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4  SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2018 WALES ON SUNDAY
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The recycled paper content of UK
newspapers in 2016 was 62.8%
brides duped in
D
irty dresses, half-finished
gowns and clothes deliv-
ered in cardboard boxes
with Chinese postage
stamps.
These are some of the claims made
from customers of a bridal shop which
left brides in the lurch in the days and
months before their big day.
On Thursday wedding dress sellers
AnnaSara Bridal in Newport pleaded
guilty to lying to customers by telling
them dresses made in China were
“handmade” and “bespoke”.
Melanie Bishop, 36, from Ivy Bush
Cottages in Oakdale, Blackwood,
admitted 16 counts of being engaged
in unfair commercial practice
between March 2015 and July 2016.
Patricia Bishop, from the same
address, also admitted 16 counts of
being engaged in unfair commercial
practice.
Now five brides have spoken of
their experiences, more than 18
months after the bridal shop shut its
doors.
For call centre worker Jade and her
wife Kylie the build-up to their wed-
ding became a race against the clock
after buying dresses from AnnaSara.
After first coming across the
mother-and-daughter business at a
wedding fair in October 2015, the cou-
ple from Tredegar ordered eight
gowns from the company, including
both of their wedding dresses.
But after months of waiting for their
dresses to arrive, the pair claim they
were left with little choice but to take
their half-finished dresses to another
seamstress before leaving for their
wedding in Malta.
Jade, 28, said: “Me and my partner
went to a wedding fair in Maes Manor
in Blackwood and my partner saw a
dress they were advertising and fell in
love with it straight away.
“We went down to the shop and
they were amazing, they couldn’t
have been nicer people. They said as
we were both brides they would get a
deal for us and they had some lovely
dresses.
“They said they only make one of
each dress and they name each dress
after you.”
According to Jade, problems began
after visiting the shop with five brides-
maids and a flower girl to get meas-
ured – paying more than £2,000
upfront for eight dresses.
She said: “They gave us colours to
choose from but they didn’t measure
us, they just guessed.
“They said they didn’t need to
measure us as they’d been doing this
long enough and they knew.
“After 12 weeks the bridesmaids
dresses finally came and they were the
wrong colour. The flower girl’s dress
was a completely different dress and
was in ivory, not white.
“My partner was outside the shop in
tears.”
They found themselves months
before their June wedding without
any dresses.
Jade said: “They kept saying they
were being made in their factory, they
said it was somewhere in Wales.
“They said bridesmaid dresses were
being made in a factory and the wed-
ding dresses at home but never in
China.
“I was speaking to them in my work
latest news at www.walesonline.co.uk
Anna lewis
Melanie Bishop pleaded
reporter guilty to lying to
anna.lewis@walesonline.co.uk
customers, telling them
wedding dresses made in
China were ‘bespoke’
breaks every day.
“At this point we had a month left.”
With time running out Jade and
WALES NEWS SERVICE
Kylie allege they had little choice but
to collect the dresses, despite some
remaining unfinished.
Jade said: “We took them from the
shop there and then, as we knew if we
didn’t take them we wouldn’t have
them at all.
“Two bridesmaid dresses fitted but
the other three we had to buy all new,
as they were the wrong colour and fit.
“The flower girl’s dress we had to
buy as it wasn’t even fitted.
“My dress still had a Chinese label
in it and the bridesmaids’ dresses had
Chinese labels that had been cut out.”
With neither bridal dress finished
on time Jade and Kylie finally decided
to use another seamstress to finish
the work and removed damaged
straps from the bridesmaid dresses.
Jade said: “We went to Belle Mariee
Bridal in Porth and they saved us.
“They had to do all the alterations
and we had about two weeks before
we were leaving.
“We just spent it in floods of tears –
for two people that seemed so lovely
and made out they cared so much
they couldn’t have cared less.
“It was gutting, we had
got on so well and they
seemed like they were
perfect. When we
look back at our
photo there’s a bit
of regret as it
wasn’t the way we
wanted it.”
For Beverley Dal-
gleish, 51, the run-up to
her wedding was similar.
After ordering a £1,100 bridal
dress from AnnaSara the bride-to-be
from Rogerstone claims she was left
with no hint of a dress three days
before her wedding in April 2015.
Beverley said: “I was at a wedding
fair in the Holiday Inn in Newport and
saw a beautiful bridesmaid’s dress. I
said I was trying to design my own
dress and they said they could help
with that.
“I showed them what I wanted and
“
decided I would take their bodice and
they said they could make the rest. I
was completely sucked in and paid a
£600 bank transfer deposit.”
Despite little communication over It was gutting, we had got on so well and
the dress size or colour Beverley went they seemed like they were perfect. When
to the Newport shop weeks later for a
fitting.
we look back at our photo there’s a bit of
She said: “I went into the shop and regret as it wasn’t the way we wanted it
the dress was in a crumpled ball with jade
Chinese writing on the packaging.
“That’s when it went wrong – it was
lie after lie. I went in the week before Mansion House. She said: “I stormed “The wedding was in August and it
the wedding and it wasn’t done. out and got over to Maindee. I was poured with rain and all the dye came
“The Wednesday before my wed- crying my eyes out and she fixed it all out. My parents bought me lovely
ding I went to try it on and I couldn’t – she had to unpick it.” underwear and shoes and it was all
get it on it was so tight. They said I had On a summer’s day at Celtic Manor tinged with dye.”
put on weight. one year later, Nichola Hutchings’ Her wedding day followed months
“They never once altered it until the wedding should have been perfect. of stress, after allegedly resorting to
week before and it was pinned into all But after a downpour, the Cwmbran buying nine bridesmaid dresses off
different shapes. I couldn’t get it over bride claims she found herself cov- the hanger, despite paying deposits at
my hips and it was covered in dirt.” ered in dye after buying a red dress AnnaSara.
