Wedding joy as shop finds new dress

Bride-to-be Nicola Karkovskis thought it couldn't get any worse when her bridesmaid's dress was destroyed in a fire at a Wolverhampton shop as her big day loomed.

But when a dispute arose with the shop amid claims her ivory gown had been washed and was tinged pink, the 32-year-old thought the whole event was all but ruined.

But at the 11th hour, another bridal shop has stepped in to save the day, finding her the perfect gown and the wedding will go ahead as planned tomorrow.

Nicola had bought the original dress for £300 from Last Minute Bridal, in School Street, months before it went up in flames on February 16. She said today: "I've been crying so much, I thought it would never happen. It was one thing when I found out the bridesmaid's dress had been destroyed but when I saw my dress I just could not believe it.

"We have been planning this wedding for two years and we thought the last two weeks would be spent relaxing and getting ready, but it has been the most stressful time of our lives."

She was given a refund from the owners of Last Minute Bridal, although the owners disputed the condition of her dress.

Nicola, of Tettenhall, will now marry her sweetheart Stuart Bagley, 30, in the new dress she found in Bridal Studio in Shifnal.

Owner Alison Fisher said today: "Nicola's sister-in-law-to-be Charlotte is getting a dress from us for her wedding and she told us she was having all these problems. We said if we could help in any way we could and Nicola came round to see us. As soon as she walked in she saw the dress and it was her size and colour, it was perfect. We were there with eight or nine dresses laid out but she found what she wanted straight away."

Nicola did not want any details of the dress revealed in the Express & Star so her fiance would not see it until they meet at the altar of St Michaels and All Angels Church in Tettenhall.

Thousands of pounds worth of wedding dresses were destroyed and others damaged in the fire at Last Minute Bridal.

Today shop owner Suzanne Bishop said it would not be reopening.