subject: Dressing the Girls! [print this page] Dressing the Girls! Dressing the Girls!
Hive, I can't thank you enough for your supportive comments in my previous post. It made Sister Tartlet's day, which in turn made my day !I'm happy to share that despite the perplexing experience,cheap wedding invitesnot all was lost because BM Tanya came to the rescue and suggested another boutique in the area she was familiar with. The women at Bridal Couture of Plymouth kindly let us drop in without an appointment, and we found the consultants to be far more laid-back and friendly. Energized by the warm atmosphere we quickly hit the racks, and the most incredible thing happened: we found one dress that looked spectacular on all three women. Cue the choirs of angels and the flying pigs!
Shopping Tip 1: If at all possible, find an example of your dress in the color and material you want. Because this shop only had the dress-sent-from-above in Violet, we had to rely on a swatch book. We narrowed the selections to "Pink" and "Peach Fizz," both of which were sweetly pastel. In my head, the swatch translated into dresses of this delicate shade.
There's "Pink" and then there's "PINK!!!!" A huge difference from the swatch, wouldn't you say? After some head scratching, we hypothesized that the discrepancy stemmed from the fact that the dress has a lining that darkens the overall color. When we pulled up the chiffon overlay, it was in fact a paler pink. The swatch book had probably faded over time and prolonged use as well. Now, I didn't heed my own advice and we ended up selecting the "Harvest Gold" color based off the swatch book and a dress example in satin. That was one nerve-wracking drive to pick up the dresses. We all breathed a huge sigh of relief when the color wasn't far off from what we had conjured up in our minds' eye. Behold!
Shopping Tip 2: Trust, but verify the sizes they order, and double-check their numbers before signing anything. Very few of us are the same label size all the way down, and it's better to go with your largest size and tailor accordingly. Unfortunately, as a direct result of blindly trusting their expertise, there was an error in the sizing and my beloved MOH ended up in the sticky situation of altering her dress up. In case anyone out there is wondering, it is possible to alter a zip back to a corset back, and these alterations ended up costing her less than ordering a new dress.
Normally I glower when someone feeds me the line "everything happens for a reason," but in this case the saying was spot on! Were you pleasantly surprised by a dress for your bridesmaids? Share any tips you have to ease the shopping process for fellow bees!
