Wedding Blog

wedding attire

Since I had 2 weddings (traditional and cultural) on 2 separate days, I will review and post pictures from each separately so it won’t get too confusing/mixed up…

Bridal Attire

Designer: Kenneth Pool “Aria” + Jimmy Choo “Regal” white duchess satin shoes + Haute Bride bracelet

Boutique: The Bridal Salon at Stanley Korshak + Blush Couture (bracelet) + Jimmy Choo Highland Park (shoes)

Review: I absolutely LOVED my gown. The salon? There was a lot of drama involved in this. My bridal consultant Mia, the one who originally sold me the gown, was fantastic - she was helpful, friendly, knowledgeable, and spent a LOT of time with me when I came to try on gowns. As I was rather indecisive when it came to all things related to my wedding, she was very patient. I spent around 2 hours choosing between 2 Kenneth Pool gowns and finally went with this one. This is where the experience started to sour. Almost a year later, when my gown finally came in, I found out that my original consultant, Mia, no longer worked there and I was given another consultant as my replacement. I felt that she was confrontational without cause and I’m not normally a confrontational person when it comes to vendors, so I was in for a shock.

The first time I tried on my gown to get pinned for alterations, everything was great. Irene, the seamstress, was fantastic - she was kind, sweet, and definitely knew what she was doing. The second fitting didn’t go so well. I saw fingerprints/handprints/body grease in different areas on my gown. Because of the type of fabric that it was made of, you can see everything when the light hits the fabric. While I was trying to point them out to be fixed, my consultant kept making faces and snide comments like - “well, that’s probably your fault because maybe you were wearing makeup and smeared it on the dress.” Umm I never wore makeup any of the times. Why would I purposely try to sabotage the most expensive gown I have ever bought and plan to wear on one of the most important days of my life?! I just sucked it up and then later cried to my fiance - he said he’d take care of it.

He called the salon and they agreed to clean it again. On my 3rd fitting, I checked the gown again. It was slightly better, but still had fingerprints on it from when they made alterations. I was SO upset - I was speechless. Add that to the fact that I had been watching too many episodes of “Whose Wedding Is It Anyway?” and saw the one where a bride spent like $15k on her gown from Stanley Korshak, only to have it ruined with pollen stains/something yellow and them saying that it was her fault as well. 

My Fiance ended up calling the store, speaking to the manager, and I’m not sure what happened, but I’m glad it did - everything was fixed by my next visit - the week before the wedding. My consultant was there, but it was still uncomfortable. There was a manager waiting for me when I arrived, another consultant and another authority figure was there to make sure everything went off without a hitch.

Another snafu - in the beginning, Mia, my original consultant, promised me a sketch from the designer of my gown, as I purchased at a trunk show with Kenneth Pool reps present. The consultant who later took over, said ok - she’s working on it. I asked her periodically and she said sure sure, it’s on its way to being done. 2 years later - where is my sketch?? Whatever. I’m over it.

Blush Couture - they were fantastic, easy to work with, cute boutique, would definitely do business with again!

Jimmy Choo - They were great as well - I came in looking for a special shoe for the wedding, and my sales consultant went into the back stockroom and pulled out several bridal choices for me to choose from. This shoe is not a normal shoe on the showroom floor, but I am glad they pulled it out for me - I loved it and am planning to re-dye them to wear them again!

Groom’s Suit

Designer: Hugo Boss

Boutique: Hugo Boss

Review: Major complainage with this one too - seems like all my clothing-related vendors were sub-par. Choosing the hub’s suit was easy enough - we went into the boutique, chose some suits, he tried them on, et voila - suit was picked in one visit. It was absolutely beautiful. I don’t know much about men’s suits, but it was this really soft and light Italian wool - cool enough to wear for a summer wedding and had this beautiful light blue silk lining inside the jacket with double vents in the back. They took my credit card info and ordered the suit - it was supposed to come in 2 weeks later.

2 weeks later, no call from the store, so I called to check in on it. They said “oh, come and get it - it’s here.” So we go to get it - somehow they “lost” the suit and said they’d have to reorder it from another store. Umm.. ok… 2 more weeks go by, no call. I called the store and they said “oh, it’s been sitting here - come get it”. My Fiance goes to get fitted for his suit and they said it’ll be done 2 days later. The alterations are free btw. We go pick it up 2 days later - it’s fantastic and we take it home. Troubles are over, no? No siree - 5 months later, AFTER the wedding, I see another charge on my card from Hugo Boss - for the exact same amount. I do not remember purchasing any more suits from them. I call them up and tell them that they double charged me and they said they’ll look into it and call me right back in 15 minutes. 2 hours later, no call. I call them back - they say they’re working on it and will call me back in 20 minutes. Phone tag ensues for another 2 weeks. Nothing. I call my credit card company, file a dispute, and it’s done with. I’m just upset that they couldn’t have taken care of it sooner.

Bridesmaids Attire

Designer: Saeyoung Vu Couture ‘Marysol’ long

Boutique: Bridal Collections by Stella

Review: This was about the only attire-related vendor that we did not have any problems with. The ladies from the boutique were so sweet - they were extremely helpful, knowledgeable, and kept me informed every step of the way. We coordinated together to get all the girls’ measurements/sizing, as half of them were out of town, but it all worked out in the end. The gowns were gorgeous and the fabric was amazing - dupioni silk. They were universally flattering on everyone and all our guests commented on how beautiful and elegant they were! Not to toot my own horn, but - toot! toot!

Groomsmen’s Attire

Designer: I don’t remember

Boutique: The Men’s Wearhouse

Review: I’m not really sure what I have to say about this vendor. I suppose they were as good as could be expected.  Terrible service, but great pricing. They mixed up our suit orders, the salesgirl didn’t know what she was talking about, and at one location, they said they didn’t have any samples for us to choose from - just the book. We went to another location to go see the product before we placed our order, and they sized up all the boys properly.