Honeymoon Heartache and Wedding Dress Drama: Bride’s Dress Stolen in Traverse City

A downstate bride honeymooning in northern Michigan says the celebration hit a snag when someone stole her wedding dress.

Fay Wilusz and her new husband Chris have no doubt been through a lot together. “We were friends for 11 years and we decided to start dating. And it worked out!”

And they made it official with a weekend wedding. “We decided to take our honeymoon in Traverse City, just to keep it local…. just the people there, I love a small town, we love going up north,” she says.

But splash in some honeymoon horror – where the mystery started. “I’m not going to lie, this whole incident kind of a put a damper on the whole Traverse City trip.”

She hung her hopes on northern Michigan for a memorable trip, and she hung her wedding dress “on the bathroom hook. I did that so the dress didn’t get wrinkled.”

From excitement to panic, their emotions were all over the place in just a few short days. Fay and Chris wanted a memorable time, but forgot the dress when they checked out of their room. “We left the hotel, I forgot the wedding dress. The next day, I go ‘Oh My God!’”

With plenty of photos to show what she was looking for, they went back to the hotel with fingers crossed. But the glorious gown was gone. “I will give the hotel a lot of credit. They did look, I think they did as much as they could do without accusing anyone of taking it.”

It was a tough start to the honeymoon. “That dress for me, it’s more sentimental… I just want my wedding dress. I think that’s how any bride would feel. It’s more sentimental than monetary value.”

But Fay says they didn’t let it ruin the whole vacation, and other than the missing dress caper, they had a great time. “That was the only part that was difficult. Every now and then we would randomly say ‘who would take a wedding dress?’ We’d be having the best time looking in shops and one of us would randomly say ‘I can’t believe someone would steal a wedding dress.’”

Despite the drama, Fay says they had a great trip, and they’ll be back. “We actually had a great time, I won money at the casino… this was the first time we actually spent all of our time in downtown Traverse and it was beautiful. We had the best time. It was the best place for honeymoon.”

Wilusz filed a police report and the Grand Traverse County Sheriff’s Office confirms they’re investigating.