First Fitting Today. Horrible Experience. (super long post)

natalie0131 · August 2010

I was so excited to go on my first fitting. I love my dress and couldn't wait to see it on since I couldn't actually try it on completely when I bought it because it was too small.
I bought it from Mockingbird Bridal even though I had heard warnings from my coworkers about their consultants. But I ended up going there on a trunk show day and fell in love with a dress that the designer said I "had to have" and I agreed. My consultant was great and was very sweet to both me and my mom who had flown in from Pennsylvania go to shopping with me.
I wish I could say today had been awesome, but it was really kind of a horrible experience. And I'm the type of person that can always find the silver lining in everything, but I'm struggling to find it here. That's how bad it was.
First of all, I had to go alone. My mom and sister couldn't make it to TX, which is fine. It would be pretty expensive for them to both come out and I'm a pretty independent person so I didn't think I would mind that much. I invited five of my girlfriends from Dallas to go instead. (I've only lived here since November so they are not like besties or anything, but coworkers and former coworkers.) Two of them had to work at 5 (the latest appt I could get for my fitting), one was out of town, one had to do a baby shower and my partner from work who was the most excited about going got fired today [:( ] So, needless to say, she wasn't in the mood to come.
So I get there after BARELY escaping work in time to beat rush hour traffic to make my appt, and the seamstress was SO UNFRIENDLY and was like, "strip down" as soon as I got behind the curtain in her little seamstress room. So I get down to my skivvies, put on my Spanx and asked her if she had a boustier type bra. I had asked the salon before if they had them available because I wanted to buy one instead of my crappy everyday strapless bra. So she brings me the salon bra, the cups were like nothing, and not supportive at all of my 36DD cups. But at this point, I'm thinking, whatever fine maybe the dress will just be extra tight at the top and I won't need to worry about it.
So I put my shoes on (my fabulous sandals that I'm so excited about) and she makes a "you're wearing flats?!" comment. Whatever, you think I should wear heels. Fine. Not your wedding. So then I step into my dress and it feels HUGE, but I was thinking, well she hasn't zipped it up yet so maybe it will be better. Little did I know she had zipped it up. It was just that big. So she starts pinning it and it felt like an episode of Say Yes to the Dress where they have to put the huge clamps on all the skinny girls. Except I'm not skinny and the fabric is so thick that the pins wouldn't stay in.
So then I put on my headpiece and asked her to take a pic for me so I could at least show my mom. I had brought my FI's nice Canon camera with me so I could take a better pic than with just my iPhone, but for some reason the camera wasn't working and she was getting impatient with me so I just had her snap a pic with my sucky 3G.
So THEN she tells me to take it off and says "you must have lost a lot of weight. I need to do the measurements again." So I tell her that I HADN'T lost a lot of weight. So she marks up my ticket and tells me that the total cost of alterations is going to be almost half of what I paid for the dress. WHAAAAT?? And I had asked the salon before I even went in for my fitting if it was OK to use outside alterations ppl because I was planning on using Becky Fowler anyway. So I politely tell the woman that I don't think I am prepared to pay that much and say that I want to look at other options (because I believe honesty is the best policy.) She said she understood, but from that moment on she treated me like crap. THEN on the way out the sales associate that had sold me the dress came over to us and she was like, "Oh how do you like the dress?" And before I could even say I thought it was beautiful, but it was too big the seamstress was like "She lost weight and...I'll tell you about it later." If I hadn't been so desperate to get out of there, I wanted to be like, "No, b!tch, you tell her right now while I'm standing here." I hate that kind of stuff so much.
So anyways. I get home to go on Yelp and read that other brides had had problems with MB order the wrong size and then charging an arm and a leg to fix it. It's so crazy. I feel so scammed. Seriously, she says I need like 2+ inches off the bust and like 4 inches around the hips. How could anyone lose THAT much weight and not notice? All of my clothes still fit the same.
So, I took my dress and I'm going to call Becky in the morning and pray that she can help me. There is no way I am ever going back to Mockingbird Bridal.
Hope you all have had wonderful experiences. Thanks for listening to my vent and I hope this helps anyone in the process.

Below is a picture of my HUGE dress that doesn't cling to my body at ALL like it's supposed to.

Jay&Marissa · August 2010

I'm so sorry--how crappy!

