Nearly 200 worried brides-to-be were yesterday assured that a wedding-dress company that went into liquidation earlier this week would do its utmost to ensure every bride gets her dress.
Eugene Carey, a Mallow-based solicitor acting for The Wedding Dress Ltd, of Penrose Wharf in Cork city, said the company had gone into liquidation on March 21st due to financial difficulties but arrangements were being made to ensure customers got their dresses.
"The company is doing their level best to process what they can. They've already processed some 60 dresses today and they hope to do another 30 tomorrow with priority for those whose big day is imminent. Given time, they intend to honour all their commitments," he said.
"I can't put up my hand and guarantee that everyone will get their wedding dresses but I know the best effort will be made to ensure that all those who were good enough to give their business to The Wedding Dress will have their commitments honoured," said Mr Carey.
"I can understand the panic and I can appreciate the anger and frustration of the customers given it's such an important event in all their lives," said Mr Carey, who acts for the owner of the company, Judith Linehan.
He asked customers to contact his office in Mallow.
Mr Carey's comments came after some 35 women accompanied by family members began queuing at The Wedding Dress yesterday morning to try to find out what had happened to the dresses they have ordered and paid deposits on.
There had been heated exchanges at the store on Wednesday night when up to 30 people queued at the shop to try to get access to their dresses as news that the company was going into liquidation began to spread throughout Cork.
Yesterday's closure led Cork North Central Labour TD, Kathleen Lynch, to call on the owners of the shop to meet their customers to let them know what was happening in their individual case so they could make alternative arrangements if necessary.
"Customers are currently in a state of panic, not knowing if they will be able to wear their dream dresses at their upcoming wedding," said Ms Lynch, adding that she understood that the company had some 183 customers on its books.
"Indeed, many have already forked out huge sums to pay for their dress, yet they are totally in the dark as to whether the dress will be finished, if they should start looking for a new dress-maker, or if they should seek their money back," she added.
According to Ms Lynch, the shop was taking deposits as recently as Wednesday and in some cases people paid in full for their dresses as far back as last September as they were offered a 10 per cent discount if they paid the full amount in advance.
"They are very expensive and exclusive dresses.
"Dresses at the lower end of the scale would have cost €2,000 and people would have been asked for substantial deposits - I know of one girl who put down €1,200 deposit on a dress two weeks ago," she said.
Mr Carey said a liquidator would be formally appointed to handle the winding up of the company at a creditors' meeting to be held in the Imperial Hotel in Cork city on April 7th at 9am.
