Reality show star to attend Casper wedding show – Casper Star

Chris Reed is fighting the Internet and the downturn in Wyoming’s oil field any way she can think of.

She has owned Christina’s for 35 years, and before that sold just lingerie under the name Christina’s in a storefront on the Sandbar.

On Jan. 31, Reed and her bevy of vendors will welcome brides-to-be, their entourages and the curious to the Parkway Plaza from noon to 4 p.m. for “VOWS, Wyoming’s Wedding Showcase.” The fashion show will begin at 2 p.m.

It is one of two bridal shows in Casper this month.

Those in attendance at Reed’s will see reality TV star Randy Fenoli, designer, fashion and beauty expert and star of TLC’s “Say Yes to the Dress,” “Randy to the Rescue,” and author of “It’s All About the Dress.”

VIP tickets are $25 and include seating at the front, a meet and greet and photos with Fenoli. General admission tickets are $15. All tickets are available only at Christina’s, located at Third and Country Club behind Papa Murphy’s Pizza and above Hilltop Shopping Center.

Behind the cash register in Christina’s hangs a bridesmaid dress that one of Reed’s former employees bought and wore in a wedding. The taffeta lining is a different color than the chiffon of the skirt, there are holes where there shouldn’t be and the seamstress quality is very poor, according to Reed.

“It was purchased off the Internet from China,” Reed said. “I do not support the Internet in any way. We won’t fix Internet dresses. I have this dress to show girls the difference.”

A sign in her front window states, “We do not support online shopping. There is a $50 fee to measure you and/or if you are trying on our dresses for size to order your dress online. This applies to all dresses.”

Reed owned the only bridal shop in Casper for the first 10 years she was in business and still sells the experience of choosing a once-in-a-lifetime dress, accessories and complementary clothing for the entire bridal party at one local store.

“We want our brides to come in. That’s what it’s all about — that experience of finding your dress, seeing yourself in it and knowing that it’s the one,” Reed said.

Teresa Corkill is marrying Dan McGlade in May. She spent three days looking for a wedding dress in Denver.

“I found just what I needed here (at Christina’s), and it’s just as good quality,” she said as she dropped in to take close-up photos of her dress with her phone. “I got all of the bridesmaids’ dresses and tuxes here too. It’s nice that it’s all in one place.”

Reed said sales at the beginning of 2015 were “really good.”

November was OK, largely because of fall formals at both Natrona and Kelly Walsh high schools.

“December was just awful,” Reed said.

Her husband, Dean, lost his job two months ago. He’d left a good position with another oil field company to work for Pro Directional 2-1/2 years ago.

“He’s a good salesman, and he’s out there (job) hunting every day,” she said, “but he just turned 65. It’s going to be hard …”

When Chris owned the lingerie shop on the Sandbar, she traveled and produced five lingerie shows a week around Wyoming.

“A friend of mine talked me into going into the bridal business. I knew nothing. I started out with all the hard knocks. I made it through three of the oil field crunches and managed to survive.”

At the Wedding Showcase, browsers and shoppers will be introduced to the full line of bridal needs, from clothing and flowers to cakes and photography.

Fenoli will take the stage before or after the fashion show “and will be able to give the girls a lot of good tips.” He will also take questions, Reed said.

At Christina’s, brides of all sizes and ages can see the newest in bridal fashions, as well as buy off the rack.

Reed said about 35 percent of her sales come off the rack.

If a bride orders a dress, it will typically take about 18 weeks to arrive.

“Couture will be a little longer,” Reed said. For those unfamiliar, Reed said couture is an expensive dress from basically the very top designers. She estimates about 15 percent of her business is couture.

“You don’t have to go to Denver to get couture,” Reed said. “A lot of people don’t realize that.”

If a wedding gown is purchased at Christina’s, there are discounts on everything else, from bridesmaid dresses and jewelry to tuxedos.

Aside from shoddy quality that she won’t fix, Reed said supporting local businesses instead of shopping online is critical for another reason.

“We — all of us — provide jobs for Casper,” she said. “If a wedding is that important to you, you need to shop where you know you’re going to get quality and let the bridal store worry about the headaches.”

And then, as Fenoli has asked brides for years, when they say yes to the dress, it truly will be the dress of their dreams.

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Two members of local rap group Hit Squad charged with sex trafficking – Chicago Sun

Two aspiring rappers had a more lucrative business on the side, according to federal prosecutors — they used guns and violence to force girls into prostitution.

Samuel Nichols, aka Buck; and Charles Fears, aka Kash, were charged Friday with one count each of engaging in sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.

Since 2012, the pair “worked together to recruit females, including minors, to engage in the commercial sex business,” a federal criminal complaint states, then would force them to live in motels where they worked.

Prosecutors claim the pair carried guns to intimidate the girls, at least one of whom was as young as 13. If the girls did not follow their “rules,” Nichols and Fears “would often hit, slap and choke the females who worked for them, including one incident in which Nichols beat a female so badly she had to be hospitalized,” prosecutors said.

They would provide the girls with cocaine, crack cocaine and alcohol for extra energy so they could work longer hours, prosecutors said.

They would post ads on the website Backpage.com with photographs of the females “wearing lingerie and posing in sexual positions”, according to the complaint. Nichols and Fears then gave the women cell phones and “instructed them to answer calls and schedule meetings with Backpage.com customers, according to the complaint.

Meetings generally took place in suburban motels, including Naperville, Downers Grove, Schaumburg, Lansing, Harvey, Alsip and Joliet, the complaint states. After the women performed sexual acts for money, they would have to give the cash to Nichols and Fears.

One of the women told prosecutors that “on a busy day … she serviced 10 to 20 commercial sex customers and made as much as $1,000, all of which she gave to Nichols,” the complaint states.

The 22-year-old Fears was arrested Friday morning in Chicago, and was scheduled for a detention hearing at 11 a.m. Jan. 22 in federal court in Chicago. The 30-year-old Nichols was arrested in Tennessee and ordered brought back to Chicago.

Prosecutors said Nichols and Fears are aspiring rappers. The criminal complaint says they post music videos on YouTube and other websites.

If convicted, they face a mandatory minimum of 15 years in prison and a maximum of life.

The FBI, Carol Stream police and Cook County Human Trafficking Task Force took part in the investigation.

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