Bar owner uses Facebook to reunite bride and dress
MIAMI -- So a bride walks into a bar ...
Except it was no joke to German newlywed Sandra Scharf when she entered the Rum Barrel Bar in Key West earlier this week looking for her wedding dress.
It ended happily, however, thanks to some fast thinking by local bar owner David Thibault and the wonders of social media.
Around noon Tuesday, the co-owner of Key West's popular Island Dogs Bar was standing outside his watering hole when two tourists ran up carrying a garment bag they said had just fallen off an SUV.
Thibault unzipped the bag and saw white lace.
"I opened it up and said, Oh my God," Thibault told The Associated Press. "If they're going to be married, they're going to need this."
Thibault thought about calling the police but instead posted a note about the dress on Island Dogs Facebook page, asking patrons to repost. He also Tweeted the message.
Meanwhile, Scharf and her new husband Michael were on their way to catch a flight out of Ft. Myers with their 8-month-old twins, when they realized they'd lost the dress and headed back to Key West. The couple married on Captiva Island Aug. 22 and had honeymooned in the Keys.
"My husband put it on top of the car when we were loading the trunk of the car. We forgot it was on top of the car," Scharf said from her home in Hamburg, Germany, on Friday. "We started to drive, and it fell off."
By then Scharf was in tears and husband Mike was in the dog house. The couple were organizing a Nov. 2 reception in Germany, and Scharf had planned to wear her wedding dress.
The couple searched the streets with no luck. Scharf said her husband even offered to get her a new dress.
That's when they walked into the Rum Barrel with a $500 reward note.
Julie Lynch was waiting tables and recalls a frantic Scharf handing her the note and uttering one phrase: "Wedding dress."
"I said, "Oh, I know where it is. I saw it on Facebook this morning,'" Lynch said and sent the couple to Island Dogs.
Minutes later, Scharf returned triumphant with the dress.
"They just hugged and kissed and then they were gone," said Lynch.
"Everyone was so excited for us. It was really cute," Scharf said of the patrons at Island Dogs.
Thibault declined the reward.
"You never know what people do with something like that," Scharf added. "It's nice to see people are honest."
