Grieving bride-to-be whose fiance died weeks before their wedding is refused refund for wedding dress

A boutique refused to give a woman a cash refund for her wedding dress after her husband to be died unexpectedly. Val Conway's fiancee Graham Thomas tragically passed away after a sudden illness eight weeks before their big day - which was to be next Saturday.

Val says she bought her dress from the boutique and while she says the shop staff were "extremely sympathetic" it was made clear that it wasn't their policy to refund money.


The boutique's owner Ged Mortimore defended the shop's refund policy and said it "bent over backwards" to offer Val a £300 credit note.

Jan said: “I said (to Val) 'Surely we know 300 people between us. If they pay £1 a ticket at least you will get your money back'.”

Val agreed to the idea and not only did the raffle raise the £300 she’d spent on the deep cobalt blue lace dress but another £350 on top of that. Sympathetic relatives and friends bombarded Jan with offers to buy raffle tickets.

Val said: “They came from people we know from Austria to Australia. We raised £656 which was fantastic and the winner was one of Graham’s friends. Graham would have been thrilled to bits.”

She has now donated £175 each to her fiance Graham’s favourite charities - the RNLI and St David’s Hospice in Llandudno.

Widow Val, a charity worker, met Coleg Llandrillo lecturer Graham and he won her heart. Their dream of getting married was shattered on June 29 when Graham suffered a pulmonary embolism and died later the same day.

This Saturday, August 22, will be desperately painful for Val - it is the date she was due to wed.
But her friend Jan will do her best to keep her spirits up: “I’m taking her out with her other friends to keep her busy.”

Val, from Llandudno bought the dress from P3 Ladies Designer Wear in Deganwy.

Source: UK Mirror