In desperation Beverley turned to from AnnaSara Bridal. Nichola said: “They came and they
the House of Couture in Newport, Nichola, 35, said: “For personal rea- were the wrong style, the wrong col-
three days before her wedding at sons I wanted a red dress. our and five sizes too big.”

WALES ON SUNDAY SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2018  5
latest news at www.walesonline.co.uk
dress deceptioN
AnnaSara bridal
shop in Newport
She added: “They kept saying they
were making my dress and it was
going through quality control.
“At the end my mum went down
and collected the dress and it was
given in a cardboard box with Chinese
postage marks all over it.
“It was absolutely horrendous, the
quality, everything.
“The dress was quite pretty but it
was a mermaid style and the lace was
white. I had a seamstress working
around the clock to make it work.
“It ruined the build-up for me, I was
drained.”
Meanwhile, after finally choosing
the perfect dress, other brides were
left in the dark after the bridal shop
shut its door in 2016.
After paying a £500 deposit, Cardiff
town planner Lindy Marshall said she
was unable to get in contact with Mel-
anie Bishop weeks after placing her
order.
Jade, Kylie and bridesmaids at their wedding in Malta
Lindy, 29, said: “Everything seemed
fine: I found a dress I really liked and
they said they could take one dress
and add the bottom of another dress
and said it was their own design. I
took my gran and my mum and Mela-
nie’s mum was talking to my gran, it
all seemed normal.
“They said they needed half of the
payment, which was £500. I didn’t
think anything of it.”
After coming across concerns on a
Facebook page about AnnaSara,
Lindy found herself unable to get in
contact with the company.
The page – called Anna Sara Bridal
Newport or China? – has more than
1,500 followers, with dozens of brides
sharing their experiences and offering
their wedding dresses to others.
Lindy said: “I panicked – I con-
tacted her and had nothing back, I
tried phoning her and messaging her
on Facebook but nothing at all.
news
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Beverley in her finished dress after her wedding
at Mansion House in Newport
Elliot Nichol Photography
Victoria on her wedding day at Pencoed House in
her new dress
chris norman photography
“She just disappeared off the face of week later I discovered people were
the earth.” saying some negative things.
With seven months before her wed- “I panicked and was trying to get
ding Lindy was able to claim her hold of them, I couldn’t get an answer
deposit using wedding insurance. from the shop or Facebook.
She said: “I had seven months left “I sent them a letter and didn’t have
and they say to leave nine months for a response.
a wedding dress, but it was OK. “I took them to the small claims
“It made me a lot more stressed court and the judge agreed they could
than I would have been, as you are pay back £3 a month.”
always comparing everything to the On September 30, 2016, Victoria
dress you never had. received a report from the small
“It was that realisation you would claims court stating that AnnaSara
never see the dress. had made a full admission after failing
“For a lot of ladies this is one of to return her deposit.
the most important parts of a wed- She said: “You can imagine trying to
ding.” plan a wedding and then the stress of
After finding AnnaSara Bridal at a finding another dress.
wedding fair, bride-to-be Victoria “It put a damper on the excitement
Maynard decided to use the company of the day with dress shopping and
for both her wedding dress and her having to do it all over again.”
daughter’s flower girl outfit. Melanie and Patricia Bishop will be
The 33-year-old from Bridgend sentenced on March 9 at Cardiff
said: “They took a £500 deposit and a Crown Court.
Facebook.com/WalesOnline
Pensioner
is found
injured
A city street was cordoned
off after a pensioner was found
with a head injury yesterday.
Police took the step as a pre-
caution at Clasemont Road in
Mount Crescent, Morriston, in
case further information
becomes available, following
the incident during the early
hours.
A South Wales Police spokes-
man said there was no evi-
dence to suggest there was any
third party involvement.
He said: “We had a call at
1.30am this morning that an
elderly gentleman was found
there with a head injury.
“He’s been taken to hospital
and was in quite a serious con-
dition. The hospital do not
believe there was a third party
involvement and they think
he’s bumped his head.
“We have kept the scene as a
precautionary measure in case
we get information.”
He added: “We want to sat-
isfy ourselves he has not been
attacked. The hospital are tell-
ing us he’s fallen over and there
is no third party involved.”
He said it did not appear
suspicious and the pensioner
was being treated at Swansea’s
Morriston Hospital.
No female
Bond for
Mrs 007
Hollywood star Rachel
Weisz – wife of 007 actor Daniel
Craig – is not keen on the idea
of a female James Bond.
There have been calls for a
woman to play the famous spy
after Craig, 49, steps down
from the role.
Weisz, 47, told the Daily Tel-
egraph that creator Ian Flem-
ing had “devoted an awful lot of
time to writing this particular
character, who is particularly
male and relates in a particular
way to women”.
She added: “Why not create
your own story rather than
jumping on to the shoulders
and being compared to all
those other male predeces-
sors?
“Women are really fascinat-
ing and interesting and should
get their own stories,” The
Mercy actress said.
Craig has so far appeared in
four Bond films – Casino Roy-
ale, Quantum Of Solace, Skyfall
and Spectre.
Last year, he told The Late
Show With Stephen Colbert he
would don the tuxedo one last
time, despite previously saying
he would “rather slash my
wrists” than play the secret
agent again.