She didn't get her SUV or her wedding dress back, but the bride-to-be couldn't be happier.
Christina Xelowski-Burns said the kindness of strangers will bring her May 10 nuptials within budget.
The best news is that she'll wear a brand-new wedding gown she describes as more perfect than the first one.
Xelowski-Burns' nightmare began the afternoon of April 6 when she was shopping at the Tucson Mall. Someone found or stole the keys to her white 2005 Ford Explorer. The person then stole the vehicle along with its contents, which included an engraved watch for Xelowski-Burns' fiancé and, most important, her satin-and-lace wedding dress.
She was distraught by the loss of her dress, which she said took months to find and weeks after that to be fitted. She was also worried about expensive deductibles to replace the car and its contents.
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But media reports of the theft brought an outpouring of support, said Xelowski-Burns, 30, a Vail resident who works for FedEx Freight.
Xelowski-Burns and her fiancé, Joseph Mele, who works for Citigroup, say they have received discounts from many of those involved with the wedding, including the photographer, the bartender and the florist.
The most meaningful response came from Joyce Feickert, owner of the local Hem & Her boutique, who gave Xelowski-Burns a mermaid-style, strapless wedding gown made of satin from Spain that's more beautiful than anything she could have imagined, she said.
"Hem & Her were a godsend," she said. "I think the dress must be worth, I don't know, thousands of dollars, but they just gave it to me. They understood the heartbreak of finding the right gown and having it altered and altered.
"Normally, I would have never thought to look for my dress here. I couldn't have afforded it. I'm just a young person trying to make it."
Xelowski-Burns said she and her fiancé are feeling much better about their upcoming wedding. The invitations say "Happily Ever After," — a prophecy she's certain will come true.
They've replaced their stolen car with a 2004 Saturn sedan and are looking forward to hosting 120 guests at the Z Mansion to celebrate their marriage.
The couple met three years ago on the telephone. Xelowski-Burns was working at AOL and Mele called to cancel his account.
"I love Joey. It seemed bad when the vehicle and the dress were stolen, but it was never a sign we shouldn't be married," she said. "I also don't have any anger towards the person who stole my car. He was obviously a person in need."
Perhaps if the thief had known the magnitude of what he'd taken, he wouldn't have stolen the dress, Xelowski-Burns said she likes to think.
"Had I been present and he asked me for the keys I would have said, 'Take it, just leave my dress,' " she said.
"The wedding dress is something that most women have dreamed about since they were little girls playing house and dreaming about that pretty dress, that special day, that man who could steal her heart even more than her father. … felt violated as a woman that he took my dress."
DID YOU KNOW
The top five locations in Tucson for stolen vehicles in 2007:
1. Tucson Mall, 4500 N. Oracle Road. Cars stolen: 45
2. Park Place mall, 5870 E. Broadway. Cars stolen: 44
3. The Woods at Midvale Park Apartments, 1970 W. Valencia Road. Cars stolen: 41
4. Wal-Mart, 1650 W. Valencia Road. Cars stolen: 41
5. Tierra Bonita Apartments, 175 W. Valencia Road. Cars stolen: 38
Source: Tucson Police Department
