Daughter Surprises Mom by Trying on Her Decades-Old Wedding Dress, but It ‘Went Wrong’ (Exclusive)

A wedding dress is usually expected to stir tears of joy, but for Mildred and her mom, Wendy, it sparked an unforgettable viral twist that no one could have predicted. A simple TikTok video of Mildred slipping into her mother’s gown turned into a moment that struck millions with its honesty and humor.

“I thought the video would capture a sweet family moment,” Mildred tells PEOPLE. “I had a feeling she was not gonna cry, although that’s the reaction that I wanted,” she admits, laughing.

Instead of tears, Wendy’s reaction was candid and surprising. Looking at the gown she once wore down the aisle, she said bluntly that the dress was ugly.

She wasn’t criticizing her daughter, but the reaction was a result of Wendy’s mixed feelings about seeing the dress years after her divorce.

“The dress is something special, magical and unique… so difficult to get, the lace I wanted was special, the roses, each hand-picked pearl, I felt like a queen [with] just what I chose,” Wendy tells PEOPLE. She remembers how carefully she selected every detail, even perfuming the artificial roses with natural rose oil.

Her judgment in the video startled some viewers. Instead, she revealed how the wedding gown carried the weight of heartbreak and disappointment.

“No, I don’t really feel it’s ugly, I know it’s not ugly, I love my dress,” Wendy says. “I just didn’t see how beautiful it was, I saw what was behind that dress behind that date of my wedding day, not everything was bad, however the betrayal and disloyalty made me see it as something ugly.”

For Mildred, her mom’s reaction was not discouraging but instead created a new layer of connection to the gown. She felt proud to finally see and wear the piece of history she had only heard about.

“I [put] it on [with pride because I had never seen a dress like that before,” Mildred says. “That was actually the first time I had seen my mom’s wedding dress in person.”

She admires its craftsmanship and originality, noting how different it feels compared to modern gowns. “It’s just beautiful and it’s handmade and everything’s sewn on, like it’s just not hard glue like most wedding dresses do nowadays,” she says.

What made the TikTok so memorable for viewers was Wendy’s brutal honesty. Mildred explains that she never expected the video to spread so far. She only hoped to share a fun, personal moment, not create a viral video.

Wendy admits she was stunned to see the attention it received. “I had no idea that Mildred would upload it to TikTok. I know she loves to make videos, but I didn’t expect her to upload it publicly. Of course, I was very surprised by people’s reaction,” she says.

At first, Wendy says she felt embarrassed for calling her dress ugly. “That feeling was something so natural that I didn’t even think about it, I never thought it would reach so many views and reactions,” she explains.

But the reaction from strangers quickly softened that embarrassment. Thousands of people jumped into the comments to defend the gown and declare its beauty.

“Because in reality my dress is beautiful and because people, especially women, are very emotional and we romanticize a lot that moment of life, the wedding, the wedding dress that the daughter wears and can wear it at her wedding. It [should] have been a reaction of tenderness, happiness, tears… but oh, it was the opposite,” Wendy reflects. She laughs now, realizing the video’s charm was rooted in flipping expectations upside down.

The outpouring of love made her reconsider how she saw the gown. “That they were right, my dress is really beautiful, at the time it was my most beautiful illusion, and although now I don’t have such beautiful memories, the dress was and will continue to be beautiful,” she says.

Wendy even jokes about the gown’s new notoriety. “And of course I would be willing to sell it if someone wanted to buy it. I can even auction it as the ugly wedding dress that is part of a viral TikTok,” she says with a laugh.

For Mildred, the real treasure wasn’t the viral fame but the connection it sparked with her mom. “Me and my mom used to not be as close as we are now… now I can probably say she’s my best friend, she’s the person I can count on, I can tell everything to, sometimes I don’t see her as my mom, I see her as my best friend,” Mildred says.

Their closeness shows in their shared humor. “We have a very dark humor, but that’s because we’ve learned to sometimes not take things too hard and too serious because you only live once,” she shares.

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For Wendy, her daughter’s strength continues to amaze her. “My relationship with Mildred is very special. I always wanted to overprotect her because she seemed very fragile to me since she was little, until she showed me how strong she was every day she grew up,” she tells PEOPLE.