Planning a wedding can be stressful and expensive. But this weekend in South Florida, many brides-to-be are shopping for their dresses and giving money to fight cancer at the same time.
All of the dresses in the Monte Carlo Ballroom in Miami's Sofitel Hotel are discounted and donated – starting as low as $99 and as high as $3,500. Some of them are even custom made. After they're paid for, 80 percent of that money will go to help cancer patients and their families.
It's just one stop in a nationwide tour for the group called Brides Against Breast Cancer.
"It's very womanly oriented," Mya Widmyer with Brides Against Breast Cancer said. "Every woman grows up dreaming of their dream gown, their dream wedding. And this is just a way to really relate to that."
It wasn't the 1,000 dresses to choose from that brought out Uriel Blouskos. It was the cause.
"My mother-in-law, future mother-in-law, just survived breast cancer," Blouskos said. "She is still going through radiation, but she just finally beat it and she's cancer-free as of a month ago, so this means a lot to me."
Friday night was one night out of a year that brings in 2 million dollars – one wedding dress at a time.
The charity gown sale continues Saturday at Sofitel Miami, 5800 Blue Lagoon Drive, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
For more information, log onto www.BridesAgainstBreastCancer.org.