A couple have launched a £10,000 civil claim for compensation against a former Wales international rugby player turned tailor over the service he provided for their wedding.
Jamie and Nathan Sussex-Smith say Nathan Palmer, who played on the wing for Wales' sevens before launching a career as a bespoke tailor, provided them with ill-fitting clothes they had to take to another tailor for alterations and made the build up to their big day enormously stressful through his failure to communicate with them until just before the wedding.
The couple thought Mr Palmer had promised them he would be making all the clothes for their bridesmaids himself but found a business card for a Vietnamese tailoring service inside one of the outfits. They have obtained a County Court Judgement against Mr Palmer's business Penarth Brands for £10,353.
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WalesOnline contacted Mr Palmer for a response to the couple's allegations but he said he would not comment while the legal process was ongoing. On his website, Mr Palmer who owns Nathan Palmer Bespoke Tailoring in Penarth describes his business as a "made to measure service, as well as a bespoke, hand made suit service".
Actor Nathan Sussex-Smith and business owner Jamie Lloyd Sussex-Smith say that they first met with Mr Palmer in February 2023 to commission him to make several outfits for their bridal party. These included five dresses, one female suit and a male suit jacket. This was six months before their wedding on August 27 2023.
Since launching his studio in 2013, Mr Palmer has built a reputation for creating bespoke made to measure clothing. He lists his clientele as including Sol Bamba, Ian Wright, Sam Warburton, Gavin Thomas and H from Steps. He has made wedding suits for Aston Merrygold and Keiffer Moore and has clients from around the globe, including America and Cyprus.
It is this reputation that Jamie Sussex-Smith says made him want to commission Mr Palmer to design their wedding outfits. He said: “We had a meeting with him and we asked ‘do you also do female clothing?’ and he said he did. I personally asked him does he make them himself and he confirmed that he did. From there we were all happy and ready to go, or so I thought.
“When we were asking him to make the girls' dresses we wanted assurance that he would have enough time to get them all done and that he had enough time between then and the wedding. He did have other events before us but he assured us we would have his full focus through the summer.
“At that point [we had no doubts]. He was very excited, we offered pictures of what style we were looking at. He offered to create them from those designs with additional bespoke parts to show off each girl's individuality.
"Our female entourage were all different ages & sizes so it was extremely important to us that they felt amazing and it wasn’t just an off the rack kind of dress And this is obviously why we went to him."
Ordinarily, Mr Palmer would source the fabric for the garments, with his website stating they "are passionate about sourcing the best fabrics from around the world". However Mr Sussex-Smith says that he decided to source his own fabric as the couple weren't happy with Mr Palmer's offerings.
"He showed us some material swatches, but they weren't really what we had in mind so I offered to get material myself. I had several trips driving up to London to get material. I didn't mind because I knew it was exactly what we wanted. But at the same time I remember it didn't really have the “full Nathan bespoke feel that he shouts about.”
The couple said that as a result of sourcing the fabric, it had been agreed that the total cost of the dresses would be lower than normal. Due to the bespoke nature of his garments, there are no prices for Mr Palmer's services readily available online but a previous interview with WalesOnline stated that two-piece suits cost from £1,000, three-piece suits from £1,350, dresses starting at £600 and made-to-measure shirts from £150.
The couple claim that as months went on they found it increasingly difficult to get in contact with Mr Palmer to arrange meetings. "There was absolutely zero contact from his side and It was very important to us to get regular communication with him because with so much going on and the dresses and our suits were obviously so important to us.
"We had complete radio silence, we would try and book a meeting and he would ignore it. We only communicated through WhatsApp, sometimes Instagram but he just wouldn't get back to any time sensitive messages, sometimes till days later.
"We were trying to organise a big event and when someone doesn’t get back to you when you’re supposed to have their “full attention” as he said we would. You don’t know what’s going on, it's stressful. We didn’t have our first fitting until the summer so we only had a matter of weeks before the wedding and this was totally out of our control."
Mr Sussex Smith, who had paid a deposit of £1,922, went to see Mr Palmer. "I said ‘I’ve been trying to message you’ and he was saying ‘I’ve been busy, I’ve been busy’. I said to him then, 'Now is your time, if you don’t think you will get this done then that’s fine and we will sort a plan B'," he said.
"I was just extremely worried and he smiled and said again 'I promise you Jamie it will all be fine, everything will be done’ I got in the car and felt silly for even doubting him." Try WalesOnline Premium for FREE by clicking here for no ads, fun puzzles and brilliant new features
Mr Sussex-Smith said the bridal party was booked in for a fitting on August 18, just over a week before the wedding. Mr Sussex-Smith said there had already been re-arranging of this fitting appointment several times. The groom said that the appointment was scheduled for 5pm and that he had a message at 4:50pm asking to rearrange. Mr Sussex - Smith said this was not possible and as a result had to wait outside the studio in the rain, which he calls unprofessional.
