Woman reclaim her wedding gown after Bed Bath & Beyond declared bankruptcy

In the aftermath of Bed Bath & Beyond's recent bankruptcy filing, a woman from Bedford, New Hampshire, claims she is still waiting for her wedding gown.

Jesse Moltenbrey purchased a wedding gown preservation package from Bed Bath & Beyond last month, which is advertised on the retailer's website as an easy alternative "to have your gown cleaned and preserved after your wedding."

Moltenbrey told HotGossipNewz that she followed the instructions and delivered her gown to Memories Wedding Gown Preservation, a Houston-based company, and had no idea what was going on until she received an alarming message on March 24. She was advised at the time that the company was withholding all dresses as of March 11 due to Bed Bath & Beyond owing over $42,000 in debts.

"I read it, and I just felt kind of sick and helpless for a little while," she says. "I'm wondering how I'm going to get a bankrupt company to pay a debt?" I went through their online chat, which took six hours, and they were saying, 'You shouldn't have been pulled into this, and you need to insist on getting your dress back.' For a little moment, I felt helpless."

Moltenbrey goes on to say that she had no immediate intentions for the preserved gown, but with a second baby on the horizon (she already had a 2-year-old daughter), she needed to move it to the basement to make place for the baby.

"I had to clear out that wardrobe because I was afraid something bad would happen to it," she explains. "And it's a one-of-a-kind gown." It's a wedding gown in black. My youngsters are unlikely to want to wear it. Who knows, but I just figured it out, and it's special to me. I'll keep it, and if either of them wants to do something with it in the future, that's up to them. I wanted it to have at least that option. And it's only the principle. It's my property, and they have no right to it."

Moltenbrey then set out to retrieve her robe.

"In my first email, I said, 'Please, please, please just send me back my dress.'" I'm basically begging them to return it. I don't mind if the service was completed. "All I want is my dress back," she says.

"Then, after a few hours of thinking and taking deep breaths, I was like, okay, 'We're going to make a TikTok, we'll contact the news.'" 'We will do everything we can.'"

She ultimately got in touch with Memories, who gave her a tracking number for the dress "a few days ago," though she says she hasn't heard anything since.

"I received a tracking number, but there has been no movement on it." It claims that the label has been created, but it has not.

Moltenbrey's gown has been returned, according to an emailed statement from Memories Gown Preservation on Friday.

"Beginning March 11, 2023 (before they filed for bankruptcy), we informed Bed Bath & Bed Bath brides that we would no longer be processing their gowns." At the time, Bed Bath & Beyond had unpaid invoices dating back to March of 2022. Memories is a little company that can no longer afford to 'clean, preserve, box, and ship gowns' without payment."

The statement goes on to say:

"We are dealing with Bed Bath and Beyond brides on a case-by-case basis, not keeping gowns hostage, and are offering them two choices for returning their gown: 1) Raw - $30 for shipping/handling. 2) Cleaned and preserved for a very low wholesale price at Bed Bath & Beyond. This is a poor situation in every way. In an ideal world, we could prevent Bed Bath and Beyond gowns from being delivered to us, but that is not how UPS Labels work. Bed Bath & Beyond and their management owe a serious apologies to both Memories Gown Preservation and Bed Bath brides."