Teachers Wear Their Old Wedding Dresses for School's Dress-Up Day: 'We Followed the Assignment'

Two Nevada art teachers aced their school's dress-up day — while enjoying a little wedding nostalgia along the way!

Loreal Hemenway and Stephanie Osmundson of Henderson received an email from their school administration asking them to dress according to a "Back of the Closet" theme for an upcoming staff development day, per a video post that the pair shared on Instagram under their joint account Happily Ever Elementary. The women immediately embraced the theme and came up with the perfect idea for their looks.

"The idea came to mind that we should dig truly to the backends of our closets and wear our wedding gowns to school," Hemenway told Business Insider, noting that their coworkers wore more expected items like letterman jackets and sports jerseys.

In their video, which quickly went viral, the women can be seen arriving at work proudly rocking their formal dresses — only this time, instead of veils they accessorized with backpacks and colorful insulated water cups. Hemenway's gown featured a glittery sweetheart bodice and a voluminous tulle skirt, while Osmundson's had a trumpet-style silhouette and a jeweled belt around the waist.

Their colleagues can be heard reacting with laughter and cheers as they strolled through the building in their fancy bridal attire.

"We were very nervous and anxious about what it would look like when we walked into our staff," Hemenway recalled to the outlet. "So we waited until the room was pretty full before we walked in, and we were only met with laughs and smiles, which was great."

"There's always a little bit of a shock value to everything, but at the end of the day, I don't think anyone we worked with was even remotely surprised that we'd do that," Osmundson added.

The duo captioned their Instagram post: "Just your typical school dress up day 👀👰🏻‍♀️👰🏼‍♀️✨💐💒💖🤣. Ummm the assignment was to wear what’s in the BACK OF YOUR CLOSET!!! We followed the assignment 🤷‍♀️."

"Grateful for a team of beautiful bridesmaids and specialists that hyped us up 🫶🏻💗," they added. "We couldn’t sit down but the fact they fit is amazing enough!"

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According to Business Insider, Hemenway and Osmundson share their art teacher position at the school and have been teaching for 10 and eight years, respectively. Osmundson said the pair are always looking for ways to bring a sense of fun and positive energy to their work.

"If the teachers aren't matching the energy of kids and bringing the energy, then what's the point? So we're always the ones that try and bring extra fun factor and engagement through costumes," she told Business Insider.

The teachers also revealed that their wedding dress scheme had another surprising result. Both were able to enjoy a little stroll down memory lane with their husbands after unearthing their gowns from their closets.

The Hemenways snapped a photo together — with Loreal wearing her dress — to mark their 10th anniversary a bit early, and the Osmundsons shared a sentimental dance in their house to remember their wedding.

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"It was really nostalgic and meaningful," Stephanie told Business Insider. "I think that was an unexpected perk of embarrassing ourselves that day."