Weddingbee Blog

The day that my dress came in was a roller coaster of emotions. I was ecstatic that it had finally arrived, but soon learned…it had to be sent back to the designer.

Cue the sad music.

Photo via Pickerill Creative

When I originally ordered my dress in May, I was told it would be about four months for it to arrive from the dressmaker. I thought this was a pretty reasonable time frame considering most planning sources tell you to plan to buy your dress nine months in advance. I had the date the dress was supposed to come in set on my calendar, but when I didn’t hear from the dress shop at the end of September, I started to get antsy. Like a good, patient bride, I waited until the first week of October to call and see if I could get an updated arrival date.

What happened next was initially disappointing but overall relieving. It turns out that when my dress arrived at I Do, Too it wasn’t perfect. I was told that there were imperfections in the fabric that were not acceptable to the shop owner—in fact, she called me herself the following day and told me that she wouldn’t wear it to her wedding, so she didn’t expect me to either. The best they can guess is that the bolt of fabric had been hanging in the warehouse on some big clips that left dents in the dress—definitely not the accessory I imagined on my wedding day. So the store sent the dress back and demanded a remake. Even though I am so happy that I Do, Too took such good care of me, I was still a little sad to have to wait to get my dress in, for a second time.

However (that’s like a fancy but)…

About a month later I got another call telling me the new dress had arrived and I could come to take her home!

Happy dance!

Comic by Charles M Schulz via Wikipedia

I rushed around my office and managed to get out early and in enough time to hightail it over to I Do, Too exactly 10 minutes before they closed. I literally ran into the store and bounded up the stairs, and the shop girls were waiting for me…with her. My wonderful, beautiful, amazing dress! She was just as gorgeous as I remembered her to be.

Alyssa, the consultant that originally showed me the dress, was the one to help me in and cinch me up. It was fun to see her again and share a moment that was nearly 10 months in the making!

She fit perfectly. I will still need to get a bustle put in as well as some slight hemming, but other than that—amazing!

I was able to bring her home that night, where she hung in a doorway (in an opaque bag, of course) until I brought her over to our neighbor’s house, where she has her own closet! Special thanks to BM Rocket and GM Dashboard for hosting my dress until September.

I know y’all aren’t fond of me keeping this a secret, but I’m sticking to my guns. At least this picture shows how happy I am in my dress!

Photo: Personal

Now that I have the dress in my possession, I have to stop myself from wanting to wear her every day. Luckily she is physically in another location so I don’t have the urge to, you know, wear her around while I do housework or something.

If you or someone you know is putting off buying a wedding dress—don’t! At first I wasn’t certain that I should be getting my dress so soon, but I’m so glad that I did. Mistakes happen, and having the time to get them fixed was crucial. I will also be recommending I Do, Too Bridal until the day I die. I have some pretty kick-ass vendors, but this shop provided some of the most amazing customer service I have ever experienced in regard to, in my opinion, one of the most important elements of the entire wedding.

Did you have any bumps during the ordering of your dress? Do any of your vendors get a gold star for outstanding customer service?