A Pop-Up Bridal Salon With a Charitable Mission

On most days, a law office an hour north of Washington, D.C., is just that — a quiet place where contracts are signed and legal disputes are settled. But on Friday and Saturday mornings, Susan Jamison, 69, transforms it into a pop-up bridal salon.

Racks of wedding dresses emerge from closets and storage areas, mirrors are trotted out and discussion of lawsuits is replaced by debates about necklines and veils. If the office lacked the dramatic luxury of a bridal boutique, it nevertheless served the same purpose, for a fraction of the price.

The office in Dickerson, Md., borrowed from Ms. Jamison’s son, Charlie Jamison, a real estate lawyer and broker, serves as the periodic home of Brides for Haiti, which Ms. Jamison started in 2011 and now donates thousands of dollars — 40 percent of its annual revenue — for relief efforts each year in Carcasse, a village on Haiti’s western coast that was devastated, like much of the country, by Hurricane Matthew in 2016. The proceeds fund infrastructure and other projects, including a two-story schoolhouse, internet service, drinking water wells and a medical clinic with a doctor on staff.

Both the bridal and charitable side of the operation are overseen by St. Mary’s, a Catholic church in Barnesville, Md., which entered into a formal philanthropic arrangement, known in Catholicism as “twinning” with St. Joseph’s Church in Carcasse in 2008.

Brides for Haiti sells designer dresses — both worn and new, and mostly donated — all for under $1,000. Last year it sold 96 dresses at an average price of $639 per dress, Ms. Jamison said, with another 15 sold on consignment. Her current collection includes dresses from Vow’d, Justin Alexander, Stella York and Morilee, among other well-known bridal brands. (Fittings are by appointment only.)

Ms. Jamison, who runs the salon with her daughter Laura Wright, spoke to The New York Times from the second floor of the law office, as a bride-to-be tried on dresses on the first floor.

The interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

How did Brides for Haiti get its start?

Years ago, we first twinned with Carcasse, we were looking for ways to make money, and I suggested wedding dresses. At that time, it didn’t go over well. I think they thought I wanted to send wedding dresses to Haiti. It wasn’t very clear. So then I said, ‘Well, why don’t we just accept donations and send them out for consignment?,’ and that’s what we did.

How did you sell the donated wedding gowns?

We found a really good consignment shop in West Virginia. They let their customers know that the wedding gown sales were helping St. Mary’s twin parish in Haiti. They also mentioned that a local magazine ran several articles on how their sales of wedding gowns helped Haiti. My daughter Laura actually donated her wedding dress to St. Mary’s a couple of years before she was on our staff and it was sold by this West Virginia shop.

And then one New Year’s Eve, a poor little drunk sat on their doorstep with a cigarette, and that was all she wrote. The building was old, and that was the end of it. The place burned down.

How did you recover after the fire?

Laura got interested and said, ‘Let’s do something more with this.’ So she came in and we started doing shows. We sold gowns at a Maryland hotel, a Virginia hotel, and twice in a gymnasium at St. Mary’s.

Our dresses were so gorgeous, and our prices at that time were so low. At our January 2018 sale in the St. Mary’s gymnasium, we sold dresses for $150 —- nothing over $150. We sold 69 dresses in one day. One bride couldn’t make up her mind between two gowns and I said, ‘At our prices, you might as well buy both,’ and she did!

These events were a tremendous amount of work, hauling gowns and setting up, so we only did it four times. They were each pretty much a madhouse.

Did you eventually move to a permanent space?

We had a really beautiful space. My husband’s family owns an office building in Frederick, Md., and he was able to convince his brothers and sisters to let us use it. We were in an office building for six years until they rented our space. We lost all of it in June 2023 and moved here.

How has it been selling wedding gowns out of a law office?

Its been great — it is an unusual but elegant look for a bridal shop, and of course we love paying no rent. My husband used his woodworking talents and furniture skills to make the law office beautiful for our son Charlie. Frequently, our brides or their moms tell us how much they like the distinctive and elegant woodwork and furniture.

No bridal items are in Charlie’s office and if we move the two veil racks in the adjoining room and close certain doors, you wouldn’t even know we are there.

Every gown in your boutique is under $1,000. How do you curate such stylish yet budget-friendly options?

We’ve actually pared down our dresses to our very best dresses. The prices are still really good. Nothing is over $999, and we have a lot at $499, and some less than that.

I’ve bought dresses in very large sizes and very small sizes to make sure we have inventory for everyone who walks in this door. I buy almost all the gowns on eBay and a few on Facebook Marketplace. We don’t have to buy much because our donors are so generous.

Shipping and advertising are our biggest expenses.

I read that somebody donated a $25,000 dress.

Kleinfeld’s donated fabulously expensive dresses. One was like $27,000. Another one was $18,000, from Pnina Tornai.

How do people know to donate to you?

Laura has some really great donors she’s established in Virginia. She gets fantastic donations from Ava Laurenne, which is a very well-known store, and a consignment store that consigns mostly for wedding dress shops that is called Blue Sage.

We’ve also gotten beautiful donations from shops around the country. Marcella’s Bridal in Washington State, they have sent us beautiful dresses. We have a lady going out of business in Texas who is sending us about 100 dresses. We don’t know how many of them are going to be on our racks.

Forty percent of your revenue supports Haiti. Can you tell us more about how you are helping the country and why this cause is so close to your heart?

We each feel very connected to the people of Carcasse and the plights they have suffered. Just since we started twinning with them, they have endured two hurricanes, a terrible earthquake and several serious illness outbreaks. Now they are dealing with a very dangerous social and political climate. We want to help them. Also, we at the shop love working with the brides. They are fun, and it is very entertaining. It is a win-win situation for everyone involved.

How do you help brides connect with the mission behind their gown?

A few of our brides have done mission work in Haiti or in other parts of the world. They are always very excited to be helping Haiti with their purchase.

What’s next for your salon?

We are going to start offering wedding dress rentals so brides who fall in love with one of our $999 gowns but can’t afford it, can still wear it on their special day.