Well. Life is just a regular whirlwind of activity here at erin-go-blog. One of these days, I might get to sleep. 😉
On Saturday, I met up with Jen so she could come with me to see the dress I want. (Yes, folks…Rand has seen pictures of the dress. But he has not seen ME in the dress, so it doesn’t count. I don’t necessarily think pictures of me in the dress would even count, but that’s not important right now…) The photo hardly does this dress justice. We had a pleasant girly lunch, and then headed off to the shop.
Cutting now, in case you want to skip the gratuitous weddingstuff. Annoying bridal shop dealings follow.
Now, we went to a bridal shop that I have so far had excellent experiences with, and I was pretty confident that I was going to order from them. After Saturday, uh, not so much. Pushy annoying saleslady that was all about “closing.” I smiled demurely and said that yes, in fact, I was going to order the next time I came in.
The dress I tried on was a 10, and it was a little big on top. It has a corset back, so it wasn’t visibly big on top from the front. Pushy saleslady took my hip measurement (over my pants, which seemed, uh, weird to me) before we left and told me that it would probably be best to order the 10 and have the top taken in…I didn’t trust her, so today, I stopped by a different shop and said I needed to be measured because I was in an out-of-town wedding. Guess what? My hip measurement was an inch smaller, putting me into the 8 and thus not needing any bodice alterations.
I also asked about other alterations and was told their $199 alteration package includes hem and bustle. That seemed a little unreasonable to me, but I really have no idea.
I called another local bridal shop to try and get a price quote on the dress (I had tried on gowns there before, but they didn’t have this one…) and they refused to give me a quote over the phone. They said I had to come in. I was like “um, no.”
I called the bridal shop in Elk County, and they were SO nice and accommodating. They not only looked up the dress for me, but they told me that they’re having a 10% off sale and calculated the final cost of the dress with tax. Their alterations are priced by the hour, though, so of course I won’t know how much that’s going to be. But really…I think I have to order from them.
I’m a little soured on this whole experience. I hate being treated like I don’t have a brain cell just because I’m a “bride.”
Speaking of…I made the horrible, horrible mistake of registering for some local bridal show online (and giving them my address and phone number) and I’m being buried under constant mailings from wedding vendors. 99% of them are going straight into the recycling bin. Gah. I got a call from the BAC last week, too. *eyeroll*
Oh, and not that I’m going to make any wedding shoe decisions right at the moment, but I’m kind of digging this idea:
Crazy? Eh, maybe, but I’m SO not a heel girl and I’m all about the comfy.
I’ve got more, (some non-wedding related stuff even!) but I just can’t do it right now….
It’s beautiful! And I think that whole groom-seeing-it thing has kind of gone out the window nowadays with most photographers taking all the post photos *before* the ceremony. (Most people having realized that it’s just too hectic to do it afterward.)
Go you for holding out for a place that gave you good customer service! 🙂
Love the shoes! Comfy is always good. I bought shoes that were actually dance shoes, ’cause I used to be a dancer and that’s what I found comfy. 🙂 (In fact, those wound up being the only heels I ever wear nowadays, to this day.)
Comfy shoes = important. Those = way cute.
Truly, the dress is perfect. I am so excited, it was made for Erin. And looks NOTHING like the photo.
And truly? The shop and the woman was the WORSE customer service experience ever, it’s made me think that I should go into this field. Um hello? A woman has been in your shop 3 times, this is the 4th. She is happy giddy beaming and getting married. In love. The first time in the shop, she was by herself. The 2nd time, she was WITH HER MOM and the 3rd, she just stopped by randomly to see “the dress’ now before your eyes is the woman again, this time with her best friend.
DUH SHE LOVES THE DRESS IT IS THE ONE. Start gushing goddammit. Make Erin feel like the world is hers, because let me tell you in this dress it is.
The WORSE part of the experience, and by the way not shocking about the measurements she seemed to want you to buy and pay…
The worse part was in the dressing room where she said to you “and now once you have the dress, everything else falls in place, the invitations, the bridesmaids dresses…and of course, the Groom comes second, you know that.”
Um LADY? CAN YOU READ PEOPLE AT ALL? What a freaking idiot. I hated her. I hated that poor Erin had to deal with her when she was sooooooooooo excited and beautiful and happy.
Just a wee bit more gushing… 😉 And maybe Rand might not want to read this description, nyah, never mind…
I’m so excited because I think the dress just matches Erin and her ring and her skin tone and perfectly fits her body. Pretty vintage looking gown…and much more sparkly and fancy than you can tell in the photo (which surprised me when I saw the dress, but not yet on Erin)
And the ribbon? Wow, I think the ribbon might be my favorite part, it lines up on her body making her curvaceous and lovely…just right…and then falls, straight in the back of the gown resting on the train…(unless she wants a nice bow on her butt 😉 Tis quite an elegant and classy, sleek touch which compliments the fancy sparkly lace parts…
great choices, girl – now…do the same for the bridal party!
Jen’s not exaggerating…it really was that bad.
Was it the place my sister bought her gown from? In West Seneca?
No, that was the place that wouldn’t give me a price quote over the phone…
Is this the one in Wilcox? I’ve had really good experiences with them, too.
Stephanie-yeah, the *good* one was Bauer’s!
BTW- Stephanie, I offered up my house and kitchen for the weekend of the wedding for cake making 😉
Jen…thanks! I just now saw that. How well does your oven work???
The photo of the Sketchers won’t load because of the stupid Golden Shield. I wore a pair to my wedding and they were the most comfortable thing EVER! My dress was long & I wanted comfort. Screw everything else!