Wedding Etiquette Forum

Overpriced Gown

tcd1011tcd1011 member
First Anniversary
edited September 2017 in Wedding Etiquette Forum
I purchased a wedding gown from a boutique in Florida. The owner of the salon helped me and told me the dress I wanted they didn't have it in store, but Amsale could custom make it for me. She took two dresses she had in stock, and showed me we could do the top and the bottom together, and that it was original and would cost more since it was custom.

It turned out the gown was a dress from one of their lines, and she wrote it up to look custom on the receipt. Charged me $1300 for the top of the gown, and $3900 for the bottom of the other gown. The dress she pieced together is the "Rowan" dress by amsale, and retails for $4090. She charged me $5300 for a "custom" dress that they could have ordered. I'm wondering what I can do to justify this situation. I would appreciate any feedback from anyone in the industry!  I feel very cheated, and I really had no idea I needed to do more research before shopping for a gown. 

Re: Overpriced Gown

  • tcd1011 said:
    I purchased a wedding gown from a boutique in Florida. The owner of the salon helped me and told me the dress I wanted they didn't have it in store, but Amsale could custom make it for me. She took two dresses she had in stock, and showed me we could do the top and the bottom together, and that it was original and would cost more since it was custom.

    It turned out the gown was a dress from one of their lines, and she wrote it up to look custom on the receipt. Charged me $1300 for the top of the gown, and $3900 for the bottom of the other gown. The dress she pieced together is the "Rowan" dress by amsale, and retails for $4090. She charged me $5300 for a "custom" dress that they could have ordered. I'm wondering what I can do to justify this situation. I would appreciate any feedback from anyone in the industry!  I feel very cheated, and I really had no idea I needed to do more research before shopping for a gown. 
    Are you sure your custom dress is the exact same as the Rowan? A lot of dresses are very, very similar with minor details in the finishing and fabric. One might have a drop waist and yours has a natural etc. I don't think they cheated you on purpose. It's more likely that the Rowan is either a) discontinued or b) minorly different in some way. 

    If you want to change your order, call the boutique. I do think you need to see the Rowan in person and actually compare them. 
  • tcd1011 said:
    I purchased a wedding gown from a boutique in Florida. The owner of the salon helped me and told me the dress I wanted they didn't have it in store, but Amsale could custom make it for me. She took two dresses she had in stock, and showed me we could do the top and the bottom together, and that it was original and would cost more since it was custom.

    It turned out the gown was a dress from one of their lines, and she wrote it up to look custom on the receipt. Charged me $1300 for the top of the gown, and $3900 for the bottom of the other gown. The dress she pieced together is the "Rowan" dress by amsale, and retails for $4090. She charged me $5300 for a "custom" dress that they could have ordered. I'm wondering what I can do to justify this situation. I would appreciate any feedback from anyone in the industry!  I feel very cheated, and I really had no idea I needed to do more research before shopping for a gown. 
    It sounds like she didn't do her research, and neither did you. A custom gown is much more expensive because new patterns have to be designed and cut. It takes more time and labor. I'm not sure how much of that up-charge the retailer will even see.

    I'd call her and tell her you found an alternate, then ask if you can switch the order. Unless work has already started on the custom design, she may be able to do it.

    I would only suspect being ripped off if you get a tag that says "Rowan" dress, but she still charges you extra. If she IS planning to give you that at the extra cost, making that call now can ensure that she knows that you know this is a thing, and may give her a chance to fix things.
  • Are you sure the dress she's piecing together is exactly the same as that one? If it will be exactly the same and they didn't divulge the fact that they could order it, you may have some recourse to say they purposely tried to charge you more. I would definitely have done a little more research before ordering a custom dress, because even a quick Google search pulled up a few options to purchase that exact dress. 

