In November, I purchased a discontinued Mon Cheri lace dress off the clearance rack at a small bridal salon for $425. It's a spaghetti strap dress but I discussed with the woman having full sleeves added to the dress. She told me that would be no problem, they could order the lace from the designer. It would be $170 and to come back in September.
I wanted to get a jump on everything and went in last week. Well, it turns out that they CANNOT get the lace because the dress isn't a current style. They tried to sell me a $240 jacket. The lace wasn't the same and that's more than they quoted me at so I refused. Then they said they could maybe take lace from all over the gown (make it less of an A-line, although I wouln't say it's A-line to begin with) to craft the sleeves. I feel like there isn't that much lace to take off without hacking my dress to pieces. I'm a little hesitant to let them just start taking my dress apart.
I'm pretty upset about this whole thing because they assured me when I bought the dress making sleeves wouldn't be an issue. I found my dress on Dress In Moda (anyone know anything about this site? I'm thinking they're knockoffs). I considered buying a second dress so they could use the fabric to make the sleeves. The second dress is the same price I paid for the original. I know that might seem a little extreme (two dresses!) but I really have my heart set on sleeves. The only reason I got that dress was to have sleeves added. I asked if I bought the 2nd dress if they would do $425 worth of alterations (since I feel like they've really screwed me over. I'm willing to buy a whole nother dress just to get my hands on the fabric, I feel like the least the could do is hem it and bustle it). But they said their seamstresses work independtly and set their own costs so they couldn't say.
They also suggested I try a local fabric warehouse to see if they have similar lace.
What should I do? I always always always envisioned myself walking down the isle in long sleeves but we're not working with a lot of time (wedding is Oct 27th) and I don't want to spend a fortune. I'm so frustrated at the dress shop for telling me they would be able to do something and then not being able to.
gahhh imagine if I had waited until September
here's a pic of my dress from dressinmoda.com
http://www.dressinmoda.com/destinations-mon-cheri-spaghetti-lace-applique-overlay-asymmetrical-layers-wedding-dress.html#