Don't Mess With The Dress

Do I have a story for you all! I had my first experience being a feisty bride today. Let’s start from the beginning though. Yesterday afternoon I received a voice mail that started like this, “Hi Jenna, this is Caroline from the Bridal Boutique (where I bought my dress). This doesn’t happen very often but…” But what! Is my dress discontinued? Was it ruined in some fire? What’s going on?! These are all of the things that went through my mind. The message continued on to explain that some girl out there in the world wanted my dress because he wedding was coming up shortly and they wouldn’t have the standard 6 months to make hers. So, the designer wanted to know if I would be willing to give up my dress to the girl and then they would put a rush on my dress and I would receive mine about a month and a half later than I had expected. She said I didn’t have to give her my dress but the designer wanted to ask. My heart was filled with compassion in thinking that every girl deserved to get her dream wedding dress. That lasted for about a minute until I realized that I had followed all of the right rules: I went to try on wedding dresses well in advance, planned time in the schedule of events for my dress to be made, already had my bridal portraits planned based on when I would get my dress and when the alterations could be done. I had all of my ducks in a row, why should I get the added stress of some bridal store somewhere in the country re-ordering my dress and possible getting it wrong or not having enough time for alterations. Let’s just say sympathy quickly flew out the window. I think bridal sympathy gets checked at the door when another bride whom you do not know starts to infringe on your day.

So this morning, I called back once the store opened with the decision already made to unfortunately say no to giving my dress up. The lady seemed to have changed her tune when I spoke with her today. She went from “you don’t have to do this” to “we do this a lot and typically the brides so ‘of course you can give her the dress!’” Well I for one would like to speak to these brides. I expressed my concerns that if I didn’t get my dress until October, we would have time for alterations before my bridal portraits. To which she responded by asking if I could call my photographer and ask to reschedule. Well let me just rearrange my wedding for this girl I don’t know, who for all I know is a very poor planner, a spoiled girl who decided she no longer liked the dress she already bought, or is having a shotgun wedding and needs a dress last minute. The kicker was still to come though. I finally told the woman that unfortunately I didn’t want to give up my dress. She said “ok, well I’ll call this poor little girl and tell her she can’t have it.” REALLY?! I’m sorry! Shouldn’t you be looking out for the person who spent the money in YOUR store and who YOUR client is?! After she made that comment I knew I had made the right decision. That concludes my first experience being a little feisty in the bridal department.