“She stole my dress,” said Cenderra Ca’Zanthia, a womenswear designer, after her latest client neglected to pay the balance of a handmade wedding dress and then blocked her on social media.
Cenderra called out her customer, Raylee Rukavina, who had previously acquired her services for her August wedding, for allegedly taking the product without paying for it.
Highlights
- A designer called out a bride for not paying the balance on her wedding dress and blocking her on social media.
- The viral video of the seamstress explaining what happened got 11 million views, sparking online backlash against the bride.
- The bride made her Instagram profile inaccessible following the backlash.
"Raylee has our dress and won't pay us the balance," the designer said. "It's a bridal gown, and at this point, she will not return or pay her balance, so the dress is stolen. If anyone has any information about this Colorado bride, let us know!"
The resulting clip, in which Ca’Zanthia can be seen trying the dress on a model first and then posing with a satisfied Raylee, has gone viral, with over 11 million views at the time of writing.
The bride got slammed online after her wedding seamstress exposed her for having “stolen” her dress, ghosting her, and refusing to pay
Image credits: casze
Rukavina, who advertises her services as a hairstylist on Instagram, has since made her profile inaccessible due to the overwhelming amount of backlash she received following Cenderra’s exposé, which included the names of both her personal and business Instagram accounts.
The designer further explained the situation in a follow-up video, where she claims that she posted her clip as a last resort.
“I shipped her the dress as a sign of good faith. This was a rush-order gown for her last-minute wedding,” Ca’Zanthia explained.
Image credits: casze
She specified that the receipt was also sent via email and physically on the package, but no payment was received.
“I made sure the dress was in the truck and ready to go. It was sent overnight, so she was to receive it the next day.”
The designer states that she waited for hours on end for the deposit to arrive, but nothing happened. Hours later, she contacted FedEx and got confirmation that the dress was picked up and signed by Raylee’s husband.
After being left in the dark for a day, the designer flew to Colorado to pick up the dress herself, but she was once again ghosted
Image credits: casze
After being “ghosted” for an unspecified amount of time, Raylee finally contacted her and told her she wanted to “try the dress first and send her half of the money first, and then half afterwards if she was satisfied with the result.”
This came as a shock to Ca’Zanthia due to the fact that Raylee had sent her daughter to try the dress on in her stead, arguing that, since both have a similar build, any necessary changes could be made without her being present.
“That’s not how it works. I need my payment, you have the dress. Pay me,” she told her client.
Her message continued to go unanswered until the bride suddenly demanded Ca’Zanthia “fix the dress,” to which she replied that she would be open to it, but payment had to be delivered first.
Image credits: casze
“She didn’t even have the courtesy to tell me she had picked up the package. I had to find out for myself,” the designer continued.
After one day had passed, the situation escalated as the hairstylist refused to send the dress back, wanting Ca’Zanthia to pay for the FedEx trip back as well.
Not wanting to see her work go to waste, the designer boarded a plane and decided to go pick the gown, to which Raylee agreed. Once she arrived in Colorado, communication was cut off once again. Feeling betrayed and having her time wasted, the seamstress felt helpless and decided to turn to TikTok as a last resort.
Raylee’s sister responded to the backlash after the former’s hair business had to close its social media accounts, stating that the designer sent the gown knowing it was too small for the bride
Image credits: casze
As the original clip continued to gain traction and Raylee’s business came under fire, her sister, McKenzie, was contacted by news site Distractify for an interview, and she gave her family’s side of the story.
The sister claimed that it was Ca’Zanthia who was in the wrong because the dress was “at least two sizes too small,” a fact that she alleges the designer was aware of but sent the package regardless, skipping over an alleged final dress fitting session.
Image credits: leticiaholloway
She also claimed that the designer refused to show up for an agreed-upon Zoom meeting where all parties were supposed to discuss the issue of the dress’ size, which, according to her, was “not designed to fit [her] sister’s body type.”
McKenzie said that the bride looked to other designers to try to adjust the gown’s size, but they refused to do so after deeming the dress “unwearable.”
As the clip grew in popularity, more and more women were able to take a look at Ca’Zanthia’s designs, earning her a host of new potential clients despite the stressful situation she went through
The controversy appears to have been a blessing in disguise for the seamstress, as her TikTok page exploded with positive attention, with many future brides being marveled by the beautiful design of Raylee’s dress.
“Ok but this went viral and now I want you to design my future wedding dress,” said a future customer.
“Forget the Raylee girl for a minute. Where are you located? I am getting married in May and that dress is spectacular,” asked another.
“That is the most gorgeous wedding dress I have ever seen! I thought my dress was amazing,” one user wrote.
Ca’Zanthia updated her followers on the payment situation after one user asked her about it. In her reply, the designer confirms that the initial deposit for the service was paid but not the balance for the finished dress.
Raylee’s social media accounts remain closed, with many users believing them to have been outright deleted.
"Get a lawyer!" Users were outraged at the actions of the bride and took to social media to express their anger
