Wedding Blog
A while back, I gave my five bridesmaids the choice to buy any dress* they wanted. (*Stipulations included 1. picking from J.Crew’s silk chiffon options in Light Shell or Deep Rose; 2. Choosing a custom Sarah Seven dress in a coordinating color; or 3. Finding a different dress altogether, but getting my OK before buying it.)
Two of the girls opted for J. Crew’s Juliette dress in Deep Rose, below.
(source)
The other three decided to try out the custom route and order dresses from Sarah Seven. Luckily, Sarah is very generous and will give you discounts if you buy more than one dress. Her prices became fairly reasonable (~$200) and the girls placed their orders: 2 flock dresses (1 in peachy-pink and 1 in dusty rose) and 1 tulip dress (in peachy-pink). Measurements were made, payments were sent, and the wait began.
Sarah’s dresses understandably take quite a bit of time to make. And with a very recent boom in her business, it didn’t come as a surprise when it took, well, longer than expected (about two weeks longer, putting us about two weeks from the wedding. Eek!).
And, unlike Ms. Mouse who had a very good result arrive at her doorstep, my girls were, um, not as happy. The peachy-pink color came out very close to J. Crew’s Light Shell, but the fit wasn’t quite working. Bridesmaid Georgia models hers below—you can see how the fabric hung lower than the corset, showing BG’s undergarments.
In the next picture, you can see how the corset pushed away from her chest and sagged along the side.
Her dog, Bronco, seems to like it, though! MOH A, modeling hers below (along with Jackson Puggle), liked hers a bit more (”with some alteration”) but the color, which is supposed to be the same as J.Crew’s Deep Rose (at top) is quite a bit more coral-y.
I apologize for the tiny pic. iPhones don’t make for great blogging photos.
At first, I got nervous. Sarah’s site says no returns (no exceptions!) and I knew alterations would cost my girls an arm and a leg more. I immediately e-mailed Sarah and she responded quickly—readily offering a refund or even to pay for alterations(!).
I gave my bridesmaids their options, and they all decided to return the Sarah Seven dresses and (quickly) order J.Crew dresses.
Which did they pick? We’ll see! They get them this week. Fun surprises, two weeks before the wedding.
How did your bridesmaid dress hunt go? Successfully, or did it take a few tries?
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Share this post: The Bridesmaids’ Dresses That Were.
I love Sarah Seven’s dresses but after seeing a bunch of bad reviews crop up on etsy I was disappointed. It’s too bad it can’t work out as well for everyone as it did for some people!
OMG! What stressful news so close to the wedding! Thank goodness you were able to return them.
Oh no! I’m so glad you were able to return them and head to j crew. I can’t wait to see what you pick!
Yikes! We had a little mini emergency the week of the wedding — putting out fires so close to the day is no fun. Looking forward to seeing the other girls’ dresses!
Sorry the custom dresses didn’t turn out like you hoped, but it seems like it’s all going to work out! Good luck!
Wow, that is really too bad. It was nice that she was going to cover the alterations, but you don’t want to go through that hassle int he first place.
I love that your girls get to pick their own dresses. And I am sure that they love you for it too!
Thread is also a great shop for bridesmaids, especially if you want them to look the same….yet different. We just featured some great dresses on our blog today!
http://www.weddingistas.com/weddingistas/2009/09/thread.html
We had a similar situation. My bridesmaids ordered custom dresses online that took forever to finish and still required alterations because they were too big. Unfortunately the dry cleaner ruined the fabric when she pressed them. We ended up getting new dresses from anthro at the last minute.
Everything works out in the end. I’m sure your BMs will be beautiful!
what a bummer sarah’s dresses didn’t work out. i thought the initial pictures were very pretty! glad that she was very responsive and took care of it for you
Ouch, cutting it close. But I’m glad Sarah has great customer service. 
I’m sure the JCrew dresses will work out
Bummer that the dresses didn’t work out but I’m really glad Sarah has such great customer service I can’t wait to see which J Crew dresses the ladies choose
ditto to Mrs. FBD - it’s awesome that she has great customer service!
I’m sorry the dresses didn’t work out as planned, I know it’s all very stressful as you get closer to the big day! Can’t wait to see how all the J Crew dresses look together!
You handled that situation so well. I would have freaked out. I’m glad you were able to find a solution!
Oh you will LOVE the jcrew dresses. I have three bridesmaids and they each got a different style of the silk chiffon dresses all in the lt. chartreuse color. They look stunning on.
