Rocky horror show: Future brides and bridesmaids line up for bad news at Morristown’s Nonchalance

A long line of future brides and bridesmaids lined up outside Nonchalance on Friday hoping to claim dresses or refunds from the Morristown bridal shop before it enters the bonds of holy bankruptcy.

Some waited as long as 90 minutes, in a thundershower, for their turn to step inside and receive the mostly bad news.

Those who had ordered dresses with cash or checks were given the number of a bankruptcy lawyer. Credit card customers were told to try a charge-back. Members of the state Division of Consumer Affairs distributed complaint forms. Women snapped digital photos of  shop records of their orders.

Some young ladies told horror stories of payments made to Nonchalance that never were forwarded to the dress manufacturers.  To claim those ordered dresses, brides and bridesmaids must pay again, this time directly to the manufacturers.

In other cases, women said their dress orders never got forwarded at all to the dress makers.

A sign on the door at Nonchalance–cited as a “Best of NJ” business by a magazine last year–blamed “unforseen circumstances” for the closure.

A newspaper reported that serious illness may have forced owner Kristin Erickson-Taylor to close her doors after 18 years.

Nobody was buying that one.

“My sister-in-law came last Tuesday,” said Jillian Bennett of East Hanover. “They took her money.”

“She wasn’t too sick to go to the bank” and cash the checks, added Vanessa Incorvaia of Wayne. Nonchalance took money from her six bridesmaids and never placed the orders, she said.

Like many of the brides-to-be, Vanessa feels compelled to pick up the tab for her bridesmaids when they re-order their dresses for her April wedding.

“A bride can’t expect bridesmaids to pay again,” she said, describing the whole experience as “devastating.”

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Jillian Bennett is getting married in October. The dresses for her bridal party were due at Nonchalance on Aug. 4.

“Now I have to start all over again,” she said. “They called me on Wednesday saying they’re done. They’re closed up.”

When Jillian called the owner, Kristin, the owner’s mother answered and said Kristin was ill and they were filing for Chapter 11.  The mother said everyone’s money would be refunded, said Jillian, who had shopped at Nonchalance twice before for bridesmaid dresses.

“I wasn’t a fan of the co-workers,” she said. “But the owner was very nice.”

Jillian now must go to the manufacturer of her dresses, Waters and Waters, and pay the full balance for all eight girls on her credit card, she said. Nonchalance never ordered the flower girls’ dresses as promised, she said.

Adding insult to injury, when Jillian finally got inside Nonchalance on Friday, “family friends” of the owner wanted to charge her for fabric. She refused to pay.

Dana Firrincila of Montville ordered dresses in March for nine bridesmaids and a flower girl. The good news is the manufacturer has the dresses. The bad news: Nonchalance never sent payment.

Dana said the store was packed with customers the day she ordered her dresses. Others also said the place appeared to be doing a brisk business.

“Where did the money go?” Dana asked.

Her cousin, Danielle Lichtenberger of Butler, paid by check for her dress and is not confident about recovering her money. She was not as surprised as some victims.

“I came here last year, browsing with my bridesmaids,” Danielle said. “I felt uncomfortable here.  (Shop employees) were kind of rude.”

Barbara Rodriguez of Harrison said she never carries cash. Except for the day she plinked down $135 for bridesmaid dress at Nonchalance.

“I’m dumb!” she exclaimed.

Courtney Boutillier of Wayne got nervous when her dresses did not arrive as promised on July 1.

“There was no call, no nothing,” she said.

The teacher finally got a call on Wednesday:

“We are out of business. Period,” was the gist of it, Courtney said.

The Park Avenue Bridal Shop in Verona is honoring Nonchalance orders and discounts, she said.

Initially, customers were told they only would be let inside Nonchalance to claim dresses. But Courtney got inside by claiming her aunt just had surgery and needed a break from the steamy sidewalk on South Street.

A new pizza shop, Tomato Pie, walked over with free pizza for the ladies as TV crews shot news pieces.

While grateful for the food, some of the women had a sour taste in their mouths from the wedding industry.

“It’s all b.s.,” said Angela Sergonis, asserting it’s hard to get married in New Jersey for less than $50,000 these days. “It’s a ripoff. Look at all of us standing in the rain. We’re idiots.”