Shop on line, but not for bridesmaid dresses.

Recently my sister was a bridesmaid in a wedding party of 7 girls. They found the perfect bridesmaid dress, a Bari Jay short dress, at Bridal & Formal by RJS in Nashville, TN. Their price was $129, a very good price, especially at a full service bridal salon. But, one of her friends found the same dress advertised cheaper, at $125, on the internet store from Chicago. Five of them decided to order on line from the store in Chicago and two ordered from Bridal & Formal by RJS.

The dresses all came in about the same time, just 3 to 4 days apart. Bridal & Formal by RJS got it first, probably because they are delivering to a business. But, within 4 days after that, the rest of them came in. But, what a mistake!!! The two dresses from Bridal & Formal by RJS needed some minor alterations; one was just shoulder strap adjustment and they did not charge for it. Other one needed to adjust the bust line a little (bra size 32 A can do that to you,) and they did it for $14 extra. The other five dresses came in way too big, needing a lot of alterations, costing over $40 and up for each dress. So where is the saving? Do you know most bridal shops discount the alteration fee when the item is purchased from that store? Keep that in mind girls. When asked why the dresses are so big, the on line store from Chicago said that you can always make a dress to fit you by a good seamstress if it is big, but nothing can be done if it is too small. So they always order a size larger to make sure it is not too small. You will always have to have some alterations made to the dress to fit your body. I told my sister to ask them to exchange the dresses for smaller sizes. She said that the store agreed, after a lot of arm twisting, to exchange for an additional fee, but it will take another 12 to 13 weeks before the replacements will get here. But, they have only 4 weeks to the wedding date. So what good is that?

Another problem was that two of the dresses from the on line store were of noticeably different color, a different shade of purple. Thier explanation was that the dresses get cut from different lot of fabric. Each lot is dyed separately and there will be a slight variation in color from one lot of dye to another due to climate change and other factors. They do not have any control over that. Their explanation made sense, but it certainly did not help the girls, especially the bride who was really disappointed! So I asked Mr. RJ from Bridal & Formal by RJS. He said the same thing, i.e. different dye lots may have slight color variations between them; for some colors it is more noticeable than others. But, he added, they take special precautions to make sure the dresses, especially bridesmaid dresses, that they order are all cut from the same fabric lot. That way, all dresses they order for a particular bridal party has the same color, no color variations, if they all choose the same color. According to Mr. RJ, all reputable full service bridal shops do that for you; they will make sure the dresses are cut from the same dye lot.

So, there you are girls, shop on line, but not for bridesmaid dresses, unless you don't mind color defects and sizing and alteration problems.