A bride-to-be broke down in tears after trying on her custom-made £24,000 wedding dress to discover it did not fit – claiming she was quoted a further £2,000 for alterations.
Jade Zane, from Sydney, shelled out over £24,000 ($50,000) on her ‘dream’ wedding dress from a small boutique in preparation for her big day. The store took her measurements back in November, before submitting the sizing to their suppliers in order to create a beaded, custom-made dress.
But the bride-to-be was shocked when she tried on the ‘massive’ gown for the first time and claimed it was ‘8cm too big in the chest area alone’.
Jade, who is getting married in a matter of weeks, hit out at the store in a now-deleted Instagram video, which saw her break down in tears.
She said while in floods of tears: ‘[The store] have been a f***ing nightmare. I spent almost $50,000 on my dream dress from there, and it has come and it is massive.
‘I put the dress on, they are taking 4cm from each of my sides, they’re saying that I have to have 10cm altered around my waist and even then, it’s going to ruin the integrity of the dress and the way the dress looks because it’s a beautiful beaded dress.
But the owner of the boutique claimed that the bride had a ‘significant size reduction’ and that her measurements had changed from when she initially came in November last year. She even claimed that Jade ‘signed off’ on the gown and said she was happy with it, before complaining about it four weeks later.
Jade, who is getting married in four weeks, hit out at a store in a now-deleted Instagram video which was posted yesterday
The shop owner said in a separate Instagram video, which has also been deleted: ‘We popped her in it, we took photos of her in it, we re-measured her bust waist and hip again which showed a significant size reduction but she signed off saying she was happy with the dress, took the dress and it wasn’t for another four weeks until we heard from her, for the very first time that there were concerns with the gown.’
The bride – who later revealed she had resolved her dispute with the bridal boutique – said in her clip that she had emailed the shop and gave them ‘the benefit of the doubt’ as she wondered whether the employees had been sent the wrong dress themselves.
However, Jade said the company’s response was ‘f***ing generic’, adding: ‘[They said] “That’s just how it is and you have to alter it.” The alterations are almost $4,000 (£1,925) and she’s telling me it’s still not going to look good.’
She added: ‘I emailed them again and said “That’s not good enough, you need to do something, you guys are in the wrong here, this is insane” and I’ve had no response. I wrote an email saying please can you respond by 5pm Wednesday. Nothing.’
The boutique owner claimed that she spoke to the designers, who ‘assured’ her team that the dress was ‘ordered as per the size on the order in November 2024’ and said that she has been in contact with Jade to try and resolve the issue.
She said: ‘We then looked through our own QC records again, just to check we absolutely knew what we were saying was correct, and we can see that yes, the dress arrived as correct to the order in November 2024.’
She added that her employees compared the measurements and images that were taken recently and said they could see ‘quite a significant measurement fluctuation’.
The bridal boutique then told Jade that fluctuations in measurements were not the fault of the designer or the store and said that she would have to alter it.
Jade said the business’ response was ‘f***ing generic’, adding that she was not happy with their initial reply to her compliant
Jade – who is getting married in four weeks – said she has ‘no choice’ but to purchase a dress from another designer (stock image)
The business owner said that it is common for wedding gowns to need alterations and claimed that they’ve offered to assist her with alterations and asked her whether she wanted a list of alternative tailors she could go to for a second opinion.
‘In this instance, it’s not a faulty dress…It breaks my heart that she’s feeling like this. I want nothing but the best for our brides,’ she said while crying on camera.
‘I’ve put so much into this business and given it my blood, sweat and tears and done everything I can right by my brides, always, often at the detriment to myself or to my family.’
She claimed that online trolls have started ‘attacking’ and ‘abusing’ her team, with some colleagues even getting death threats.
‘We are a family-run business, we are a small business of six people and for people to be coming and attacking us because a bride is heartbreakingly not happy with her dress is… I’m so upset for her but also for my family and my team,’ she said.
‘I have team members getting death threats and abuse and it is just absolutely not acceptable to be speaking to people like that.
‘We provided the dress as ordered, we’ve done everything that we believe we possibly can and I just… I will keep working with Jade to try and find a solution with her and just try and assist her as best we can.’
In the caption of the now-deleted video, Jade said she has ‘spoken to legal counsel’ who has advised her not to alter the dress ‘for potential court proceedings.’
She added: ‘I now have no choice but to purchase a new gown from another designer, if I can, four weeks before my wedding, something no bride should ever have to go through.’
The content creator added: ‘To the store. I still hope you’ll make this right. But I won’t stay silent. Brides deserve better than being left out of pocket and unheard, especially at one of the most important times in their lives.
‘I’m sharing this so no other bride feels as helpless, disappointed, and stressed as I have in the final weeks before her wedding.’
On Wednesday, almost a week after the videos were initially posted, Jade provided an update on the situation, adding that the pair had managed to work out their disagreement.
She said: ‘I wanted to give the update you’ve all been asking for. We have reached a mutual agreement and I’m really happy and I think we both agreed to disagree and I think we both want to move on.
‘I truly don’t want to talk about this anymore. I’m at a point in my life where I just want to be happy and I’m about to marry the man of dreams and I just want to be done with it all. I hope you guys can respect that. I appreciate everyone fighting for me.’
MailOnline has contacted the bridal boutique and Jade for comment.
