CORAOPOLIS, Pa. — Brides from Detroit to Pittsburgh said they were blindsided after they learned a highly recommended mobile bartender stopped showing up to events – and announced she had sold her business.
Michigan-based Sip of Eden’s sudden announcement last Friday left at least 100 brides scrambling to get answers and find a new vendor.
According to a spreadsheet WPXI was given access to, the brides discovered Sip of Eden had booked more than one wedding for the same date, often several hours’ drive apart. She promised a discount to the brides if they paid in full in a single lump sum.
The brides say they’re collectively out tens of thousands of dollars.
“She had the contracts. She had great reviews. She had a recommendation from our venue,” Ashley Stough said. “People were recommending her everywhere.”
Stough and other brides say the business’ now-former owner, Eden Regula, gave multiple conflicting reasons for no-showing her events that didn’t add up.
WPXI tried to reach Regula and her husband without success. Regula’s number was disconnected Tuesday.
The man who bought Regula’s business promised, in an email, to honor any contracts paid in full. He did not respond to a follow-up question about Stough’s event. She has already hired another bartender.
“I feel like the money is lost, but I am still willing to fight for it,” Stough said. “I hope whatever happens that she had a grand time with it because I don’t think it’s going to be a grand time now.”
Several brides posted screenshots of complaints filed with their state’s attorney general. Others said they filed lawsuits against Regula in small claims court.
“If enough people do complain, then sometimes those cases do reach the tipping point, and the attorney general will follow through,” Pittsburgh-based attorney Todd Elliott said, in addition to recommending people not contract across state lines to make lawsuits easier.
Stough said the stress level has gone down now that she’s rescued her own wedding, but she still wants answers.
“What else are you supposed to do?” she said. “If there is someone else, whether it be 2027, because she was still booking into that year – I mean, well into that year, like we’re talking the fall -- I don’t want them to feel alone. I want them to be able to have a resource and welcome them into our odd group chat of just camaraderie.”
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