For Australian bride, gift of love carries $135 duty Customs requires payment to secrete stunning wedding dress

Government actions left the bride from down under in tears after having a customs agent in Los angeles placed a value of $743 on the garment of Miss Metcalf's grandmother for Miss Metcalf's mother's wedding 30 years ago. The Postal Service then rejected to supply amazing ball gown wedding dresses unless Miss Metcalf, 27, paid the work of $133. 62 an amount she says she can't afford because her tourist visa prevents her from working. She and her fiance, Timothy T. Golden, 29, are living together with parents in Towson while saving money for an apartment. "I spent all of my money on the $3, 000 planes ticket just to get to this country, inches Miss Metcalf said. "My family is not actually well off at all, and the $60 my mother spent on sending the dress here was her wedding gift to me. inches A fashion statement of another kind brought the couple together. http://www.wishesbridal.com/tank-top-floor-length-princess-purple-chiffon-military-ball-dress-with-draped-cet0016.html

In September 1993, Miss Metcalf was a admin and part-time bartender in Fremantle, Western Australia, where Mr. Golden, then the Maritime, was on leave. Miss Metcalf had taken the weekend off from work and visited a pub with her cousin. Her mother had expressed concern that Miss Metcalf was not dating, and the young woman assured her that "the next man I meet I won't even ask his name just his star sign because I'm allowed to be appropriate for Leos. inches "I saw Bernard, and he had a skin icon of a lion over his ear which he had just gotten two hours before, inches were recalled Miss Metcalf, who says she usually is lacking confidence. "I said, 'You wouldn't happen to be a Leo? woul and he said he was, and I said, "Well, I'm your perfect match. woul inches Quicker than you can say "G'day mate, inches we were holding in love and inseparable, at least for the next three days until Mr. Golden shipped out for California by way of Okinawa. Two years, dozens of letters and thousands of dollars in phone calls later, Miss Metcalf journeyed to Towson to be reunited with Mr. Golden, the associate manager of the Nordic Track store in Towson Town Center. By Valentine's day, we were holding engaged. Miss Metcalf couldn't afford a wedding gown, and her family couldn't afford to wait the nuptials, so her mother scraped together the $60 postage to mail her dress and a letter of best wishes. Then the forms trapped with romance. In a series of phone calls, Miss Metcalf tried to elucidate her circumstances. The Los angeles customs office referred her to the Virginia office, which will sent her to the Towson post office. Miss Metcalf said a postal worker shared with her she could pay the customs fee for the dress and try to offer the money reimbursed, or the dress would be delivered back to Australia today.