On their first date, Kelly Anne Ferraro selected a velvet dress so her partner, who is blind, could feel her outfit instead of seeing it.
It was a thoughtful gesture that her future husband – Paralympian, musician, and motivational speaker Anthony Ferraro – appreciated more than she knew. So when it came time to plan their wedding a few years later, Kelly Anne worked with a designer to create the perfect tactile dress for their special day!
The New Jersey bride-to-be worked with Loulette Bridal, a sustainable bridal boutique in Brooklyn, New York. Together, they came up with many subtle ways to delight Anthony, adding velvet strips and soft cotton flowers to the sleeveless gown. The tactile additions served their intended purpose.
When Anthony felt the dress as they stood at the altar, he said his “mind was blown,” and he immediately started to cry.
“It had a velvet strip around it and these lace things. Embroidered flowers from a soft cotton. Her back even had a texture. To top it all off, she surprised me with this amazing custom jacket she put on later and had this crazy fringe hanging off her arms,” he said. “It reminded me of our first date.”
“Tactile stuff is really big to me. It creates an image of what you look like in my head. Kelly looked like an angel,” he added.
Anthony remembers their first date like it was yesterday. They met through Kelly Anne’s sister, who was dating one of Anthony’s close friends. He asked Kelly Anne to be his date to the premier of the documentary made about his life as a blind athlete called “A Shot in the Dark.” When he felt the velvet dress she wore just for him, he was smitten!
“I never told her anything. She went above and beyond and thought it through. No one has ever done that for me,” he said. Years later, Kelly Anne chose the perfect day to surprise Anthony again.
While he couldn’t see their big day, Anthony still enjoys audio recordings of the event. One of his favorite memories is listening to the moment Kelly Anne first put on the dress she’d designed just for him.
“When she put it on, she started ugly crying, so I started crying listening to the video,” he recalled. “It was the perfect dress.”
What a sweet thing to do! Kelly Anne manages to make Anthony’s blindness feel like a “non-issue,” yet she’s always finding ways to let him fully experience their life together.
See more of their special day in the video below, and share this story to wish the newlyweds well as they embark on their newest adventure together.
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