"We put down deposits in October and I mean now there's nothing," Jennifer Baker of Washington twp. Told Action News.
Weeks before her May 22nd wedding, Baker must somehow find dresses for her 8 bridesmaids. Each of them put down a 50% deposit at Sabrina Bridal on the Whit Horse Pike in Stratford.
But when Jennifer and some of her attendants showed up last Friday to pick up the dresses, they found the shop closed with a "For Sale" sign out in front of the store. It went out of business after going in to foreclosure.
"I understand the economy's bad and I'm trying to be sympathetic to her losing her business," Baker says, "But at the same time, you don't lie to people and she lied openly to us."
Baker isn't alone. Action News spoke with Blackwood native Christirose Sica, who is planning her June wedding in New Jersey from her home in South Carolina. Now her bridesmaids are out of luck.
"I've been waiting 9 years for this, for my perfect day and this is just a huge bump in the road," Sica said. "I cried. I was really upset. If you add it up its almost $1,000 she got from my party."
Christirose Sica's mother, Rose McNally, was almost a victim of Sabrina, too. After several delays, the dress she ordered months ago for her son's wedding last weekend came in just days before the shop shut down.
"I asked, 'Is this going to affect my daughter's wedding? Will the dresses be in?'" McNally said. "I was told that week that it wouldn't."
Action News' attempts to contact store owner Sabrina Chin by phone ended the same way as all the brides-to-be. We were told we had the wrong number, then the person on the other end of the phone line hung up.
Baker has filed complaints with Stratford Police, the Gloucester County Prosecutor's office and the Better Business Bureau. Her bridesmaids have ordered dresses elsewhere, but she's upset they have to shell out more money they can't afford.
"I wish they would have just given us our money back or told us sooner," Baker said.
