Call them restaurant crashers — a mom and her six daughters are going viral for wearing their wedding gowns to dinner, just because.
"We decided that the most expensive dresses we owned deserved to be worn & enjoyed for more than just one day in our lives," Alexis Houston captioned an Instagram video of her sisters, sister-in-laws and mother heading to dinner wearing their white gowns. "We’ve decided to make this a yearly tradition."
While visiting Studio 1A on Friday, June 9, the group told TODAY's Hoda Kotb that the plan now is not just to make wedding dress night out a yearly tradition, but "to do it monthly," especially after it was so well received both online and in person.
"Everyone (was like): ‘What’s going on? Did you just get married? Where are your husbands? Can I take a picture with you?’" Terri Bonin, the matriarch of the family, told Hoda, adding that "the questions were endless" during the group's special night out.
The video, with almost half a million likes, shows the women —and some of their babies — heading to True Food restaurant in Texas.
The wedding party consisted of Bonin and her daughters Madeleine, 28, Alexis, 25, Annalise, 23, and Kate, 18. Plus, Bonin's daughters-in-law Hannah Joy, 26, and Sydnie, 25.
Bonin told TODAY that her family has dinner together weekly.
"Once a week, we have a family dinner where everyone ... husbands and babies ... comes to my house," she said. "And we girls like to get together alone once a month ... at our homes (or) out (doing) different things."
“We are our support group so we come together once a week — I’m not cooking for them, sometimes they bring things sometimes I cook — but the main point is we are in community with each other,” Bonin told Hoda.
“We just want our kids and my grandkids to grow up together.”
The women themselves have met monthly for dinner over the past four years.
The group decided to wear wedding gowns to dinner after seeing a similar video on social media.
"I was like, 'we should do this' and Alexis said 'let's do it out in public!'" said Hannah Joy.
Madeline agreed, saying, "We felt like we shouldn’t put on our dresses and sit in the house. We should go out to dinner."
Everyone approved. "I think we are all a little bit wild and crazy when it comes to doing daring things," explained Bonin.
Slipping on wedding gowns didn't feel comfortable at first.
"I knew my dress wasn’t going to fit," said Hannah Joy. "I am five months postpartum (so) I was a little hesitant. Alexa (is) also recently postpartum and we were nervous."
"I never expected to wear it again!" said Madeline. "I hated my wedding dress. I eloped so I picked up the first thing I found."
Bonin had misplaced her own wedding dress, so she improvised by wearing Sydnie's prom dress.
"That just worked out," said Bonin. "We were prepared to go thrift shopping." Kate isn't married so she did purchase a thrift store gown.
That day, the "brides" rode to dinner in a 15-passenger van.
"It was like all these women in a clown car with their wedding dresses!" recalled Sydnie.
"It was like all these women in a clown car with their wedding dresses!"
At the restaurant, the group asked the valet employee to take their photo while admirers snapped their own.
The dinner was sentimental, mostly for Bonin.
"Seeing them in their dresses, I was flooded with so many memories and with how much life has happened since their wedding days," she said. "It was surreal ... they’re just so beautiful. Who cares if you fit in your dress or not? We did life. We had babies! I think it had more emotion for me than I was expecting.
"Each one of them is unique and special and they support each other, and I love that my daughters are best friends," added Bonin.
The women plan to re-create the night again — this time, including an additional generation: Bonin's mom.