We went to the Milford Men's Wearhouse in May for my initial fitting for my Friday, September 4…read morewedding. We started months early specifically so we wouldn't be dealing with suit problems during wedding week.
There was some incredible foreshadowing during that first visit: the best man from another wedding was standing in the store in shorts, frantic because his suit was still in another state, despite being promised it would arrive on time. I remember thinking how awful it would be to be in that position.
A few months later, we nearly were.
At my fitting, a size 52 jacket was clearly too small. The employee had me try a 54, which fit, and said he would order it.
When we returned the Sunday before the wedding, it took about an hour just to get an employee to acknowledge us. This was typical of our experience there; virtually every visit took around three hours. The store regularly seemed understaffed, and employees who were present often appeared to avoid eye contact with the long line of customers rather than simply acknowledging the wait.
Once we finally got help, we discovered a size 52 jacket in my bag--the same size we had determined didn't fit in May. The same employee had me try a 54 again and said the correct jacket would be overnighted from their hub in a red bag marking it as urgent. The hub reopened Monday, August 31, so we were told it should arrive Tuesday, September 1.
Tuesday came. No jacket.
When we called Milford, the employee seemed unaware of the arrangement and we were eventually told the jacket would arrive Friday, September 4--the actual day of my wedding. The wedding was on the opposite side of Connecticut, so picking up my jacket in Milford that day was not a realistic option.
My family began calling other Men's Wearhouse locations, and I want to specifically compliment the Hamden store. They were excellent. They listened, immediately understood the urgency, and told us management would contact Milford to help resolve it. After Hamden became involved, we were told the jacket would arrive Wednesday. It finally showed up around 1:00 PM on September 2, two days before the wedding. Hamden stepped into a problem they didn't create and helped us fix it, and I genuinely appreciate them for that.
Unfortunately, the Milford pickup itself was so disorganized that we were essentially left to gather and pack the rental ourselves rather than having someone review everything and make sure it fit.
That mattered on the wedding day. My shirt repeatedly came undone, and my pants were so loose that even their tightest adjustment wasn't enough. During my first dance, I had to pull my pants up multiple times. These were clothes I had been professionally measured for months earlier.
We started this process in May to avoid exactly this situation. Instead, wedding week involved chasing down a jacket that had been sized correctly months earlier, calling multiple stores for help, and then dealing with additional fit problems during the wedding itself.
Hamden deserves credit for stepping up. Milford is not a location I would trust with wedding attire again.
