By Jessica Dye

NEW YORK, Dec 3 (Reuters) - She shouldn't have said yes to the dress.

Samantha Shea watched in "horror" as the zipper split on her ivory wedding gown before a cocktail reception at the Gansevoort Hotel, just an hour prior to the ceremony, according to a ruling from a small claims judge. With guests and staff waiting, Shea paid two hotel housekeepers $200 to sew her into the dress, a temporary fix that prevented her from using the restroom for six hours, the ruling said.

District Judge Gary Knobel ordered seamstress Dalia Cohen to pay $1500 to Shea as compensation.

"The ensuing 'nightmare,' as the plaintiff described it at trial, allegedly robbed the plaintiff of experiencing the joy of her very special day," Knobel wrote in a ruling dated Nov. 26.

According to testimony from a September bench trial, Shea purchased the gown in May for $599 and hired Cohen, a seamstress, for $600 to perform alterations. Between Shea's last fitting and when she picked up the dress two days before the ceremony, Cohen said she replaced the original zipper, which was broken, the ruling said.

Shea said she did not try the dress on again until an hour before the ceremony, shortly before the reception was scheduled to start on the rooftop of the Gansevoort in the Meatpacking District, the ruling said. When the zipper split, bridesmaid Joanne Zambuto testified that she and Shea were "scared and didn't know what to do." Zambuto frantically called Cohen, who allegedly said she could be at the hotel in two hours, the ruling said.

That's when Shea decided to pay the housekeepers to sew her into the dress, the ruling said.

Shea filed a lawsuit against Cohen in Nassau County District Court seeking $1,000 for breaching an oral agreement to properly alter the dress. Cohen acknowledged that she was responsible for the replacement and said she was "devastated" when she was driving on the highway toward Manhattan and received a text message telling her not to come to the hotel because her services were no longer needed.

But Cohen told the judge that the split zipper wasn't her fault, saying at trial, "it's nature."

Knobel sided with Shea, and awarded her more than the $1,000 she had requested. In addition to the cost of the ruined dress and the $600 she paid Cohen, Cohen will have to compensate Shea for the $200 she gave to the hotel housekeepers who sewed her into her dress, and the $100 she paid to the officiating minister due to the delayed ceremony, Knobel ruled.

Shea and Cohen, neither of whom was represented by a lawyer, could not be immediately reached for comment.

The case is Shea v. Cohen, Nassau County District Court, Second District Small Claims Part, No. 2182-2012.

 Follow us on Twitter @ReutersLegal | Like us on Facebook