    However, even piecing together two dresses is a hell of a lot of work for a seamstress, and oftentimes their time isn't cheap. Even though she's maybe mimicking a dress that already exists, she still has to carefully take apart two dresses, and then put them back together seamlessly. 
  • Are you sure the dress she's piecing together is exactly the same as that one? If it will be exactly the same and they didn't divulge the fact that they could order it, you may have some recourse to say they purposely tried to charge you more. I would definitely have done a little more research before ordering a custom dress, because even a quick Google search pulled up a few options to purchase that exact dress. 

    However, even piecing together two dresses is a hell of a lot of work for a seamstress, and oftentimes their time isn't cheap. Even though she's maybe mimicking a dress that already exists, she still has to carefully take apart two dresses, and then put them back together seamlessly. 

    It sounds like OP ordered the dress from Amsale to be the top of one dress and the bottom of another.  They do not need to pull apart existing dresses in this instance.  The factory simply creates the top of one dress and the bottom of the other when it is time to make this specific dress. 

    My xSIL did this with her wedding gown.  I also thought about doing it for my own, since I wanted straps with a certain bottom.  I ended up getting it made as is and having a seamstress add straps with extra fabric that I ordered with my gown.  I like to call dresses like these Frankendresses!

    OP - As someone mentioned above - are you sure that the Rowan dress is exactly what you ordered down to the minute details?  If it is, then contact the dress shop now and tell them what you found out.  Tell them that you want to cancel the custom order and simply get the Rowan.  If the order can be altered at this time, that should hopefully mean you will just pay a different balance once the dress arrives.  The owner may not have known any better.  If she did not have the Rowan in her stock, how would she know that the dress you want created is already available as the Rowan?

    It would have been different if the Rowan was available in her store.  The owner should have said "You know we have a dress very similar to the one you want created.  Let me pull it so you can take a look at the other."  Lastly, as I said above my xSIL had a Frankendress made.  The dress shop probably had to call the designer to get the cost for making the top and bottom - which was worked into the price you are paying.

  • Are you sure the dress she's piecing together is exactly the same as that one? If it will be exactly the same and they didn't divulge the fact that they could order it, you may have some recourse to say they purposely tried to charge you more. I would definitely have done a little more research before ordering a custom dress, because even a quick Google search pulled up a few options to purchase that exact dress. 

    However, even piecing together two dresses is a hell of a lot of work for a seamstress, and oftentimes their time isn't cheap. Even though she's maybe mimicking a dress that already exists, she still has to carefully take apart two dresses, and then put them back together seamlessly. 

    It sounds like OP ordered the dress from Amsale to be the top of one dress and the bottom of another.  They do not need to pull apart existing dresses in this instance.  The factory simply creates the top of one dress and the bottom of the other when it is time to make this specific dress. 

    My xSIL did this with her wedding gown.  I also thought about doing it for my own, since I wanted straps with a certain bottom.  I ended up getting it made as is and having a seamstress add straps with extra fabric that I ordered with my gown.  I like to call dresses like these Frankendresses!

    OP - As someone mentioned above - are you sure that the Rowan dress is exactly what you ordered down to the minute details?  If it is, then contact the dress shop now and tell them what you found out.  Tell them that you want to cancel the custom order and simply get the Rowan.  If the order can be altered at this time, that should hopefully mean you will just pay a different balance once the dress arrives.  The owner may not have known any better.  If she did not have the Rowan in her stock, how would she know that the dress you want created is already available as the Rowan?

    It would have been different if the Rowan was available in her store.  The owner should have said "You know we have a dress very similar to the one you want created.  Let me pull it so you can take a look at the other."  Lastly, as I said above my xSIL had a Frankendress made.  The dress shop probably had to call the designer to get the cost for making the top and bottom - which was worked into the price you are paying.

    Ahhhh yeah I didn't even think about that option, duh. You're probably right, that's likely what happened.
  • CMGragainCMGragain member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    edited September 2017
    "Frankendress"???  LOL!  Thanks for my giggle of the day, @OliveOilsMom .
    httpiimgurcomTCCjW0wjpg
  • Pics or it didn't happen.  :) 

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