A DEVASTATED bride was left without a wedding dress to wear at her own reception on Saturday, after a mix-up at a drycleaners. Yasmin Jones, of Mowbray Gardens in Hitchin, married in Antigua with 10 close family members present on March 8. She and her hus

A DEVASTATED bride was left without a wedding dress to wear at her own reception on Saturday, after a mix-up at a drycleaners.

Yasmin Jones, of Mowbray Gardens in Hitchin, married in Antigua with 10 close family members present on March 8.

She and her husband, David, had planned a wedding reception for 150 guests at the Novotel in Stevenage on Saturday, where she looked forward to wearing her wedding dress for the first time in front of family and friends.

When she returned from Antigua she took her dress into Washerman Dry Cleaners in Market Place, Stevenage, on March 18, and asked for it to be cleaned and ready for collection on the morning of her reception.

Mrs Jones, 25, said: "They said it would be ready and it wasn't.

"They told me on Saturday it would be ready on Monday instead, but my husband told them that wasn't good enough and had to be done that day."

She said he was told to return to the shop after 1.30pm and the dress would be ready, but when he went back the shop was closed.

"As you can imagine, I was devastated," said Mrs Jones. "It completely ruined our wedding reception.

"For a bride not to have her wedding dress at her wedding reception is catastrophic.

"I had to wear something else instead and face questions all night as to where my big white dress was.

"I just cried and cried. They single-handedly ruined our wedding reception. It's a �900 dress that no one got to see.

"I had nothing to wear and eventually borrowed an Asian dress from my sister."

When Mr Jones went to collect the dress on Monday he said he was horrified at still being made to pay �86 for the cleaning of it.

When The Comet spoke with the manager of Washerman Dry Cleaners, Ayo Opayinka, she said: "I haven't seen any complaint.

"If it was a problem why did they pay? She should have asked to speak to me, but this is the first time I'm hearing about this.

"I would like to find out what really happened and get to the bottom of it."

Ms Opayinka confirmed that the shop closed at 3.30pm on Saturday, instead of the normal time of 5pm.

An employee said he had been expecting Mr Jones to return at 1.30pm, but he did not show up.