OMG! Clare Crawley reveals her wedding dress was stolen while on Hawaiian vacation
A bridal disaster. On return from vacation with fiancé Ryan Dawkins, Clare Crawley realized her wedding dress had been stolen – but she says it was fate.
“I know I always share this, but I deeply, deeply believe that everything is supposed to happen the way it’s supposed to happen, regardless of whether it looks good or bad or whether it’s what I want or not what I want. I trust to the depths of my soul that everything happens for a reason. And we may not know what that reason looks like right now, but it will be fine. So let me tell you what happened,” the former Bachelorette, 41, told her Instagram Story viewers on Saturday, Jan. 28.
She continued, “When Ryan and I returned from Hawaii early this week, my car had been broken into while we were out. And guess what was in the car? Please note that my wedding is very soon. My wedding dress was in my car! It was in there because I had to take it to get the last change and I wanted to remind myself not to forget it.
Unfortunately, a burglar took the wedding dress before she returned. The theft frustrated and upset the former Bachelor education contestant, especially since her big day is just around the corner.
“In the moment it was like ‘Ughhhhh, what do I do?’ And I thought, “It’s okay. It’s about the moment and what we’re celebrating. I can wear anything and I’ll be glad we’re here.” So I went to get my veil… and I spoke to the owner and she was the sweetest thing in the whole world. I said to her, ‘Now forgive me. This is what just happened.'”
The bridal shop owner turned into Crawley’s fairy godmother and found the perfect replacement. “In short, in three days I got a brand new dress, adjusted, pressed, completely re-adjusted in the best way, as if it fit even better. That turned out to be the wedding dress that was on my Pinterest board three years ago. It’s the dress of my dreams,” Crawley gushed.
“I have to say it’s all because of the owner, Rae. She picked out the dress and said, “Here, wear this.” And I was like, ‘Okay, I’ll wear everything!’ And it literally turns out to be true — it will make me cry,” the Californian said as her eyes began to water. “It is the most beautiful dress and it is better than I could have imagined. So, [I’m] still cry happy tears, but everything turns out as it should – and sometimes even better. Even when it seems like something isn’t right, I think it will work out better. It is running as it should be.”
With the replacement of her dress she has ‘something new’. She also showed her “something borrowed” and “something blue” on Saturday. She will be wearing a pair of diamond earrings on loan, and her handkerchief has the text ‘Happy Tears’ embroidered in blue thread.
“How cute is that handkerchief? I’m not gonna lie. When I opened that, I roared my eyes,” the hairdresser said via Instagram Story on Saturday. “I feel like I’m just super emotional right now because we’re getting married soon and it’s really everything I’ve ever dreamed of and better. And better. So I’m just so excited.”
Crawley and Dawkins quietly began dating in 2021, but did not make their relationship public until September 2022, a month before the CEO of Mascot Sports proposed.