September is now the second biggest wedding month of the year, after June. So, it’s really a bad time for shop owners to go belly up because brides are left without gowns on their wedding days. It happened recently to one chain in the Northeast and Midwest known as Kaufman’s Wedding World. The stores just shut down one day and padlocked all of their doors. Brides who had paid big deposits or who paid in full suddenly were left with nothing. What happens is women pay deposits for their dresses and then they wait and hope that the dress comes in. It’s the traditional way to buy a dress, but it’s just not smart anymore. Buying dresses off the rack is much safer. David’s Bridal is one of the biggest “buy now” shops, as is Filene’s Basement, and these shops are growing in popularity. Some companies also rent wedding dresses. It costs only a couple hundred dollars to rent a dress. So, if you are planning to get married, don’t pre-order and pay ahead of time. Think of new ways to get the dress you want. Otherwise, you may be left with nothing to wear on your wedding day.