I had a new bride come in , with her friend who was getting married on the weekend.This newly engaged bride wanted a sale dress, as she had a very strict budget. This is always totally fine by me! But it also meant that I would need to find her a dress that was as close to her size as possible so that the alterations are of a minimal cost.

 

While the bride was trying on a dress she loved, she asked for an approximate price for the necessary alterations. I gave her a price, and her friend immediately said ‘Wow! I paid $600!’ I was shocked and asked her what she had done. She said that the dress was a size 14 - I looked at her and to me she looked like a size 6/8. I said, ‘Fair enough, but there’s no way I would have sold you an off-the-rack dress that was way to big for you. But I don’t want to bag any shop.’

And THEN she said it arrived late! I looked at her in horror. ‘They ORDERED you a size 14?!’ She said that dress arrived late, and when she tried it on it fell down. She had seven fittings in all, and didn’t know any better to question the sizing.

 

I turned back to my bride, and showed her how the alterations would work. As I was putting bust cups in to show them what a difference it makes, her friend asked where she could buy them from. I replied ‘Didn’t you get it altered with the bra cups in?’ She complained that her dress was still not fitting well, and I explained that was because it was too big a size to make smaller, unless it was unpicked and completely regraded. I felt so sorry for her and gave her a pair of cups from my boutique. I just don’t know how people sleep selling a dress that’s so completely the wrong size.

The bride who was buying her dress said ‘I have been following Connie for 18 months and I know I can trust her to find and fit my dress.’

Connie xo