Weddingbee boards

Well, so here is the story. I searched and searched for the perfect wedding dress for literally months. I am a plus sized bride so my search was not a typical one. Sample sizes are usually a 8, 10, or 12; I, on the other hand am a size 28 and am six feet tall. To search for my dress I went to LITERALLY EVERY SINGLE STORE in Nebraska, Kansas City, and Des Moines. After trying on the Maggie Sottero Hampton dress in Kansas City in a size 24, I decided to go with the Maggie Sottero Ambrosia dress in a size 28 with 5 inches of extra length because they are very similar dresses. When thinking of which store to purchase the dress from, I thought about the location (close to home for all of the trips back and forth with alterations and such) and friendliness (when you're a plus size bride, not every bridal store is kind to you). I settled on a store that I thought had both of these characteristics, so I went in and ordered the $1600.00 dress in August.

The dress was due to arrive in January, so out of anticipation I started calling in December hoping it arrived early. I recieved a voice mail from the store telling me that there was a problem with my dress on December 28. I call back to discover what turned out to be a HUGE disaster/mess.

Apparently, the store I ordered from was not a licensed Maggie Sottero retailer, so without my knowledge, they ordered my dress through their friend, Jerry. Jerry then placed the order with a store called Eva's Bridal, who ordered it from the Maggie Sottero manufacturer in China. The dress shipped to Eva's Bridal and in the couple of days that they had the dress before shipping it off to Jerry, the place burned down with my dress. After looking up the story online, I found out that the store waited three weeks to tell me this information.

They said that there was no way to get my dress here on time for my March 26th wedding date. The earliest they could get my dress here was in the middle of May. At that point I started to ask which Maggie dresses I could have in my size by my date. There was NONE, not one dress in my size! At this point I had been crying for two solid days. It was not like a size 28 girl could just walk in to a store and buy a designer wedding gown in her size. My mom, sister, and I called stores around the country for any dress by any designer that I could get here on time. All of them said it was not possible unless I ordered a dress that was in stock in my size. Out of all of the dresses by all of the designers that I could afford. There were three gowns in my size and they all were discontinued styles that looked like they were saved from the 80's.

At this point I wished that I just hadn't sent out invitations because I could have changed my date. My fiance was frustrated and told me to just go find a dress already (not understanding the situation). I even went to David's Bridal out of despiration, and I dislike most of their dresses. All of them were way too short and they couldn't order my one with extra length.

Meanwhile, a store in Denver called me back wondering why I hadn't called Eva's Bridal hotline. They had set up the hotline to help all the brides affected by the fire. So I called the hotline, but they couldn't help me because my order was not under my name and because I didn't have an order number. When I called the original store, they called Jerry to get the number, but he refused to give it to them because he could get in trouble because Maggie Sottero has a very strict policy about licensed retailers selling to non-licensed retailers and he didn't wan't to get in trouble or have his friends store lose their contract with Maggie Sottero. I was insanely pissed!

Luckily, the store in Denver felt so bad for me that they made me a great offer. They said that Maggie Sottero had a size 24 Sabelle in stock (that I could get in two weeks). To make the deal even sweeter, they offered to sell me the dress at cost so I could get the $1600.00 dress for $869.00. I was soooo worried that the dress wouldn't fit because the difference between a size 24 and 28 is 6 INCHES!

With this information, I went back to Kansas City  (a 5 hour drive) to try on the Hampton in the size 24. The alterations team assured me that they could let the dress out enough to accomodate my body, suprisingly I had lost weight. At this point I was ready to take the Denver stores gracious offer so I called the original store to get my money back. Insanesly enough, they refused to give me my money back! I called twice to try to reason with the owner over the phone to no avail. Finally, I sent my vivacious mother in to really "talk some sense" in to them. After a very intense conversation/confrontation and a call to an attorney while standing in the store, we walked out with all of our money in cash.

I placed the order with the Denver store for the Sabelle in a size 24 for the $869.00. It will arrive in two weeks. Hopefully it makes it here in one piece.

If any of you bees read long enough to finish my dramatic story, PLEASE pray for the safe arrival of my dress.

Wow, I am in disbelief. I am sooo glad you were able to find another dress. I very much hope your second dress comes in as expected and that it can be altered to fit you perfectly. Thanks for sharing your story. Wouldn't wish that for anyone!