Handmade Indonesian wedding dress stolen from Morningside Heights apartment building just weeks before couple’s big day

NEW YORK — A one-of-its-kind wedding dress was stolen after delivery and a Manhattan couple is on a mission to get it back.

Doing their own investigating, they found video of what appears to be someone ripping open the package and taking the dress, CBS2’s Jenna DeAngelis reported Wednesday.

“We’re getting married on June 5,” Heti Rukmana said.

Rukmana and Danny Kelly’s big day is around the corner.

“So excited,” she said.

“From the moment we decided that we were going to get married, the first phone call she made was to her cousin to start her dream wedding dress,” Kelly added.

A traditional handmade Indonesian wedding dress to be precise, which her cousin worked on for months in Indonesia.

“We designed together, me and her. It was supposed to be perfect,” Rukmana said.

It was delivered to the couple’s Morningside Heights apartment on Monday afternoon. The shipping company sent a photo confirming the bright yellow box was delivered to their door.

“When we got in the lobby the packages were not in front of our door like they normally would be,” Kelly said.

So they went outside and searched along the street and in trash cans. The box was eventually found and right above it was a surveillance camera. They got ahold of the footage, which appears to show someone with the package of sentimental value.

“He sat down, ripped open the box, got up and put the empty box in this garbage,” Kelly said.

“I was crying. I was like, ‘Oh my God, he doesn’t even know what this means to me,'” Rukmana said.

DeAngelis spoke to other neighbors on the block off camera who said their packages have also been stolen and that kind of crime is a problem in the area.

“Just from our own knowledge and all of my friends that live in the city and don’t have doorman buildings, it’s a big problem,” Kelly said.

The couple filed a police report, hopeful the dress will turn up.

“We still have a chance to get it back because he didn’t destroy it. He put it in his backpack,” Kelly said.

“What would it mean to you to wear that dress on June 5?” DeAngelis asked.

“It’s gonna be a miracle,” Rukmana said.

Which would turn this wedding nightmare into a happily ever after.

The couple says after getting their marriage license Wednesday they were going to check local thrift shops. They’re hoping the person tried to sell the dress and they can retrieve it.

Jenna DeAngelis

Jenna DeAngelis is an Emmy award winning journalist. She joined CBS2 News as a general assignment reporter in March 2018.