Dreams in tatters as bridal shop goes bust

Jun 11 2009 by Alistair Watson, West Lothian Courier

A DEVASTATED bride-to-be returned home from holiday to find out the company she had bought her wedding dress from had gone bust.

Morag Rigg shelled out £700 towards her £1050 dream dress to buy it from Capri Skies bridal store in Glasgow in September last year.

The Livingston woman fell in love with the gown when she saw it at a wedding show and ordered it after being offered a discount by Capri Skies staff.

But her dream turned sour after the 26-year-old came home from a holiday in Florida to be told the store had shut its doors without warning last Friday.

“My mum called me at work and told me. She had been watching the news and saw the shop was shut,” said Morag.

“I couldn’t stop crying down the phone to her.

“I just don’t know what I am going to do. This was my dream dress and what I wanted to get married in but I don’t know if I will be able to now.

“My gran and my dad paid the money towards it. It is a lot of money for anyone to lose, let alone a pensioner.

“I don’t even know who the designer of the dress is or if I have to go and buy a new dress or not as no-one is saying anything.

“They’ve not even had the courtesy to call me and tell me what is happening.”

Since the store shut, several brides have been reunited with their dresses after other stores, including Bathgate’s Ann and Bobbies, stepped in to hand out the gowns that were left in the Glasgow shop.

But countless others who have handed over deposits and full payments to the shop have been left out of pocket and without dresses.

Thousands of pounds were taken from brides for wedding gowns and bridesmaid dresses but, it is alleged, orders were never placed or paid for.

And now brides face having to shell out all over again if they want their dream dresses.

Owners Kahlua Cameron claim she had to go into hiding when the store shut after receiving threats against her and her children from angry brides and their families.

She and husband James fled their home in Glasgow’s upmarket suburb of Newton Mearns and only resurfaced this week as she blamed former members of staff for the demise of the shop through a statement on her website.

But Morag, who is due to marry fiance Gerald Neilson at Mid Calder Church next August, says she finds it hard who to believe.

She said: “I find this all very strange. It sounds like the owners haven’t been paying their bills.

“I don’t know who to contact and if I will get any money back.

“I‘ve got time on my side as my wedding is a while away but I can’t believe they could be so heartless and do this to so many brides-to-be.”

An Armadale bride, due to be married in August, has also been left out of pocket and has to go to Aberdeen to collect her dress.

She tracked her dress down to the designer in Australia and a bridal shop in Aberdeen was able to order it in for her.

Ann Dobbie, from Ann and Bobbies bridal store in Bathgate, told the Courier brides left without a dress should call her as she could help source it.

She said: “The wedding dress companies have been contacting us to give us lists of dresses that have been ordered but not been paid for.

“Brides are having to pay for their dresses again but we are giving them a vast discount on it so not having to pay as much.

“Girls were left without dresses weeks or days before their wedding so of course they panicked. But we can help find them and so far everyone we’ve helped is happy.”

Contact Ann on 01506 653196 to see if she can help.