St. Anthony's Bridal provides free use of wedding gowns and reception items to low-income and
moderate-income brides. Ciao Bella! Giveaways offer free prom dresses to many area high school seniors on tight budgets.
We are a 501(c)3 organization, trade name St. Anthony's Bread, Inc.
NOTICE: In December, Bridal Designs by Niko of
Baltimore, MD donated over 150 wedding gowns to us! These dresses are from last
season, so come and see the splendid inventory we have expanded. Thank
you, Niko for your generous donation. Our brides are so blessed.
Who Do We Serve? What Do We Offer?
For Real Brides with Real Budgets ($3,000 or less reception budget)
- Free wedding gown use (accessories too!)
- Free wedding party, mother-of-the-bride, and flower girl dress use
- Free reception items use (Anything and everything in our inventory available!)
- "The List," our list of local vendors who have partnered with St. Anthony's Bridal to give our qualifying brides their top-of-the-line services and products at greatly discounted rates, at rock bottom cost, or even for free! Vendors include: photographers, florists, bakers, caterers, wedding planners, etc.
Become a St. Anthony's Bridal Qualified Bride to view our inventory!
For Prom (exclusively through our Ciao Bella! Events)
- Any dress in our inventory
- Shoes
- Jewelry
Come to one of our 2010 Prom Gown Giveaways in your area!
If you have $3,000 or less to spend on your wedding, we offer you free use of a beautiful wedding gown and many reception items. Come to our Bridal Center on any Saturday from 10am to 12pm and find the wedding gown of your dreams!
What do we offer our borrowing brides?
We offer free use
of fashionable and contemporary bridal attire, including wedding gowns,
veils, and slips. We also offer for your free use other items you may
need in order to have an affordable church wedding or other
traditional wedding celebration: bridesmaids' gowns, flower girl
dresses, silk flower bouquets and arrangements, centerpieces,
tablecloths, plates, silverware, glasses, serving dishes, a wedding
cake display, a hoopa for a Jewish celebration, and many other bridal
related items.
Not on a super-tight budget but love a bargain? We
sell new and lightly used gorgeous wedding gowns to the public and
our extensive inventory normally includes most major designers.
Personal checks and money orders are accepted ($150.00 plus sales
tax).
Ciao Bella! hosts Prom Gown giveaway events for local high school students. We are a proud member of DONATE MY DRESS! Please click on our Donations button for details on donations and on volunteering. We actively seek wedding gowns, bridesmaid gowns, flower girl dresses and prom dresses. If you would like to support our ministry through donations of a gown, bridal reception goods or make a much needed monetary donation, please check out our Donations page for further details.
Congrats to our St. Louis Missouri Bridal Center! The 2009 Trivia Night Fundraiser was such a fantastic success, raising over $3,000. We are so grateful for our Director, Kristin Johnson for all the work she accomplished in organizing this very successful and very fun event.
Looking for a photographer but can't afford the price? For our Maryland Bridal Center brides: $100 Wedding Package if you buy a gown from St. Anthony's and FREE if you are a qualified borrowing bride. Email RobWright31@gmail.com or LauraJamison22@gmail.com for details and availability.
Maryland Brides: Click here to see our Great Deals page!
We are here to serve frugal brides who seek to avoid wedding debt, so please do not be shy about contacting us! You pay nothing to use these items and we only ask that you return them, clean, the first Saturday after your wedding between 10am and 10:30am for our next bride to use.
Who qualifies to borrow? (everyone qualifies to buy a wedding gown)
You qualify if you are:
- spending $3,000.00 or less in total on your reception
- not using a wedding planner
- having no more than 100 guests (you may invite up to 25 more people if you expect no more than 100 to actually show up)
- having a local wedding and reception (within 60 miles of our Bridal Center)
DEPOSIT: There is a $300 deposit. Please pay us your deposit in the form of two personal checks made payable to St. Anthony's Bridal made out for $150 each and postdated to the date of your wedding.
Deposit Discount: A $150 Discount is offered to brides who buy their gowns from us. If you can not afford $300, please do not worry; ask the Bridal Center Director about a Deposit Layaway Plan where you can put $100 down and increase your deposit over time until you have reached the full Deposit by your wedding day.
The Deposit is our assurance that that you will return the items on time and clean. We depend upon the timely return of our garments and goods because the next bride depends upon us. You will get your deposit back if you bring everything back on time and clean on the day and put all items back on the shelves where they belong.
You must also sign an agreement confirming the conditions specified herein (click here for the Agreement). And. to get on our calendar, you must bring us a letter from your Celebrant on your Celebrant's letterhead confirming the ceremony (we reserve the right to contact your Celebrant to verify this).
Please bring two copies of the agreement (one for you and one for us), and your deposit check and letter from your celebrant to our first meeting. If you do not have the letter from your celebrant, come anyawy and you can send it to us as soon as you can get it. There is no need to make an appointment.
Is St. Anthony's a business or a non-profit? We are a local non-profit qualified with the I.R.S. as a 501-C-3 (this means we are a recognized non-profit and donations to us are tax deductable). Our mission is to help brides on tight budgets achieve beautiful and affordable weddings. We are an all volunteer staff. Our tax ID number is 52-2191053. St. Anthony's Bridal is a legal trade name for St. Anthony's Bread, Inc.
We joyfully serve brides of all faiths and beliefs. Each of our brides is a great blessing.