of times is humbling.”

She met her fiance Mac her freshman year of college. They were friends for nearly 8 years before they ever went on a date. It wasn’t long before they both knew they’d be together forever. 

He proposed the weekend before Robbie’s birthday in August of 2011 at her favorite place in the Chicago area, the Chicago Botanic Gardens. He got down on one knee in the waterfall gardens overlooking the Japanese gardens, right after the sunrise. So romantic!

Robbie and Mac are busy planning their wedding and  life together. The wedding is September 22, 2012 in St. Joseph, MI where they had their first official date! They are counting down the months until the big day. Robbie is a generous person at heart,  ”We’ve tried to give back in other ways through our wedding as well, and our wedding reception is being held at a museum and cultural center. It is great to know our money is being used to impact others.”

We will be posting photos of Robbie in her wedding dress after her Sept 22nd wedding. We don’t want to spoil her big reveal! (Hint: she looks amazing!)