A charity organization has come up with a novel idea to facilitate marriages for cash-strapped families. Wid Foundation is offering expensive wedding dresses and accessories at bargain-basement prices. “Expensive wedding dresses donated by women in Al-Khobar are sold for a few riyals and can also be purchased in installments,” said Na'eema Al-Zamil, Chairwoman of the Wid Foundation, who came up with the idea and set up a charity boutique, Al-Watan newspaper reported Friday. Al-Zamil wants to encourage needy families to marry their single daughters and sons without worrying about the expenses involved. Lolo'a Al-Rumaihi, who runs the boutique, said: “The boutique provided wedding accessories to 10 brides this year.” “The price of a wedding dress here is around SR300, but the original price was SR10,000. We also have over 70 types of purses, shoes, abayas and a variety of men's clothes.” Once the boutique receives a wedding dress from a donor, needy brides are contacted. They are also offered job opportunities at the boutique. “We create job opportunities for needy families,” she said. The boutique also has a section that lends wedding dresses free of charge, she explained. “We provide future brides who come from poor families with everything they need for their wedding, and they have to return what they borrowed when the wedding ends,” Al-Rumaihi said. A customer at the boutique said the prices were very affordable. She bought Chanel shoes for only SR140, while the original price was SR3,000. Saeeda Bajaber said she postponed her wedding twice because she couldn't afford a wedding dress. She decided to rent one, but that too was expensive – about SR2,000. She has now decided to buy her dress from Wid Foundation and pay in installments.