That’s too bad the custom dresses didn’t work out! But at least you’re on top of things!
Do you think she allowed such great customer service because she knew you were a blogger for Weddingbee and would most likely be doing a review of her? Or is that her policy in general?
http://www.weddingbee.com/2009/09/22/the-bridesmaids-dresses-that-were/#commentform@siennasummer: That’s a good question. Given the situation (wrong colors, bad fit, late delivery, and, also, the wrong dresses altogether, which I didn’t mention above), what she offered was only right. I’m pretty sure she’d do the same for anyone–blogger or not. But I can’t say for sure. At times, her communication took MUCH longer than expected, so I can’t say her customer service skills are top notch. I can only commend her for coming back with solutions in the end.
It’s just difficult to make things with corsets fit when you don’t have the body in front of you to pin to. At least it’s all gonna work out in the end.
I’m so glad that she was willing to take the dresses back for you guys! Can’t wait to see what they picked!
I’m excited to see all your J.Crew bridesmaids together! I’m glad things are working out for you. My MOH ordered her dress from J.Crew too, and it ended up being a little too big in the bust, which is strange because she usually has the opposite problem with strapless dresses. Luckily, the dress was on sale at a great price, so the extra cost of altering it won’t be a big deal for us.
wow, that sucks. Although I loved the dress from J Crew you pictured, so I’m sure your girls will all look gorgeous day of. I would have to feel sorry for that designer though (even though it is her fault. . .), how nerve wracking to know that your mistakes will be posted on one of the most popular wedding blogs ever. Yikes!
Her dresses look so nice and well crafted in her pictures, but look a little shall we say rough in yours. I’m glad y’all got it taken care of! Love the J. Crew dresses!
wow! Good thing she changed her return policy for you - your girls deserve better quality and the JCrew dresses will look great - can’t wait to see which one(s) they picked!
Thanks for posting this, Miss CB! I had considered buying a dress from Sarah for a while (just for special occasion, nothing wedding related) but I think you and a few others on Etsy have turned me away… it is sad because I really like the look of the dresses on her models, but it looks like the attention to hems and and measurements just isn’t there.
You would think because she knew this was for your wedding she would’ve been a little more prompt, or at least had the courtesy to email you saying it was taking longer than expected, but who knows.
All my BMs wore the Juliette dress in Wild Peony (color was discontinued around this time last time but it was a deep raspberry color with a tint of purple); the dress looked awesome on every single one of them! So even without the Sarah dresses your BMs will be rockin’ in style!
Ugh, that’s so weird that they fit so poorly! I’m glad J.Crew came through. I wish I could have all of my girls in J.Crew, but not all of them are able to wear J.Crew (size-wise).
pity abt the dresses. glad she didn’t insist that you had to hold onto the dresses though.
godspeed with JCrew!
That’s too bad the dresses didn’t work out like you had hoped. I’m glad they were able to return them and go with JCrew though. My gals wore JCrew and they looked great, plus they were super easy to work with!
oh no! I’m nervous now since we have 10 bridesmaid dresses coming from her…eek!
The J Crew one is a safer bet, it seems, for future wear. Very modern and cool of u to allow such flexibility vs. some of my wedding experiences where they went to Goodwill. (I am short and my girlfriends who got married were tall and chose things I looked el-frumpy in….and then there was the lavender poly one with the giant bow thing…ee god!)
I am sure it will work out! I bought some suitable shoes aka boots for the trip. I can’t seem to locate my shoes right now — oh vel!
It’s too bad that the Sarah Seven dresses didn’t work out. It’s very tricky ordering custom-sized dresses without having your measurements taken in person. I’m sure the J. Crew dresses will look great, though!
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Mrs. Cowboy Boot, Santa Fe
Age and Occupation: 25, Magazine Editor
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 29, Artist and Whitewater Rafting Guide
Engagement Date: April 28th, 2008
Wedding Date: October 2009
Venue: Devil's Thumb Ranch, Colorado
About Me: I grew up in Los Angeles and have since lived in San Diego, Boston, Italy, Hawaii, New York City, and Santa Fe. I speak Italian and love pasta. My real passion is the outdoors, though. When I'm not at work, I'm snowboarding, hiking with my two dogs, mountain biking, surfing, cross-country-skiing, or boating New Mexico's rivers. Despite my boyish love for adventure, I'm a girly-girl at heart and am overly-excited to pull off the romantic, vintage-inspired, country wedding of my dreams.
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