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I met with a bride and her mother for an alterations consultation. The bride needed her dress taken out through the side seams, shoulders adjusted, wanted to change from a high round neckline to a low sweetheart neckline, and a hem. The mother was very certain that this was not possible, especially without the seams puckering. Each adjustment discussed she’d ask me how I could do that without it puckering, one eyebrow raised and full of disbelief. I explained that different tension settings on the machine are used for different fabrics to help avoid any puckering and assured her that if any puckering did happen, or any other issues, I would correct it before I turned it back over to the bride. After much reassurance that I am capable of unpuckered seams, they agreed to our plan and signed a service contract. Thank everything for that service contract. The alterations went smoothly and the dress turned out great! The bride picked it up, absolutely thrilled with how she looked, even cried a bit. But, a few hours after our fitting, mother called the bridal shop furious. She was certain that I had tricked them. She claimed that I was lazy and I had not done any alterations, but instead switched her dress out for a completely different one and tried to pass it as her daughter’s. She called me many fancy descriptive words and demanded a refund. The shop owner was a very good sport and handled it very
professionally, and was also very glad for that signed contract. The moral of the story is, always get a signed service contract. Some people are delightful, most are at least tolerable, but every so often, you come across a real Mother Pucker.

I had a bride who wanted a custom made bolero jacket to match her wedding dress.  I designed it exactly how she specified. It fit perfectly, but she decided that she didn’t like the neckline after all. (Queen Anne). 

So she asked if I could make the neck higher and flare out a bit. She gave me a picture of what she wanted. (Looked a bit like a dracula cape.) Well, when I changed out the neck on her bolero this time, she definitely didn’t like that either. She finally decided to just have a normal non queen anne neckline.  

During this process, her mother was not in attendance to the fittings and was not aware of her flakey daughter’s behavior. I understand, some people have to see it on them before they know whether or not they like it. (This is why I no longer do custom bridal gowns.)

Mother comes to the last fitting to pay for the bolero. Mother has sticker shock at the price. She says she forgot her checkbook and will mail me a check. When the check comes in the mail, it’s for $60. That’s not anywhere close to what the bill was.  Mother wrote a note explaining that they could buy a bolero in the store for $60 so she didn’t see any reason why she should be paying such an outrageous amount for a silly bolero.

Grrrr. I’m sure the daughter said nothing about all the neckline change outs. 

Lesson learned: My brides pay up front for all alterations and custom orders.

I’m also really glad that checks are not a big part of money any more. 

-Dee Dee Anderson

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