Do call Becky--the woman can work wonders. There was a bride on here who had her dress brought down like 6 sizes when she lost weight and it looked wonderful. AND the dress was more like an evening gown made of that satiny material, which is much harder to work with than what you have. She'll be able to fix it easily and she doesn't charge much at all!

brooke.anne · August 2010

That is horrible, I am so sorry that happened to you ):

Thank you for the warning about Mockingbird, I will be dress shopping soon so it is good to hear about different experiences, whether negative or positive. I am sure something will be worked out I see a lot on here about Becky so hopefully she will be able to fix you up. I hope everything turns out the way you want it to!

BTW- I love your dress!

tam427 · August 2010

I'm sorry that happened to you, but thanks for your story. My cousin, who lives in the M streets, was swearing up and down by Mockingbird, even though she herself has never used them, and i told her I had heard bad things about them, she didn't believe me. Now I have proof LOL.

But on the bright side, your dress is beautiful! I'm sure Becky can fix it, and I hear she's very reasonable w/prices too.

Bootsie12 · August 2010

Sorry you had such a bad experience with the dress fitting. The way they treated is very unprofessional. I am using Becky for my alterations, she is so nice and does beautiful work. She is always reasonably priced.

natalie0131 · August 2010

Thanks for your comments ladies; it really made me feel better. I'm so glad I found the Knot and this board because I never would have known about Becky-- I'm going to call her as soon as I can today (once it's a reasonable hour since it's not even 9am yet ha.) Thanks again and I will let you know how it goes.

bethlovesjim · August 2010

Natalie: Your dress is beautiful in that picture!
I'm sorry you had a bad experience at MB, I'm shocked, since they are Knot top rated, and recomended, year after year. How can they get that with so many bad reviews?

Good Luck with Becky!

MLandCJ · August 2010

I had a horrible expierence with them as well. I'm sorry to hear that they are still having problems.but you should of burst into tears, that is what I would of done.

YOUR DRESS! I love it! It is making me think twice about my dress.

fallbride1109 · August 2010

Natalie I am so sorry to hear about your experience. That should have been a fun time for you--but you have nothing to worry about, Becky will fix everything and your REAL first fitting will be nothing like this one!

(I think Becky is on vacation right now though so don't panic if you can't get a hold of her right away.)

natalie0131 · August 2010

Thanks for your compliments and sympathy. I know some day I will look back at all of this and laugh. Well, I kind of laughed a little bit about it already. FI and I went out to dinner last night and I was like, should we order dessert? I have to gain weight to fit into my dress...ha....

Stephanie: Thank you SO MUCH for letting me know that Becky is on vacation. I was a little disheartened that I wasn't able to reach her. Do you know when she'll be back? Or have an email address for her?

Thanks again ladies. Do y'all ever do DFW G2Gs? I would love to meet y'all.

bsn1752 · August 2010

I am so sorry that happened - but your dress is beautiful.

The most powerful advertising is word of mouth and it's a shame they treated you that way.

I'm sure that Becky will be able to get you fixed up!! Good luck!

fallbride1109 · August 2010

beckyfowler1@tx.rr.com

I think one of the girls said she'll be back around the 19th or something? It was in another thread--I can't remember the exact date but it was this month. I'm sure you'll hear from her, don't worry!

ANGELA255 · August 2010

That stinks that you had such a bad experience with them. I bought my dress there and so far they have been nothing but nice to me...even when I was 2nd guessing my dress and came back in to try it on after I ordered it. I think sometimes the problem is that people that have bad experiences are the only ones to post and vent about it. You never hear all the good experiences. I hope you have a better experience with Becky! And I love your dress!!!

llc2011 · August 2010

I am so sorry that you had such a bad experience, but from what I have heard on here Becky is amazing! (I haven't used her, but will be next year for my dress).

Your dress is gorgeous!

meghanttu08 · August 2010

oh my goodness! How horrible! I can't believe they treated you like that! The other manager I worked wth, when she lived here (she moved to Alabama), she started at David's but didn't like the consultant so she went to Mockingbird and had a great experience.

I bet the good consultants left and now it's all horrible ones! I was thinking of driving all the way there to look but I'm glad I didn't!!

Tiffany618 · August 2010

I am so sorry to hear about your experience!! Your dress is absolutely gorgeous though, and I have no doubt that Becky will get you all fixed up at a reasonable price.

serlace · August 2010

Oh no - how horrible. But, your dress is stunning!

its apelila · August 2010

Becky is.... AH-MAZING!

I've been reading the boards for at least a year and a half and I have

never

not once

I repeat: NEVER

seen anything negative about her or her work... So I said when it's time for mine, I am gonna call that woman up...
And I had my first fitting today, and yeah, she's awesome.

First Fitting Today. Horrible Experience. (super long post)

Re: First Fitting Today. Horrible Experience. (super long post)

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