If you want your wedding day to be ruined go here. Otherwise - RUN AWAY, & fast! SHE CUT MY LACE wedding dress, the biggest NO of dress alterations!!
I don't even know where to start with nightmare of an alteration. One of my mothers friends recommended this place, I was skeptical from the start as it is like any other alteration & tailor shop, she works on a small desk at the front of her shop, but she also had 10+ wedding dresses that she was altering, so I assumed she was doing something right. GOD WAS I WRONG!
I originally took my wedding dress in 7-6 months prior to my wedding , when I read that I was supposed to. Elizabeth (the owner) initially told me I did not need to come in that early but I did anyways. I brought my dress in to see what she would do, she mentioned that she would take it up, pull in some sections, add cups, & add a bustle. I kept asking her how she was planning on taking the dress up (it was an all over lace wedding dress, & I was told there was a certain way that it needed to be hemmed), Elizabeth said "don't worry about it, I've done this for 25 years." Okay I guess I'll trust her -- biggest mistake. In addition to asking about how she was planning to hem, I was asking her what the best way to bustle my dress would be, she kept saying "however you want." Well considering I have never been married before, I'm wasn't really sure what I wanted.
Hesitant for her to move forward with the work (I left my dress with her) I called & asked her to not make any alterations until I came back in & felt comfortable with what she was planning to do. I went back in the next weekend & she had hemmed my dress, took up one of the sleeves, & added one single button in the back of my dress for the bustle. Not happy that she went against my wishes, I thought the work looked okay (I knew no better). Even though I was skeptical about all of this, I stupidly continued to leave my dress with Elizabeth, & continued to drive from Boston to Milbury to try & work with her to get my dress where it needed to be before my wedding.
Fast forward 5 months to a month before my wedding. I went in to go v pick up my dress before the wedding. I took my dress home, tried it on --- INSTANT PANIC ATTACK. After 7 months & countless trips, I get my dress home & it was too long, the "pads" that she added to my dress she just sewed in on the inside, so if you were to look at the inside of my wedding dress you would see the pads just sitting on the surface, I had a bump from my lace at the bottom of zipper that needed to be re-worked somehow, & my bustle had 2 buttons to hold up my heavy, multi-layered dress, & the inside wasn't even pressed -- those she claimed she steamed it. A month before your wedding & back to the drawing board.
I took the dress back to her (only because I ((again)) stupidly already paid her & wanted to avoid needing to pay another seamstress to rework everything) & told her all of the issues. When I mentioned the bump below my zipper, she got frustrated & gave me attitude - saying "I've done this for 25 years this is how the dress is, there is nothing I can do." That was the last straw. Stressed about my upcoming wedding I sucked it up & left the dress for her to fix, which she said that she would be able to get it all done in the next few weeks &I shouldn't worry. Mind you a couple weeks is my wedding day.
I went home still stressed about the last conversation. I had my mom get the dress & found a new seamstress near Boston. THANK GOD FOR THE NEW SEAMSTRESS. She looked at my dress & immediately got mad at Elizabeth for "destroying my dress" - her words.
Not only was all of her other work a botch job, my new seamstress told me that you NEVER cut any of the lace on your wedding dress. Elizabeth (who is "experienced") CUT the bottom of my dress to hem it - she cut the beautiful eyelash lace, folded it up, & sewed it back on.
My new seamstress (who really has been in the business for 20+ years, has an amazing reputation & only works on wedding dresses from a top shop in Watertown, MA) saved the day fixing my dress in 2 weeks! She took my bottom layer of lace off & hand stitched it back together so it was 1 piece & then hemmed my dress the proper way. She took my cups & placed them inside my inner layer so you could not see them on the inside, she fixed my bustle - made it the right height for my dress style & added 6 buttons for support.
My mom told Elizabeth about the issue, and tried to get our money back. Elizabeth said she had "no proof" that my mom ever paid for the dress because she paid in cash, and that it was "illegal to take my dress somewhere else." She never made it right by giving us our money back, and would have ruined my wedding had I not taken my dress else where. She may be cheap but you get what you pay for - poor work, no guidance on anything (acts like you've had a wedding dress worked on before), no patience and no respect with her customers.
DON'T DO THIS TO YOURSELF!!! read more
