WINSLOW — On what was supposed to be the happiest day of her life, Windsor bride Sara Norton, 31, lost a piece of family history.
Someone appears to have walked away with a bridal bouquet made of brooches from the wedding site of her and her husband, Josh Norton.
Additional Photos
The Nortons were married at 11 a.m. at the new gazebo outside the Winslow Town Office, last Saturday.
During the ceremony, Norton held a bouquet made up of 50 brooches, many of which had been contributed by three generations of family members, and friends.
“I carried it down the aisle with me and had it during the whole ceremony,” she said.
Her mother, grandmother, great-grandmother and great-aunt were all represented, as were the groom’s mother and two grandmothers, and other family members and friends, she said.
“I have two daughters and I was hoping to pass it down to them,” Norton said.
But once the ceremony ended, Norton put the bouquet on a bench while she and her husband posed for wedding photos. Amid all the excitement, she forgot to pick it up when she headed to the reception at the couple’s Windsor home.
Within an hour of the time the bouquet was left on the bench, frantic family members returned to recover it.
But it was gone.
“She cried and cried,” Laura Hall, Sara’s friend, said. “Then she had to set it aside, because she had a reception going on.”
At first, they hoped the bouquet would be handed in at the Town Office on Monday.
“It’s priceless to me, but it’s not valuable to anyone else,” Norton said. “It’s just costume jewelry. The brooches only cost about a dollar each.”
She estimated that she and Hall called the Town Office 20 times on Monday, without results.
“I wasn’t thinking that someone would just walk away with it,” Norton said. “If my kids found it, I would make them take it back.”
Now, she said, even though Hall continues to put up posters announcing the loss, her hopes of recovering her bouquet are fading.
She’s trying to take it in stride.
“It’s like bittersweet,” she said. “I’m extremely happy that I’m married and everything, but I’m also sad because I blame myself for leaving it.”
The Nortons asked that anyone with information about the missing bouquet to call 872-2776, extension 209.
Matt Hongoltz-Hetling — 861-9287
mhhetling@centralmaine.com
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.