It was at this appointment that he saw the female garments for the first time. He said: "When we got into the shop at this point soaking wet, he said he didn’t have the dresses there and they were in his flat down the road. I thought, 'but his sewing machines are in the back room, that's strange'.
"He came back with a rucksack and my mum made a joke saying ‘oh the dresses aren’t in the rucksack are they’. He said ‘oh no no no’ and then went to his back room. In the split of the door my sister saw him taking these dresses out of the rucksack.
"I went in saying ‘let's have a look at these dresses then?’ None of them were steamed, they were all in airtight plastic wrapping, nothing made sense. So I said ‘so you haven’t made these then?’
"The girls tried the dresses on and they were so ill fitted, how he thought these were acceptable to show a client is beyond me. All that was going through my head was how on earth are we going to fix this?" Mr Sussex-Smith says that it was clear there were too many alterations to be done before the big day.
"It was seven days before the wedding and we thought ‘something’s not right here, I can’t trust this person'. After we saw the abomination of supposed garments I knew needed to remove all the clothes from his possession and he was saying ‘no trust me, trust me, I promise you it won't be a problem’.
"It got to the point where I think it was four or five days until the wedding and my mum had no finished outfit, and the girls had something but definitely not dresses." Mr Sussex-Smith said he decided to take the clothes elsewhere for the final alterations.
The couple said they found labels for Tuong Tailor in Hoi An, Vietnam, stapled to the dresses. He said: "My Nathan then contacted this shop in Vietnam to ask if they could make outfits and if you can send fabric to them and they said yes they could but obviously it does cost more because of the shipping.
"If he did make the dresses then why is there a business card stapled inside from the other side of the world? If he’d said all along 'look I don’t make them but they will look amazing, they will look like this, I wouldn’t have a problem.
"He claims he wants to be a sustainable eco-friendly fashion designer, but then he’s happy for fabric to be shipped around the world."
The couple then found another tailor - Glamorgan Tailoring - who they say had to work through the night to make the items "wearable." Jamie also went on a trip to London to find a last minute mother of the groom's outfit.
"It was obviously such a traumatic experience for us in the run up which was meant to be the happiest period of our life. Blood, sweat and literal tears went into planning this wedding. The sacrifices that myself and Nathan made to make this day become reality and for somebody to just come along and totally disrespect us and everybody who helped plan was infuriating."
Mr Sussex-Smith says he was contacted by Mr Palmer on the night before the wedding to arrange the final payment which he refused to pay.
He said:" We spoke to a solicitor and they said to contact the FCA, Trading Standards, and get a county court judgement out on the business and himself which we have done. Yet he has ignored any official letters. The longer he ignores official letters the worse it is going to get.
"We had actually tried to contact him several times because to enforce the CCJ, you have to have evidence to show that you've tried to get a contract with this person." Join our WhatsApp news community here for the latest breaking news
The couple say Mr Palmer would not answer messages and he was served the claim notice in person by Jamie's father who stopped him outside of his studio. "We haven’t heard anything since and so he has ignored all contact.
The couple wanted to stress that Mr Palmer didn't ruin their big day, but made the run up more stressful than it needed to be. "Leading up to the wedding we had sleepless nights about whether the items would be ready, how much this would cost extra. Our stress levels were at a real high and we used our honeymoon fund to pay for the short fall.
"It was actually quite warm and loving to know that all our friends and family that were involved in the wedding came together when we were at our lowest, like an army to help so we didn't spiral at this stressful time. I actually am thankful because it just goes to show the people around us when we needed them the most. They had taken days off work, dropped everything and came running. The memories we created because of this we have spun it as a positive but we can never forget what happened and I would hate for this to happen to somebody else."
The couple are seeking compensation for the £1,922 deposit they paid, as well as £1,500 for alterations and £2,000 in damages and £1,600 in loss of earnings as well as other expenses. They say Mr Palmer has not acknowledged this civil case to them.
Jamie and Nathan said: "For us, it would be great to have that money back, but in our heads we have had to try and forget about that now and the honeymoon is on hold because we might not get it back for a very long time. So for us we are doing this for other people not to fall victim and to just think twice and solely for that reason now.
"I don’t believe that Mr Palmer should be trading and promising customers the bespoke service he advertises. It was emotionally and financially draining. The extra costs we incurred were completely unnecessary. I believe Mr Palmer is fully accountable and I hope that this doesn’t happen to anyone else.
"He advertises himself as this bespoke tailor but the experience you get is very different. I wouldn’t want anyone else to go through this for such a big life event and think you are going to get what you want because it’s just not what you're going to get.
"Yes he ruined the run up to the day, but he didn’t ruin our wedding day."
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