We had a mostly smooth experience with Tiara Wedding, which makes this review difficult to write. We rented two dresses (ceremony and reception) and one tuxedo. We paid in full, communication was generally timely, pickup/drop-off were easy, the price was great, and Sue was accommodating. It's clear she is passionate about wedding attire.
Unfortunately, the ceremony dress became a major disappointment.
Before the wedding: Sue told us the shop had two copies of the dress we chose. The dresses were ready Thursday for our Sunday wedding. Because we were preparing for the wedding, the groom's sister picked them up for us, so we did not personally inspect the ceremony dress beforehand.
Wedding day: About 30 minutes before the ceremony, the bride noticed a prominent seamline around the bottom of the dress from the hem alteration. The fabric was visibly puckering from the machine stitching, making the alteration particularly noticeable. The bride immediately called Sue, who told her this was normal and necessary for that dress and material.
The bride was devastated. The dress looked very different from what she had envisioned, and there was nothing we could realistically do with the ceremony about to begin.
Photo 1 shows the dress we received, including the prominent seamline and puckering.
We also found several misplaced sewing pins in the dress after the wedding. Since the dress was worn directly against the bride's body, we found that concerning from a safety standpoint.
After the wedding: We came across a video from a 9/13 wedding--just two weeks before ours--showing what appears to be the other copy of the same dress. It had a clean, unobtrusive hem.
Photo 2 shows an example of the same dress with a clean seamline.
Photo 3 shows the Tiara Wedding copy worn at the 9/13 wedding, also with a clean hem.
Seeing this was particularly difficult for the bride. She was already upset about the dress, and seeing another bride wearing what appeared to be the same dress from Tiara Wedding with a much cleaner hem made it feel even worse. Since there were two copies, we cannot help but feel that we received the inferior one.
Our follow-up with Sue: The bride sent Photo 1 to Sue, who responded that the dress was a rental and that this was the best they could have done.
After returning the dresses, we asked Sue to look at the dress now that it was back in her possession and compare it directly with Photo 2. We hoped she could identify what had gone wrong herself. Sue subsequently said that other brides receive dresses with this type of hem, which we found difficult to reconcile with the examples we had of the same dress with a clean hem.
We then asked about a refund of the alteration fee. Sue said there was no alteration fee and instead offered to Zelle us $200 to help address our concerns. We accepted the $200 and appreciate the gesture. However, we never received an apology or an explanation of what happened or why our dress was provided in that condition.
That lack of explanation is what has been most disappointing.
We understand that rentals involve wear and alterations, and we weren't expecting perfection. We did expect reasonable communication and care, especially for something as important as a wedding dress. If the shop needed more time to address the hem, they had Thursday through Sunday. Instead, we discovered the issue 30 minutes before walking down the aisle.
No refund can give us that moment back. Every photo and video from our ceremony now contains a detail we never wanted there.
We were conflicted about writing this because Tiara Wedding has many glowing recommendations, and we were actually referred here by a friend. Our experience with the pricing, logistics, and communication was otherwise positive, and we can tell Sue cares deeply about wedding attire.
But we don't want another bride or groom to feel the way we did. We're sharing our experience honestly, along with the photos, so future customers can make an informed decision.
We had an absolutely amazing wedding day overall, and we're grateful for the memories we made. We just wish the ceremony dress hadn't become such a painful part of them. read more