Woman awarded €1,500 for damaged wedding dress

A schoolteacher, whose designer wedding dress was “damaged beyond repair” while being dry-cleaned a few months after her wedding…

A schoolteacher, whose designer wedding dress was “damaged beyond repair” while being dry-cleaned a few months after her wedding, has been awarded damages in the District Civil Court.

Aoife McKelvey told the court that she had been excited to see her wedding dress again in September 2010 after it had been at Captains Hill Cleaners, in Leixlip, Co Kildare, for five weeks, only to discover it was “ruined”.

Judge Dermot Dempsey heard that the €1,350 Justin Alexander dress consisted of a silk bodice and an organza skirt with diamantes and flowers, and a strap which was also decorated with flowers.

After paying €110 for the dry cleaning, Ms McKelvey had brought the dress home to Foxfield, Finnstown Abbey, Lucan, Co Dublin, and noticed the skirt had holes, some diamantes were missing, the flowers had been frayed and the bodice was creased.

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In its defence, the dry cleaners said they never had any similar problem before. The court heard they accepted the flowers were damaged during the cleaning process. Manager Ted Spollen said the repair of the dress had been delayed because the items sent by Justin Alexander were coming from abroad. Judge Dempsey awarded Ms McKelvey €1,500 damages.