EAST PROVIDENCE -- The hem and cascading train sparkles with a studded embroidery. The side bow shifts the eyes to the smallest part of the waist. And strapless — the only detail Lindsay McKearney knew she wanted — highlights the shoulders and neck.

“This is it,” McKearney, of Cumberland, exclaimed as she gazed at herself in the three-panel mirror. It was the fifth wedding gown she had tried on. “Oh my God, I love it. I love this one. This is definitely it.”

Besides repeating her glee, she continually thanked the owners of Ana’s Bridal Boutique & Tuxedo, on Warren Avenue. That’s because Michelle Linhares and her mother, Ana Linhares, didn’t charge McKearney and four other military brides for their wedding dresses Tuesday.

Theirs is the only salon in Rhode Island that participates in Brides Across America, a nationwide effort to help military brides with their big day while their loved ones are either overseas or about to depart. Heidi Janson founded the nonprofit organization two years ago because she believes the country “needs to do more to support our troops and their families.”

“Military brides don’t always get their dream wedding,” Janson says on her Web site, www.bridesacrossamerica.com. “Some brides have to give up their wedding due to their finances and getting deployed quickly. In other cases, brides have a civil ceremony and then wait years for their fiancé to return home to finally have their wedding day.”

Michelle Linhares met Janson’s mother at a bridal show and the two discussed Linhares’ desire to give back to her community.

“I didn’t want to just have a sale,” Michelle Linhares said. “I wanted to actually give back … so I thought it was a good idea to bring [Brides Across America] here. We have troops here, too.”

She continued, “It’s an honor, really, to give them a free gown … it’s one less worry, one less stress for them.”

McKearney and her fiancé, Michael Antunes, were apart for 15 months while he served in Iraq with the Army National Guard. He has come back but is leaving in September for a year’s tour in Cuba.

The couple, who have been together for 3½ years, discussed getting hitched before his departure. They already live together and have one “child” — a 9-month-old pug dog named Brock.

She knew he had bought a ring and suspected he was planning to propose at a family outing on the Fourth of July weekend.

“I told him, ‘I know what you are doing,’ ” she said. “So he did it at my job the day before instead. It was embarrassing, but that is where we met.”

Their day — the first of two ceremonies they plan to have — is Aug. 22 at Capron Park, in Attleboro, and it’s coming up fast. They don’t have a justice of the peace yet, but McKearney’s aunt read about Brides Across America in the newspaper.

“It was perfect timing,” she said. “I can’t thank you enough. I’m so excited!”

They’ll have a second wedding and a large reception — only dinner with the extended family will occur after the first ceremony — when he comes back in late 2010. She plans to wear the gown at both occasions.

apina@projo.com