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Date: 11/16/2022
ENFIELD, CT – For women who have experienced homelessness, dressing to the nines for a night out at a ball can seem out of reach. With the help of Going to the Chapel Dress Shop, however, women graduating from a transitional housing program in Springfield will have that experience.
Christina’s House is an organization that provides transitional housing for women and their children who are experiencing homelessness. The organization’s website states that participants are required to engage in an “educational program, gain employment and help maintain the home while working with teachers, mentors, and volunteers.”
Each year, to celebrate the organization’s work and raise money, Christina’s House hosts a gala and invites the women who have most recently completed the program. This is where Going to the Chapel Dress Shop comes in. The women are brought into the store for a private session in which they have “free rein” to choose and keep whatever dress they want.
“We try to make it a really special, personal experience,” said Ellen Humphries, owner of Going to the Chapel.
Humphries said this will be the third year her shop has partnered with Christina’s House. Humphries’s husband was the auctioneer at the ball one year and he helped make the connection.
The small business owner said she gets “pure joy” from the partnership. “Many of these women have never had a nice dress on, never mind a gorgeous gown,” she said. “The fact that it’s women helping women, the look on their faces, that transformation. They’ve had a hard life and to make them feel beautiful, even if it’s for one night.”
Humphries explained that she is very “particular” about the dresses she carries. “Our store is off the rack. Everything is new designs, 50 percent off,” Humphries said. The dresses run from size 000 to 30. Humphries said her plus size gowns are at the front of the store, in part she said, because she does not want women who wear larger sizes to feel as though they are being hidden away.
The designer gowns she carries are sourced in several ways, including wedding shops that are closing or over-ordered certain styles. Everything is new and wrapped in plastic bags. Going to the Chapel carries wedding gowns, bridesmaid’s dresses and attire for mothers-of-the-bride and -groom. She has whole families and wedding parties that will shop together. Additionally, the warehouse at the rear of the shop has recently been turned into a prom dress shop.
Humphries said she is interested in partnering with other local organizations in the future to help more women feel beautiful.
Going to the Chapel Dress Shop is located at 555 Enfield St., Enfield.