A woman thrifted her wedding gown for just $25 - and redesigned it into her dream dress.

Adrian Bradley, 26, had tried on "60 dresses" trying to find the perfect one before she spotted the handmade silk gown in a thrift store."

The dress was covered in yellow stains but Ashley decided to buy the $25 gown and bring it back to life.

She spent the next six months cleaning it, sourcing material and going to the tailor - costing $3,305.

Adrian added detachable sleeves, lace and a drop pearl and said it was "perfect" on the day."

Adrian, who works in marketing, from Berkley, California, US, said: "I loved being able to bring it back to life and take it out of the corner of a thrift store."

"I loved having someone's history with me on my wedding day."

"When I had it on the wedding I just felt it was everything I want it to be."

"It was beautiful."

Adrian had always dreamed of making her own wedding dress as a child but after getting engaged in December 2022 she started hunting for dresses.

She said: "I always dreamed of making my own dress when I was in elementary."

"I never considered it when I got engaged."

"It seemed like so much work."

Adrian went wedding shopping a few times but struggled to find the right dress.

She said: "I had tried on like 60 dresses but I didn't really fall in love with any of them."

"I found one I really liked but it was double my budget."

Adrian was about to put a deposit down on the $8,000 dress but something stopped her.

She said: "It felt like a lot of money for one day."

Adrian went shopping to her favourite thrift store in her hometown of Dallas, Texas to help her sister-in-law Madeline Jennings, 27, find a secondhand dress for her wedding in September 2023.

But she ended up stumbling on a dress for herself instead.

She said: "She loved the idea of secondhand dress."

"We both saw the dress and she said 'you have to put it on'."

"I told her I had a dress but she wouldn't let me not put it on."

"It was on sale. It was $25."

"It was the drop waist that was the first thin that caught my eye."

"A lot of deigns like that are $15,000."

"I thought I could turn it into something similar."

The dress was stained and discoloured but Adrian saw the potential in the handmade 100 per cent silk gown.

Adrian said: "It was in a pretty rough state."

"My mum said I was crazy."

"We just saw it had good potential."

Adrian sent it to be cleaned which got out most of the stains but didn't remove the marks on the underarm of the dress.

She spent time trying to draw out designs but decided to keep the dress simple and sourced material to cover the stains.

She added some lace trim and roping around the drop waist.

Adrian said: "I didn't know what this dress was going to be when it was done."

"I was nervous."

She spent months tweaking it - even adding a pearl on the morning of her wedding in June 2024.

She said: "I love the drop pearl"

- I feel it brought the whole dress together.

"I found it randomly on eBay as part of a broach."

"I love antiques and history."

"I felt it was perfect."

"I really have loved the bones of the dress."

Her husband Ryan Jennings, 26, who works in tech sales, "loved" the secondhand dress."

She said: "He didn't see it until the wedding day."

"He kept saying 'she designed this dress' to everyone."

"He loved it."

Adrian hasn't yet decided if she is going to sell the dress on and recycle it again or keep it as she has become "attached" but she encourages others to consider buying secondhand."

She said: "If you do - start as early as you can - it's such a game of chance."

"Find something that resonated with the core structure of the dress."