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Ephonia Green of Brandywine has the perfect wedding gift for active duty service members who are planning to get married: a free wedding gown.

Green, owner of Couture Miss Bridal and Formal in Upper Marlboro, are giving away a limited number of wedding gowns from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday for the second straight day. The giveaway is part of a national initiative created by the nonprofit Brides Across America, which seeks to connect military brides with bridal boutiques across the country to show support for military families.

“This is our way of saying thank you for going to serve our country,” Green said. She has a special affinity for military personnel as her husband served with the Army during the Desert Storm conflict in Iraq in the 1990s.

Brides Across America has donated more than 6,000 wedding gowns since 2007. Participating stores prepare a select number of gowns to give away, according to the organization. Dresses range in sizes from 4 to 22 and are worth approximately $500 to $3,000.

This is the second time Couture Miss has participated in the giveaway, Green said. In March, about 40 brides participated in a free wedding gown event at the shop, some traveling from as far away as Pennsylvania and New York.

During the upcoming giveaway, brides will be able to select wedding gowns from two specific racks in the store. Many of the dresses come from such top designers as Pronovias and Casablanca, Green said. In order to qualify for a dress, the bride-to-be must be engaged or have had a civil ceremony, and must be planning a wedding within the next 18 months. Either she or her fiancé must be on active duty and must be scheduled to deploy to Afghanistan, Iraq or Qatar.

Women also can qualify to receive a dress if either they or their fiancés were deployed within the past five years and the couple hasn’t had a formal wedding yet. On the day of the event, military brides must bring a driver’s license, military ID and copies of deployment papers that state the date of their or their fiancé’s deployment.

Sherrie Milton, who is stationed at Fort Meade, said she was pleasantly surprised at the wide variety of gowns available when she got her free gown from Couture Miss earlier this year. She and her fiancé are both in the Army.

“Getting a free dress is a huge blessing because gowns are expensive,” said Milton, who returned from her second trip to Iraq in 2008. Her fiancé returned from his second trip to Iraq in 2010. The couple will head out on yearlong deployment to Korea in November following their Oct. 14 wedding.

“I thought I would find dresses that no one wanted, but the store offered a good selection,” said Milton, who attended a giveaway event in March. “It feels good to know that people will go out of their way to support your wedding.”

Nicole Taylor, who lives in Odenton, also found a dress in March for her Aug. 6 wedding. Her free designer gown normally would have cost about $1,200, she said.

“I was shocked that I didn’t have to pay anything,” she said.

In 2000, Green bought her own wedding dress from the Main Street shop, then known as Country Miss Bridal and Formal. Green worked for the boutique as an employee before becoming owner in 2008 and updated the boutique’s name. A county native, Green says her mother is a wedding planner, and all her relatives on her father’s side of the family are business owners.

Green plans to continue participating in the bridal gown giveaways, and eventually hopes to offer military discounts on headpieces, shoes and other accessories during the events.

“I just love brides,” she said. “My staff and I hope this event brings real joy to the women and their families who are able to participate.”