- Shelley, owner of Becker’s Bridal, on a stack of wedding gowns with her trusty measuring tape.
![Becker’s Bridal, a mainstay on Fowler’s Main Street since 1934 Becker’s Bridal, a mainstay on Fowler’s Main Street since 1934](wp-content/uploads/2011/12/281.jpg)
Becker’s Bridal, a mainstay on Fowler’s Main Street since 1934
![The Magic Room The Magic Room](wp-content/uploads/2011/12/2.jpg)
The Magic Room
![You can see why they call it The Magic Room! You can see why they call it The Magic Room!](wp-content/uploads/2011/12/3a.jpg)
You can see why they call it The Magic Room!
![Shelley Becker Mueller, current owner of Becker’s Shelley Becker Mueller, current owner of Becker’s](wp-content/uploads/2011/12/3.jpg)
Shelley Becker Mueller, current owner of Becker’s
![Grandma Eva, the founder of Becker’s Bridal, and her husband Frank. Grandma Eva, the founder of Becker’s Bridal, and her husband Frank.](wp-content/uploads/2011/12/9.jpg)
Grandma Eva, the founder of Becker’s Bridal, and her husband Frank.
![The current staff at Becker’s The current staff at Becker’s](wp-content/uploads/2011/12/1IMG_9705or4x6.jpg)
The current staff at Becker’s
![“Trashing the Dress,” as described in The Magic Room. “Trashing the Dress,” as described in The Magic Room.](wp-content/uploads/2011/12/34.jpg)
“Trashing the Dress,” as described in The Magic Room.
![The Hansen girls all vowed to save their kisses for the men they’d marry. The Hansen girls all vowed to save their kisses for the men they’d marry.](wp-content/uploads/2011/12/11.jpg)
The Hansen girls all vowed to save their kisses for the men they’d marry.
- Becker’s Bridal is in an old bank that went under during the Depression.
- Fowler, Michigan, is a town with 1,100 residents – and 2,500 wedding dresses.
- Sharon and Clark Becker, Shelley’s parents, ran the store for decades.
- Shelley, the current owner, began working at Becker’s at age fourteen.
- Julie and Jeff were married in 1987. They have five children.
- The Hansen sisters and their mother, Lynn.
- The Otto sisters pose as Charlie’s Angels.
- Jennifer and Matthew on their wedding day, with Victoria
- Shelley’s daughter Alyssa (front row, on left, in black dress) is the fourth generation in the Becker family to work at the store. She used a cropped version of this bouquet-toss photo as her Facebook profile picture.
- Danielle’s relationship with her grandmother, Cynda, unfolds in the book
- Meredith, Ron and their mostly middle-aged bridal party
- The pedestal in The Magic Room
- Meredith as a young career woman in Japan in 1992. She’d finally marry at age forty.
- Ashley and her fiancé Drew. Ashley left rural Michigan behind and traveled the world.
- Danielle and her fiancé, Brian. He whispered words about her mother at their first dance.
- Erika and her new husband Reuben, an Iraq war veteran. She kept her promise and saved herself for him.
- Shane and Megan got married in the wake of an accident.
- When Courtney married John, she welcomed his two kids into her life.
- Julie and her new husband, Dean. An emotional second marriage for both.
- Shelley, owner of Becker’s Bridal, on a stack of wedding gowns with her trusty measuring tape.
Many thanks to Kelly Lynne Burke for photos of Becker’s Bridal and “Trashing The Dress”
More of her photos at: www.kellylynnephotography.com
(Photo of bouquet toss by Benjamin David Photography www.benjaminfriedkin.com)