Clare Crawley Wears 'Dream' Replacement Wedding Dress After Her First Gown Was Stolen — See Her Look!

The Bachelorette star married Mascot Sports CEO Ryan Dawkins in an intimate ceremony in Sacramento, California, on Wednesday

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Published on February 2, 2023 05:00 PM

Clare Crawley Wedding — Clare Crawley. Photo: Elizabeth Warrick

Clare Crawley turned a wedding nightmare into a beautiful fairy tale.

Just days before her Feb. 1 wedding to Mascot Sports CEO Ryan Dawkins, the former Bachelorette revealed her wedding dress was stolen from her car in an Instagram Story.

Uncertain what to do, she went to Flares Bridal, the bridal shop where she'd purchased her dress and where her wedding veil was still waiting to be picked up, and explained what happened. After hearing her story, the store's owner swung into quick action to help fix the situation.

"Basically, within three days, I got a brand-new dress altered, pressed, completely altered again in the best way, like even more fitting," Crawley detailed in an Instagram story a couple days before her wedding.

She then added a final surprise twist regarding her replacement gown: "Turns out, that was the wedding dress that was on my Pinterest board three years ago. It's the dress of my dreams."

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Getting emotional in the video, Crawley extended her deepest appreciation and gratitude for the shop owner, who took it upon herself to re-create an even better version of her "dream" wedding dress.

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"She actually picked the dress out and was like, 'Here wear this one.' And I was like, 'Okay, I'll wear anything!' " she said. "And it literally turns out ... it's the most beautiful dress, and it's better than I could have imagined."

"[I'm] still crying happy tears," Crawley noted.

On her Instagram Story Saturday — just five days before her wedding — the former Bachelorette told the entire wild tale of how the gown went missing, and why she believes "everything is for a reason."

"I trust to the depths of my soul that everything is for a reason. And we might not know what that reason looks like right now but it works out. So let me tell you what happened," Crawley, 41, related in one video.

"When Ryan and I got back from Hawaii at the beginning of this week, my car had been broken into while we were gone. And guess what was in the car? Keep in mind my wedding is very soon," the reality star reminded her followers.

She then dropped the shocking news: "My wedding dress was in my car! It was in there because I was supposed to take it to get its last alteration and I wanted to remind myself not to forget it. And my wedding dress was taken."

"In the moment, I was like 'Ughhhhh, what do I do?' And I thought, 'It's okay. It's about the moment and what we're celebrating," Crawley told herself. "'I can wear anything, and I'll be happy that we're getting married.' "

The reality TV star got a happy ending: Crawley married Dawkins in an intimate ceremony in Sacramento, California, on Feb. 1.

"If I had to do this day over every single day for the rest of my life… I wouldn't change a thing! says Crawley told PEOPLE. "Happiest day of my life hands down!"