CHESTERFIELD, Mo. — A bridal shop with locations in Chesterfield and Wentzville is now under fire from customers saying it's not fulfilling their orders.
5 On Your Side's Annie Krall spoke with local mothers of the bride about the lengths they've had to go through to make their daughters' big day beautiful.
"Getting kind of the run around"
In May, Kim Matreci went to Signature Bridal to pick out a dress for her only daughter Kelsey.
At the time, the Nov. 16 ceremony was six months away — the typical timeline to get a wedding dress in time. However, come August after paying extra for a rushed order, the Wentzville mom said they still had nothing.
"We start calling, we're getting kind of the run around," Matreci told 5 On Your Side. "We're either not getting a response or we're just getting told 'it's being shipped.' We don't have a tracking number. It's being shipped."
By September, no $3,500 custom dress.
So, two weeks ago Matreci flew to Michigan where her daughter lives trying to get a backup dress.
"We spent an entire weekend traveling all over Michigan and going to different bridal shops, hoping we could find something off the rack just in case," Matreci said. "Luckily we don't have to do that, but it was very frustrating and an added expense too plus added stress. I feel very badly for these women who could be out a dress."
It was only after the threat of suing Signature Bridal that the dress for Matreci's daughter did finally arrive. The family said they were lucky after weeks of anxiety and uncertainty.
Hundreds of comments online voiced similar concerns over the last few months.
In a social media post from Signature Bridal on Friday, the business said "we have mutually decided to discontinue our partnership with Stella York and Essence of Australia," two designers that customers have named as not arriving in time.
"It's not about the designers," Matreci said. "It's about the business owner."
Chesterfield Police even stepped in on Oct. 2. Officers said they were called to the Chesterfield store because of a disturbance caused by an "irate customer" because a dress wasn't completed.
"the sizing tag had been cut"
Chesterfield mom Lori Mills experienced something similar after she went dress shopping with her oldest daughter Kaitlyn, ten months before her Oct. 5 wedding.
They went last December while Kaitlyn visited from Wicker Park in Chicago for the holidays.
However, after months of delays by late August, the Essence of Australia dress was ordered in a size too small.
"One, it still wasn't the right size," Mills said. "I opened it up to look and strangely the sizing tag had been cut out entirely. Then as I started to look closer at the dress and Kaitlyn and I started to look at it, it was filthy. It had makeup stains on it. The underarms were actually pitted out. There were dark marks and stains on it."
After some tears leaving the Wentzville location, Mills and her daughter — now Kaitlyn Brezak after getting married — called more than 50 bridal shops within a 1,000-mile radius of St. Louis.
They found the same dress in the correct size at a store an hour outside of Chicago, buying it on the spot only three days before the wedding.
Mills told us she has since gotten about an $1,800 refund from Signature Bridal.
"We did get our money back," Mills said. "By luck and God or whatever, actually found a dress that my daughter had chosen. She was able to have it on her wedding. If we hadn't been that level of assertive, I'm not exactly sure what would have happened."
5 On Your Side reached out to Signature Bridal store owners on Saturday who said they've heard the complaints and are hoping to give refunds as needed.
Both Mills and Martreci said they hope there is accountability from the owners and that it's the end of the line for the store's continued excuses.