Free wedding gowns are going to Bay area medical workers on the frontlines of the coronavirus pandemic, as a way to say thank you.


What You Need To Know

  • The Regent event venue is taking nominations for the more than 30 gowns to give away

  • Nominations are being accepted until September 15

  • To nominate a Bay area health care worker, contact The Regent through email or call 813-571-2494

The Regent event venue is taking nominations for the more than 30 gowns to give away. Some of them are demo dresses, some of them still have the tags on them.

Shannon Keil, CEO of the Regent helped bride-to-be Devyn Northe pick out the perfect wedding gown.

"Anything that just looks good on me, I don’t have a specific style," said Northe.  "I’m usually pretty simple to pick out for."

Keil fits her brides with joy and gratitude.

"What better way to say thank you than use these dresses and give them to them," said Keil.

The thank you is to medical workers on the frontlines of the pandemic.

"They’re out there everyday, they’re out there taking care of us, they’re out there taking care of our family members,” said Keil.

Keil thought the dresses would be a great way to show gratitude.

"There’s couture, there’s more Grecian, there’s more simple, there’s some $3,000 couture dresses," said Keil. "Everything from 0 to size 24.”

Credit: MEFMEDIA

The giveaway is open to Bay area medical workers. You must be nominated.

Northe is a surgical nurse at Brandon Regional Hospital. Her floor also cares for COVID-19 patients.

"It means so much, you wouldn’t ever know. When you’re trying to plan something like a wedding and it’s so stressful and then you’re being a COVID nurse on top of it, it’s a lot and there’s no way you can ever thank somebody for something like that, " said Northe. "That’s one of the most expensive parts of a wedding.”

Nurses like Northe would impact Keil personally.

"I recently got out of the hospital with COVID pneumonia and acute respiratory failure and a local hospital here saved my life," said Keil.

Keil's doctors told her she's lucky to be alive.

"Whoever your higher power is, is walking you out of here he said because we don’t know, a miracle just happened," said Keil.

Helping health care workers find then give them the dress of their dreams, now has new meaning.

"How can you say thank you when someone has saved your life, as many of them as I can thank," said Keil. "I’m going to because that’s how I’m going to bless them for how much they’ve blessed me.”

Blessings are felt on both sides.

"It brings so much joy, I don’t have to work overtime for a dress, I don’t have to worry, I don’t have any of that worry and they’re beautiful dresses," said Northe.

Now to decide between the beautiful dresses.

"They deserve it, they are walking in shoes that we couldn’t even understand," said Keil.

Northe hopes to walk down the aisle in one of them.

"Have that one special moment when she walks and he sees her and she’s everything he’s ever waiting and wished for, I have it on the rack.. I have her story and so I’m ready for her to have it."

Devyn and Matt will marry in the fall of 2022.

"We’re going to give them a little joy in a time that is hard to find it right now," said Keil.

Nominations are being accepted until September 15. To nominate a Bay area health care worker, contact The Regent through email or call 813-571-2494. Include name, facility where the person work, their phone number and an essay of 500 words or less about why the person should be nominated.

Nominee should include their contact information, too.