AROUND seven wedding dresses could have been lost in the fire in Lyrebird Dry Cleaners in the Nowra CBD last week.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
But at this stage the actual extent of the damage or the losses are yet to be confirmed as dry cleaner's staff are yet to gain full access to the property.
The dry cleaners was extensively damaged in the fire which broke out around 1.30am on Thursday, January 28.
Vicki Lowbridge, who has worked at the business for 15 years said staff haven't been able to fully enter the building to really ascertain the real extent of the damage.
"We have to wait to be given the all clear by the engineers who have been assessing the structure," she said.
Read more:
Mrs Lowbridge estimated there is between five to seven wedding dresses from recent weddings in the building but it could have been a lot more, with COVID actually playing a helpful role.
"I guess that is one advantage of the COVID era and restrictions as such, usually at this time of the year, having just gone through the major wedding season [September, October, November] and it is nothing to have 20 dresses we have cleaned and another 20 waiting.
"But with COVID that number is down.
"If it is any saving grace, at least they are all used wedding dresses.
"We didn't have any dresses in for pre-wedding presses. And if we did they are usually done the day prior to the wedding and returned the same day.
"There was also a few wedding dresses that had been with us for a longer time."
Mrs Lowbridge said she can fully understand brides' distress about losing their 'beloved' wedding dresses, as her own dress is also in the building.
"My wedding dress, which I used almost 30 years ago, was also in the building," she said.
"So I know what the brides are feeling.
"It wasn't until I got home the other night and sat down and thought about it that I realised my dress is in there too.
"We recently renovated and I put it there to be out of the way."
Another staff member in her 70s, who was married in the '60s, has suffered the same fate.
She said a couple of formal and debutante dresses were also in the building.
"It still feels like it is all a dream but it's not," Mrs Lowbridge said.
She said the response to the fire had largely been supportive.
"We've had lots of people contact us even, some of the women who lost wedding dresses," she said.
"We've seen two wedding dress customers who gave us a hug and said while they were upset at the loss it was just material.
"That was really lovely - one was a long-time customer, Denise Jones, who's daughter just got married over the Christmas period. The dress was ready on the Wednesday, we were just finishing up the boxing and she planned to pick it up on the Thursday.
"But then we had the fire.
"She was lovely, telling us it was just material - that still doesn't make it any easier - others haven't been so kind.
"We also had other dresses that had been in there for a long time and just hadn't been picked up."
She said they have been told that some of the laundry and equipment seemed to be okay.
"We don't really know until we get in there and can see what is salvageable," she said.
"We're told the middle and back of the shop really only suffered smoke damage.
"We've been told the office has been damaged and that's near where the wedding dresses were boxed."
She said the business had insurance including garment insurance, however "they had never dealt with such a situation before and was unsure how long insurance claims might take".
We depend on subscription revenue to support our journalism. If you are able, please subscribe here. If you are already a subscriber, thank you for your support.