It was worse than the bride and groom smashing cake in each other's faces. The Boston 411 Spring Home & Bridal Show, an elaborate cyber-scam, bilked thousands from brides and vendors, leaving businesses like LaReine Bridal to deal with the mess.

About 5,000 brides-to-be lost between $10 and $15 for advanced tickets to the extravagant - but fake - bridal show planned for March 5-7 at Hynes Convention Center in Boston. Businesses planning to exhibit at the show lost much more.

LaReine Bridal, a Waltham boutique, bought into the hard-to-resist sales pitch for the Boston 411 show when a woman named Jamie Edwards first called Dec. 22. "She said ... we were recommended," said Judy Gross, manager of LaReine Bridal. "She said our booth was going to be right next to the stage."

Because of the extravagance of the show, Edwards said she needed 100 dresses for brides and attendants as well as jewelry for the phony bridal show. Edwards promised to send a van to pick up the items, said Gross. That pick-up date would have been today.

"She called in January to confirm details for the show and discuss model sizes and she said they had Miss Teen as a model and were trying to get Miss Massachusetts," said Gross. "It was all pretty routine, but bigger than a typical show where we bring between 40 and 45 dresses."

Booth space normally is free when putting on a fashion show, but Edwards asked for $2,500. Bridal shop owner Mirielle Stanbro negotiated $500, which Edwards said had to be paid online with PayPal.

Before spending $45,000 for nine attention-grabbing dresses with feathers, flowers and naked lace to show off at the fashion show, staff at the bridal shop called Hynes on Dec. 23, and the convention center confirmed the show was on, said Gross.

"We have nine show-stopping dresses - some already shipped, and some I couldn't cancel, and I will probably never sell because we bought them because we thought there would be 6,000 brides and we wanted to make it fun and exciting for the brides," said Stanbro.

Boston Police, the FBI and the Suffolk district attorney's office could not confirm that the Hynes was aware of the event. Convention center officials have said no show had been scheduled there.

Spokeswoman Gail Marcinkiewicz said the Boston FBI office was "involved in the investigation and was providing forensics for the case."

Jake Wark, press secretary from the DA's office, said it was premature to discuss the matter.

At this point, no one has been charged with a crime.

"Everything was done very professionally, she promptly returned all calls, they had a great Web site and they sent a contract and a floor plan for the show," said Gross.

By Feb. 18, when LaReine Bridal wasn't seeing any advertising for the big event, Gross called Edwards.

"She said it would be heavily covered by Fox, ABC, CBS - all the big ones," said Gross. "And the Herald was going to do a feature article on the bridal show and that they had sold thousands of tickets online and because we would have four fashion shows, we would have tremendous exposure. Every question I had, she had an answer to it."

Seeing it on the news recently, Gross knew they were out $500.

"It was a big shock," said Gross.

To help soften the burn for the brides taken in by the scam, Longfellow's Wayside Inn is offering swindled brides free admission to its own bridal show on Sunday, March 21, from noon to 4.

The real bridal show at the 300-year-old inn on Wayside Inn Road in Sudbury includes 30 of the area's top vendors, said Guy LeBlanc, Wayside's marketing director. Because of limited space, the free offer is for the first 250 callers who pre-register and can show proof they paid for a ticket to the bogus Boston show.

A $10 ticket bought at the door pays for a guest and a friend.

"This should be a time of joy," said LeBlanc. "These people got an absolute curveball."

From noon to 3 p.m., brides-to-be can enjoy endive scoops with lobster salad, chicken satay and scallops wrapped in bacon, while they roam the historic inn and visit with vendors. From 3 to 4 p.m., a fashion show will be held at the recently renovated Martha Mary Chapel.