I decided to be rather laid back regarding the dresses. I would dictate the designer, the color (purple or gray - either everyone in one color, two in each color, or the maid of honor in one color and everyone else in the other) and the length (Cocktail) and after that the women could pick whatever they wanted (theoretically I had veto power over anything, since I went shopping with them everywhere, but luckily I never had to exercise said-power. Everyone seems to have good taste).
An early bachelorette party/dressmaking excursion was planned for the end of April, when three of my bridesmaids and myself would meet up in Chicago (one of the bridesmaids was going to school there at the time), hang out, party and find their dresses! So I picked out the two designers I wanted to look at, and with the help of my Chicago-based bridesmaid we figured out where we should go looking. The designers were Alfred Angelo and Wtoo from Watters and Watters. We'd look for the latter first, at Macy's, and then in the afternoon we planned on going to Lily's Bridal and Gifts. And wow, were the two experiences like night and day.
Me outside of Macy's! I'm assuming this was perhaps the original Marshall Fields before Macy's bought them out
The Macy's bridal salon is very pretty and shiny, with a decent amount of dresses to go through. The help, however, I wasn't as fond of.
The three bridesmaids that attended this trip aren't size zero models. Nor are they bridal size 10 models - the only dress size in the store. The sales woman took our dresses to the dressing room, and then completely abandoned us there, leaving us to fend for ourselves as we realized that no one could even get these dresses over their hips, let alone get a real feel for how they would look once they were in the proper size. When I finally tracked down the saleswoman to ask about this, she said we simply had to hold them in front of ourselves, or I could try on the dresses to see what they were like. Now, as much as I like the idea of getting dressed up in pretty clothes, that really wasn't going to give anyone an idea of what these dresses looked like, as I'm built drastically different than the rest of my bridal party.
I think the worst part was when she very snottily told us that we were going to find the exact same situation everywhere. This woman had absolutely no empathy for our situation.
So we left Macy's, thoroughly dejected, but hopeful that we wouldn't have such an abysmal experience at the next shop.
Lily's boutique was much better. There were a couple of dress sizes, so everyone could try on something to get an estimation of what the dresses looked like. Nothing fit like a glove, but we could pull the dresses on, and then I would stand behind someone and hold the dress taut to see what the dress kind of looked like.
Everyone walked out that day, having picked out a dress they liked :-) Here they are...
Maid of Honor Brittany:
(with the sash in Grape)Bridesmaid Rachel:
Bridesmaid Nicole:
(this will be hemmed so it's knee length. Every sewist we've talked to has said a hem is a hem, whether it's two inches or eight, and we wouldn't be charged extra for cutting the dress down)Bridesmaid Carling:
(the Alfred Angelo website is being LAME in regards to this dress and won't let me see the front in a different color. This will be in either purple or gray; Carling hasn't told me which!)With that down, now we just need to figure out shoes! And hair. And makeup...for every small thing I accomplish, it seems the list just keeps growing!
Anyone else have abysmal bridal salon experiences?
No comments:
Post a Comment