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'Heartbroken': Fergus bride-to-be left without wedding dress after bridal shop closes

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A bride-to-be in Fergus claims she is out a wedding dress after the store she bought it from shut down for good.

Liane Jenkins said yes to a dress at the Guelph store Vision in White in the spring of 2017.

“I looked at myself in the mirror and I got tears in my eyes,” Jenkins said, reflecting about that first time she tried it on.

Jenkins said her wedding date wasn’t until 2020 so she was not in a rush to pick the garment up.

“In my mind, the dress was safe here (at the store). It was one stress that was off my mind,” said Jenkins.

Since first choosing the dress, life got busy for Jenkins. She said there was a flood in her home, she had her first child and the global COVID-19 pandemic hit.

It wasn’t until she tried to reach out to the store recently that she found out they were no longer open.

The former manager of the store, Stephanie Bonis, confirmed they closed in 2020 amid pandemic losses. Before that, they sold Jenkin’s dress to another customer, along with most of their inventory.

“I’m heartbroken. It wasn’t their dress to sell,” said Jenkins.

Jenkins claimed she hadn’t heard from staff since 2018 until she posted about it on social media.

“I never heard 'hi we're closing, can you come and pick your dress up? Do you still want your dress?'” Jenkins said. “I still would have rather better communication whether you're going out of business or not."

The former owner of Vision in White told CTV News Kitchener in a phone interview that they contacted Jenkins numerous times but never heard back.

“There’s only so much that we can do at this point. We feel terrible that this has happened,” Bonis said.

She added they are still willing to help Jenkins.

“We are not shady people are not doing shady business,” said Bonis.

The Guelph store shut down in March 2020 and according to staff, moved to a Cambridge store.

Former staff said they would be willing to sell Jenkins a different dress with what is left in storage.

“As long as she would be willing to pay the difference because we know that she did put down money on her original gown,” Bonis said.

Both Bonis and the former owner said Jenkins paid just over $1,000 as a deposit for the original gown. Jenkins claimed it was $1,800.

Jenkins said she lost her receipt for the dress when her home flooded.

Jenkins hopes to get married by the end of 2021.

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