Just weeks before a Virginia woman's wedding, UPS lost the dress of her dreams -- but it looks like this story now has a happy ending.
Elementary school teacher Mashaell Abedy couldn't believe her luck when she found a deeply discounted lace gown by her favorite bridal designer at a boutique in California.
"I never imagined I would find a dress like this," she said. "I've been obsessed with this designer since I was an undergrad."
As soon as Abedy put on the Zuhair Murad gown, she started to cry.
The plan was for the boutique to make alterations and ship Abedy the gown. But it never arrived.
U.S. & World
The online tracking for Abedy's dress showed it crisscrossed the country for nearly a month. It started out in California on Nov. 9, made its way to Virginia on Nov. 20 and then was declared lost. The record showed it then was shipped back to California, then to Maryland. Then, on Dec. 4, it was in Illinois.
Abedy estimates she spent two hours per day trying to track down the dress.
"I'd been getting the runaround," she said.
If UPS could find the dress in their Illinois facilities, she volunteered to fly out to get it herself.
"I'll go pick it up. I'll do your job for you," she said.
The good news is that Abedy got the $5,500 gown insured. The bad news is she said she can't find the same dress anywhere at this same sale price.
"I remain hopeful that I'll get it by my special day. We'll see," she said.
On Tuesday evening, after News4 called UPS, Abedy said she finally got the news she had been waiting for: she said a UPS manager apologized to her and said the dress would arrive in Virginia that night.
The manager promised to personally make sure the dress got to her as soon as possible and even offered to pay for any last-minute alterations.
On Wednesday morning, a UPS manager personally delivered the gown -- in a battered cardboard box -- to Abedy's parents' home in Fairfax.
Congratulations to the happy couple!