*Disclaimer* In case you couldn't tell, this is a wedding centric post. If you are not interested, please move along and I will see you next time. <3
Also I am aware this is Thursday but alliteration is important!
Quick recap: beginning of March I was notified by David's Bridal that my wedding dress was on indefinite back order (at this point it had been on order for 6 months) and they recommended canceling my order and refund my money.
Which I did because when David's Bridal wants to give you your money back, you take it.
A few days later, Magan and I went to Baley's Bridal and found a really beautiful replacement gown. It was twice the cost of the original dress but it was sparkly and it fit and most importantly - it was there.
Two weeks go by. I'm struggling with accepting my wedding dress won't be the color I originally envisioned but consoling myself with how much it sparkles. So I'm very happy with the choice and only mildly disappointed.
And then David's Bridal calls out of the BLUE and says my dress is in if I still want it! Which of course I did but I already bought a dress. Now what am I going to do?
I actually ignored the first call. Then they called the next day and dangled a discount but I was still all nope - I have a dress, what good can come of talking to them?
Meanwhille, Magan is over here saying TWO DRESS WEDDING like I have all the money in the world and can afford a destination wedding in Maine AND two wedding dresses.
But everyone is telling me to go for it, it can't hurt, I can always just sell the dress I have.
LOL like that will be an easy thing to do.
So what did I do?
Obviously I made an appointment for Saturday morning to go and see my dress. Keeping in mind that I ordered in a color different from what I tried on so maybe I wouldn't like it after all and maybe all this will work out for the best because if I see it and hate it I can stop playing the what if game.
I brought my replacement dress to the appointment with me hoping they would let me put it on first so I could refresh my memory of it. Did I still love it? Would I love it more than the original? And Cody at DB was very kind and understanding - she not only helped me put it on but she helped "jack me up" (IYKYK) so I could get a full vibe off it.
And I still liked it. A lot. And she was all I want to buy this dress from you it is so pretty. Until I told her how much I spent on it.
And then I tried on my original dress.
Guys.
GUYS.
It is everything I hoped it would be and more. It is stunning. I mean, this is 100% my wedding dress. Forget TWO DRESS WEDDING I want to wear this dress all the time.
And it is so ME. You will have to wait until September or October to find out what I mean but you need to trust that when you see it, I made the right decision.
I almost cried but Magan was with me so I kept my cool. Also I wanted to play it off a little because I didn't know what kind of a discount we were talking about yet.
Initially Cody told me 15% off. But she was the one that was there when I chose the dress in the first place and she was there when I came in for my refund and she saw how disappointed I was. And she was super annoyed that they told me to cancel and less than 3 weeks later my dress came in.
So she went to the manager and came back with an offer I couldn't refuse. $150 off, plus a free garment bag, plus 50% off the shoes I also bought while I was there. She even suggested I might be able to get a discount on the alterations when the time comes but I probably won't get alterations done there after what happened with my last wedding dress but then this one really mostly needs a hem and maybe I will risk it.
To be determined.
So yeah. I bought it. I had to. It's perfect. Now I just have to sell the replacement dress because of course all sales are final. Which I knew when I bought it but I didn't envision needing to return it.
And although I originally told Rob I would give it until June to sell and if I didn't sell it buy then I would wear that for the wedding and the original for the reception but after seeing it in person, this will not be a TWO DRESS WEDDING.
Now selling is the tricky part because I really would love to get what I paid for it but since it is already considered "used" (like a new car - the minute you walk out the door, it depreciates) that seems fairly unlikely. I wanted to put as much information as I could in the listing so I checked the tag for designer information.
There is no designer tag in the dress. WTF?
That's cool. I have the receipt let me just check that...nope, no info there either.
OK let me just check the website...where is this dress?? Who designed it?
Finally I called the salon on Monday and left a voice mail - then again yesterday and spoke to Debbie. I explained the situation, it's a lovely dress but my dream dress came in after all and I can't keep both and since they won't allow a return I have to sell it.
Debbie called me back today. The dress is a shop exclusive - that's why it isn't on the website (though that doesn't make a lot of sense to me personally but that's what she said). She then offered to have me come in and take pictures of the dress in the salon and they will give me all the details with the right words to put in the listing.
So obviously I am going to do that.
I would love to be able to recoup what I spent on the replacement dress but I have decided that if I can at least sell it for what my dream dress cost I will be happy. Obviously more would be better but if I was fine with that cost when I bought it, then I am really only "out" the money spent on dream dress. Right? Sort of?
Keep your fingers crossed for me please. <3
I'd also like to reiterate a few things here:
Cody at David's Bridal in Frisco was fantastic. She was very helpful, accommodating, and empathic. She understood my initial disappoint and did everything she could to make it right. I haven't always had a great relationship with David's Bridal in the past, and certainly not when they cancelled my order, but she went a long way to making things right.
Baley's Bridal in Farmers Branch (kind of Addison) is great. From Ashley at my original appointment letting me try on dress after dress and then back again to Debbie helping track down the information about the designer weeks after the sale. They already have my money, and since I am selling the dress she knows I won't be doing alterations there. But she still went above and beyond, even arranging for me to come in and have a photo session and get help with wording for my listing. That's great customer service.
#stilllucky #infinitelybetter #maturebride #maturegroom #marriedover40 #marriedover50 #secondtimearound #thirdtimesthecharm #davidsbridal #baleysbridal