The Dress.

I had a really fun time getting my dress all done, and my family and Clark are probably sick of hearing about it, so i won't go into details of the past few months, but here's a quick rundown on the latest dress drama:

The dress FINALLY got here (after it was supposed to get here middle of February), and I was so excited to go for my first fitting. Kelsey went with me, I got it on, and she went to zip it up. And it didn't. WORST FEAR of a bride...REALIZED. So, I called my mom and just about started crying in the middle of Allyse's. I mean, I felt like a whale. So yeah. Not cool. I was so excited to fit into a size ? and I didn't. Well, everything but my rib cage. Go figure??

The seamstress told me she wasn't sure she had enough material to let it out and tried to go find a different size, but since it took so much just to get the dress here in the first place, of course they didn't have it in a different size. And neither did anybody else. That's why I had waited so long - no store had the dress in white at all, and ivory just isn't my color. So, she told me she could let it out after all.

I came back the next day and she had let out the sides down to my hips, but the way the dress is made, the hips can't be let out. So, I looked like a had a spare tire around my stomach!! So, she took it back in. And she worked on it for hours, and I still had a spare tire. Which I promise I don't have in real life. A couple of fittings later after not being able to fix it, she decided to bring in the alterations general manager. So I went back in on Saturday, and this lady looked at it, and asked me to come back and she went to work. In the midst of this craziness, my roommate and I asked to speak to a manager.The salesgirl told us that the regional manager would be in for a couple of hours that day, and she could find out when. So, we went shopping for half an hour while they worked on my dress.

When I originally tried on the dress, my mom reminded the saleslady that dresses are eaiser to take in than let out, so perhaps we had better order a bigger size, but the saleslady assured us that I was small enough to fit this smaller size. So, I wasn't too happy when it didn't fit after all, and my mom had been right.

My roommate and I got back and we tried on the dress again, and it was still funky. While we were looking at it, the salesgirl came back with a gentleman and introduced him as the store owner. Perfect!! Finally, someone in person who I could talk to, and my roommate to back me up and not let me be too nice. :) I told him the basic story of the dress, and he listened. He apologized for all the trouble I'd been through, and told me he was going to go look at what I'd paid, etc. and figure out what they could do for me. Result - they didn't charge me for my fittings, I finally got an apology, and I don't hate the store anymore! The alternations manager worked on my dress one more time and it was perfect! No more spare tire. Apparently there were som unpicked seams in there making a bulge, and she had smoothed and evened everything out. At last, this story had a happy ending!

Apparently Allyse's is switching manufacturers, because they totally messed up their whole year's worth of orders, and I wasn't the only bride with a sad story.

And the hips fit fine - I'm not a whale after all.