Brides left in limbo after Saskatoon dress shop closes

Customers outraged by the unexpected closure of a Saskatoon bridal shop have taken to social media – with a twist.

Champagne Bridal posted a statement to its Facebook page Tuesday afternoon explaining what happened.

“Earlier this year, we started to get behind in payment to the designers, which delayed the shipment of some orders,” the post read.

“Our intention was never to take advantage of anyone or cause any stress, as we felt we had everything under control and making improvements to get caught up.”

The post went on to say rumors and negative public comments had escalated in recent weeks, resulting in “too many requests for refunds and loss of business for us to recover and keep our doors open.”

Almost immediately, frustrated customers began sharing their stories and wanting answers.Most vocal were people who paid for dresses, but had not yet received them.

Lisa Heuchert is getting married in October and had paid in full for her gown after she had a good experience in the store – now she is having to work directly with the distributor.

“I am still waiting to hear from the designer (about the dress) so I don’t know for sure, and I know we’ve started a dispute with Mastercard,” she said.

Heuchert has started a Facebook group for customers looking for help before their weddings, and to borrow dresses if there’s no time to get another one.

“It’s pretty phenomenal the support people are having for other people going through this,” she said.

Women are posting pictures and sizes of the dresses available to borrow.

“Anyone affected by this tragic circumstance and need a dress, you can have mine if you need it! It will need to be dry cleaned and some beading repair on the bottom as some of the beads are lose, but it may be cheaper than having to pay twice for a dress,” posted one bride.

Champagne Bridal is telling customers looking to get their dresses to contact distributors using information from their original receipts.