On July 5 and 6 the industry’s leading bridal salon, The Bridal Connection, teamed up with nonprofit organization Brides Across America to help deliver dream wedding experiences by providing military brides across the country with free designer wedding gowns. This was the sixth annual event for Brides Across America, whose main goal is to help provide a dream wedding experience to military brides whose wedding plans were challenged due to military deployment.

In order to qualify for this event, a bride or the bride’s fiancé must be on active duty in the military and either currently deployed or deployed within the last five years to Iraq, Afghanistan, Bahrain, Libya or Japan. Identification and deployment papers must be presented at the event to qualify.

To date, Brides Across America has donated over 7,000 wedding gowns from high-end designers all over the country. The donated gowns range in price from $500 to $4,000.

“Our continued efforts as an organization are to bring awareness to our communities. My goals it to make sure we don’t forget all the servicemen and -women overseas fighting for our freedom,” said Heidi Janson, founder of Brides Across America.

For more information on how to get involved in future events, please contact The Bridal Connection at 515-964-5683, visit their website at www.bridalconnectiondsm.com or visit www.bridesacrossamerica.com directly for more on the Brides Across America organization.