Bride Who Lost Her Home In Valley Fire Gets Big Surprise When Shopping For Dress

MIDDLETOWN (CBS13) — A bride was ready to push back her wedding plans after the Valley Fire destroyed her home, but it was a trip to a bridal boutique and a story that caught the attention of an entire community that drastically changed her plans.

The call from Rachel Lemon's fiancé was hard for her to comprehend.

"'The house is gone; my car is gone; I'm OK,'" she said. "At first, I thought he was joking because I didn't think it could be true.:

But it was. Their home in Middletown burned after the Valley Fire swept in. Her fiance barely made it out alive. Then more bad news—her mother lost her house too.

Living in a tent on her mother-in-law's front yard, Rachel wasn't going to keep an appointment at Starlet Bridal in Santa Rosa but her mother insisted.

"It seems silly to think about spending money on a wedding when everyone has lost so much," she said.

While trying on gowns, store owner Allison Hargrave-Barnard learned about what happened, and she hatched a plan.

"I immediately said to the mom the dress is on me have your daughter pick out whatever she wants and we immediately all started to cry," she said.

But that was just the beginning.

"I went in the backroom and standing by my ironing board I'm calling everyone I know in the county that works in the wedding profession," she said.

She wanted a complete wedding for the bride.

"I called a photographer, a jeweler, a baker; everyone you could possibly want," she said.

Flowers, champagne, wine a DJ even a place to honeymoon in Cancun. Everybody she asked said yes and she was not surprised.

Fiancé Dan Tyrell says he and his bride were just happy to get out of the fire alive and were planning a simple courthouse wedding. He was stunned all these people were lining up to help.

Just days after a fire that devastated her family, her friends and her community she says she will never forget this wedding gift and the generosity of complete strangers.

The couple plans to rebuild and stay in Middletown. Their wedding is set for next summer.