June 3rd: Our experience at David's Bridal at the Kennesaw location in Georgia, did not go as…read moreexpected. My daughter, Emma, who bought a dress three years ago for a different ceremony, brought in the dress to try on and embellish so that she could wear it. Once she put the gown on, she burst into tears, saying "this is not my dress anymore". I then told her that we were standing in David's Bridal shop and that she should go and find her dress for this ceremony to a wonderful man.
So we went onto the floor and had some help from a floor attendant who chose some dresses for Emma to try on.
The first thing that I was very disappointed in was our dress attendant who was on her phone all the time while after Emma had stepped out of her dressing room to show the dress. Every photo that I wanted to take of Emma in a dress, there she was in the background on her phone, completely ignoring my daughter. To say that I was unimpressed is putting it mildly. If we ever go back to this particular David's Bridal shop, I will not ask for or work with this individual again.
Once Emma found her gown, she loved it so much that she literally walked from the floor into alterations (we had back-to-back appointments so we had plenty of time) and this amazing woman in alterations (5 for her), sat on the floor and shortened the front of the gown so that Emma could walk down the aisle without tripping... Leaving the back of the gown with it's full length and quite beautiful. My dress for Emma's ceremony was also altered and we were given a date for Pick-Up on both gowns.
July 11th: Emma and I arrived for final fittings and to pick up the gowns. Emma try on her gown, and the length was absolutely perfect. So we had the alterations team pack up the gown to travel. BTW... David's Bridal shop DOES NOT offer free gown bags for their wedding dresses.
I tried on my dress, and without any help from anybody within their alterations(1 for today's team), but thanks to my my daughter, we looked over the dress and deemed it worthy to wear at her ceremony. We then had the alterations department pack up my dress so that we could bring it home.
Now, maybe I have watched way too many "say yes to the dress" to think that every bridal shop would make sure that the dress was ready to walk down the aisle. So for me to make the assumption that Emma's wedding gown was ready for her to walk down the aisle in, I had not looked at it until today. When I opened the bag and hung up the dress, I noticed that the bodice was heavily jeweled on the left side, but barely had any jewels on the right side. There was also frayed tool around the lace appliqué that was not cleaned up, and there were threads that were hanging out pretty much all over the dress. Now, making sure that those threads were not going to hinder any of the stitching of the dress bodice, I proceeded to clean up the threads sticking out of the gown. I also cleaned up any of the tool that was stitched around the lace appliqué, again, making sure that it wasn't going to destroy any part of the lace, so that it didn't look "messy".
It's a wonderful thing that I have, in my latter years, begun to make jewelry and rosaries. This craft allotted me a great deal of beads, jewels, gems, and pearls. I then proceeded to add identical beading to the right side of the bodice so that it would at least balance out with the left side of the bodice. (before and after photos attached)
So I guess the moral of my story is this... Do not think that because you saw it on the TV, that your bridal shop will do their very best to make sure that the dress that you purchased is 100% ready to walk down the aisle. Make sure you go over the entire dress while you are still in the shop if possible... that is one mistake that I absolutely made.
The positive side... I was able to add my own very special touch to my daughters wedding gown. The moment that she puts it on will be absolutely PRICELESS!!