Bride Worries About Losing Dress After Shop Closes: 'I'm Not Sure We'll Get the Money Back'
Prior to the announcement, the bride was told she would get the dress in January 2024 in time for her May 2024 wedding in France
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A women poses in a wedding dressA bride-to-be was shocked to learn the shop where she found her dream dress closed suddenly before her purchase was even completed.
According to the BBC, Hannah Powell, 29, spent over £1,000 toward her wedding dress from Allison Jayne in Swansea, Wales after spending months hunting for the perfect dress. On Saturday, she learned the store would be closing their Swansea and Cardiff locations immediately.
"There was a piece of paper on the front door saying 'we're closed as of 4 November. There's not a single item left in the shop. I just feel really shocked and sad," Powell told the BBC.
"Over £1,000 has completely gone, we still have the rest to pay, but I don't know if I'll get the dress and, if not, I'm not sure we'll get the money back," she continued.
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Prior to the announcement, Powell was told she would receive her finished dress in January 2024 in time for her May 2024 wedding in France.
"We had to pay in full for the veil, I don't know why that was, and then you have to pay 50% of the dress," she told the outlet. "That also includes alterations, so on the phone I asked will you not be continuing to do any of the alterations because they include that in the price of the dress."
"That was why I picked to go there as well - there weren't any extra costs on top and now I need to find my own seamstress," she added.
The BBC reported that on Monday, Powell received a call from Allison Jayne. The call was from a withheld number, so she was unable to call them back. Powell also noted that she doesn't have wedding insurance.
"We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused by our closure. This was a very difficult decision to take, we are trying our best to contact all clients in due course," the Allison Jayne website reads.
Powell wasn't the only bride shocked by the news. Per ITV, 24-year-old Victoria Pemberton claims her wedding dress was ruined right as the business shut its doors unexpectedly.
After spending £2,500, Pemberton received a call to pick up her dress from the store's Cardiff location after being informed the lease on the Swansea location had run out. When she and her mother, Julie Lakin, arrived to pick up the dress, they allegedly found it to be a "mess."
"It looked like the alterations had not been done by a dressmaker," Lakin told ITV. "The dress was in a worse state than before alterations had even started."
She shared that the look on her daughter's face after she tried on her dress "was just heartbreaking."
Pemberton added, "There was even a section that they had not sewn back together which resulted in a hole on the side of the dress where the bodice met the skirt."
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When she received the dress, her wedding was just 13 days away. "I can’t even explain what they had done to the back of the dress where the corset top met the skirt, but it looked like they had just lifted the skirt to the bodice and sewn it," she said.
Pemberton and Powell are among a number of brides who were left hanging due to the shop's sudden closure, per ITV.
In a statement to the British broadcaster, a rep for Allison Jayne Bridalwear said, "We are in the process of contacting all our brides which is currently proving hard with all the inquiries we are having. We would like to discuss this with you, however, wish to complete speaking to our brides before doing so. We hope you can appreciate this is a challenging time for us right now."
PEOPLE reached out to Allison Jayne Bridalwear for comment on what the store's closure means for customers with outstanding orders, but did not receive an immediate response.
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