Just want to share my dress horror story with you all in hopes that the ladies out there looking for dresses can avoid what happened to me. It's really long and I tried to condense it as best as possible.
(TL;DR my wedding is in April and I didn't get my dress until this week. Don't order a dress from Sposa in New Westminster, B.C.)
I went in June 2016 to Sposa Wedding World in New Westminster, B.C., and ordered my dress from them. Edie, the owner, helped me out and picked dresses for me and was really attentive at the time. When we ordered the dress and put the 50% down, I was told by the girl at the front that it would be in by December 2016.
However, I did not receive a call from them in December, so my mom (who was super stressed and had a feeling something was wrong!) called in late January asking when the dress would be in. She was told that by mid February it would be in and that it would give plenty of time for alterations. They told her that there was no way a dress could be made 6-7 months, especially because of New Years, Chinese New Years, and Christmas.
I called at the beginning of February to confirm what they told my mom and was told with confidence that it would be in the week of February 18th, but DEFINITELY no later than Feb 25th. I then called February 18th and was told it would DEFINITELY be in the week of the 25th and told basically that I didn't need to call because they would call me when it was in. Again, the woman on the phone (who I believe was Edie) told me that it was because of all the holidays that the dress was delayed. She told me that I didn't need to worry either.
We called again on the 25th because it obviously wasn't in and told the person on the phone that she needed to be responsible and call us with any news about the dress. So, she called the designer Casablanca and received news that there was a switch in someone's job so it was delaying the dresses (she said the CEO). Again, she told us not to worry that it would be in by mid March for sure. I think her name was Kaleya, and she was the most helpful.
Unfortunately, we also had to talk with Edie a lot and she was rude and frankly condescending. She constantly talked over us and wouldn't let us speak.
Anyway, after not hearing from Sposa for almost a month we decided to go in person on March 16th. The owner was there and called the designer on the spot only to find out the dress order wasn't even placed on Casablanca's end until December because of a person who didn't place any orders for dresses in and got fired. However, it was found to be in Ontario at the Canadian Casablanca headquarters. After uncomfortably arguing with Edie about the day the dress needed to come in, we were able to get the dress shipped overnight and went to get it on Tuesday. It was only after we PUSHED for her to get the dress out as soon as possible, that she listened to us. Originally she said it would be in in MAYBE a week or by early April. My wedding is at the end of April.
When I tried on the dress, it didn't fit. The waist was snug (I ordered a size 8 and I'm a street size 4 or xs/s), the top was way too loose, and it didn't fit on my hips well so the whole thing rode up and buckled. I am a fairly standard size, just with a shorter waist. But the girl there told me the only thing that needed to be taken in was my top and everything else was fine.
I went to my seamstress outside of Sposa and she had literally taken the entire dress completely apart because of how poorly it was measured. If I used Sposa, imagine how terrible it would have fit me? My seamstress also mentioned that because the waist was so snug that if I bent weird, my dress could have split, but they didn't think that even needed to be adjusted at Sposa.
I get that this isn't JUST the bridal shop's fault. This is also Casablanca's fault. But the lack of communication between Sposa and I and Sposa and the designer was terrible to say the least. We should have been informed and told what was happening with the dress. They even told us they were unable to track the dress so they had no way of knowing where it was between Hong Kong and Canada. I feel like this is a lie, and they told us this over and over again from December on. We also had no chance of tracking it ourselves because I realized they didn't even tell me who the designer was until I asked them in February.
We should have been receiving calls from them, not us chasing them for a dress and then told poor excuses. I waited 9 months for a dress that is now completely being redone at a seamstress' who could have done it herself.