Brides beware: Customer warns others after Sacramento store closes, stops responding
SACRAMENTO — What is supposed to be the perfect day has turned into a nightmare for one Sacramento bride after the store where she bought her wedding dress closed and stopped responding to her messages.
Brittany Baledio is set to walk down the aisle in October and bought her dress from Onyx Bridal near downtown Sacramento in December 2022.
"I paid for it in full and it was my dream dress. They special ordered it for me. They actually didn't carry it in the store," Baledio said. "When I asked about the timeline, she said end of August at the soonest."
The Sacramento location closed in July 2023 and the owner's second location in Los Angeles was also empty. Baledio said she began to worry when she followed up at the end of July and stopped receiving messages from the owner.
"There's been several brides online that have come forward, that have been going through that, too, and so we're all going through the same situation and I have yet to hear back from her," Baledio said.
Fearing the worst, Baledio said she reached out to the designer directly and has been communicating with them directly, too.
"I just want other brides to be aware, so they aren't struggling last minute like us," Baledio said. "I'm just wondering, 'What happened?' I vet all my vendors really well, and there were no red flags before this."
We were able to reach Onyx owner Karla Fuentes-Rivera, who said a domino effect of problems has thrown the shop into severe financial struggles.
"In November of last year, we had somebody who crashed into our storefront, and we had no front wall for November through March of this year," Fuentes-Rivera said. "I've been working with the designers trying to get these dresses to these brides."
She said the crash coupled with a decline in sales revenue has forced her business into the red. She apologized for the lack of communication and said she is working directly with the designer of the dresses to ensure no bride is without their perfect dress on their big day.
"It's a bad thing on my end, but I'm not going to bother you unless I have an answer for you because saying I don't know what's going to happen is a lot worse than, 'Hey, we finally have a solution,' " Fuentes-Rivera said. "I want them to know we are working on it, but it's been rough."
Alterations can sometimes be the most stressful last-minute process for many brides, and Onyx Bridal is promising to ensure any customer that uses their services will have their dress on time. She said Pinky's Bridal Alterations will be promising a three-week turnaround for basic alterations.
Onyx Bridal is promising to reach out to brides individually beginning August 29 and says they will ensure every dress makes it by the big day.