Brides left in lurch as Dudley-based wedding firm collapses

Many of the distraught brides, who stumped up in advance to Dudley-based company A Little Bit of Bling to provide the decor at their receptions, now fear they will never see what they paid for - or their money back.

Owner Sarah Cawthorne today said she had already paid back five brides that she admitted failing to honour bookings for but denied that as many as 170 were being let down as has been alleged by complainants.

And she pledged that the rest of her orders, which she says are for 102 receptions, would be honoured by Paradise Weddings of Solihull.

Many of her customers have banded together on a Facebook page called 'Burned Brides' to coordinate a fight to get their money back.

Dudley Trading Standards, which has received 14 complaints from customers, said it had worked closely with the company to arrange refunds for a 'number of individuals'.

But newly-wed Sarah Broadley, aged 31, who discovered just hours before her wedding that the decorations she paid £180 for had not been delivered, claimed she was being 'fobbed off' in her demand for her money back.

Mrs Broadley, whose maiden name was Yarwood, married Ben Broadley at The Village, Dudley, on September 20.

She said: "I went to check that everything was OK and Sarah Cawthorne had told me she'd be there at 9.30am.

"At 9.45 I got agitated and phoned her, then texted a message asking if all was OK.

"She said she wasn't coming - it was 11am and the wedding was at 4pm.

"I broke down and was absolutely gutted.

"She asked for my bank details and she said she'd refund me - but I've still had nothing."

Mrs Broadley, of Ashdown Drive, Wordsley, said The Village was able to organise another supplier to deliver decorations in time for the ceremony.

Amanda Hart-Caunt, who runs a wedding decor business in Daventry, said she is coordinating a support group of about 170 customers of A Little Bit of Bling, claiming they are owed a total of about £26,000.

Mrs Cawthorne, of Sedgley, said: "I have had to retire from business due to ill health on the advice of my doctor.

"I have depression and anxiety arising from business pressures and family matters. I had to close my Facebook page down after receiving death threats to myself and my children.

"Now I just want to get better and look after my family."