The Shabby Chic great, would NOT recommend seamstress
READ THIS REVIEW!
I debated about writing this review for months, but ultimately felt like I should share my experience with The Shabby Chic and, more importantly, their seamstress.
I should start by saying that The Shabby Chic itself was absolutely wonderful. It was the third bridal shop I had went to that day and ended up being where I bought my wedding dress from. My group was the only group in the shop during my appointment, and we had a consultant's undivided attention the entire time. We had independence to browse dress racks ourselves, but the consultant also made a few suggestions and brought out a few dresses herself. I never felt pressured by the consultant to "just hurry up and pick one" or felt like my thoughts on the dresses she brought out weren't heard and considered. When I decided on my wedding dress, the consultant was able to give me multiple discounts due to small flaws in the dress (it was used, of course), which I really appreciated. Altogether I just spent around $550 on a dress that was originally well over $1,000, which I'd say is a steal (not to mention that the consultant gave me a congratulatory gift bag, too)!
I wanted to get alterations done for those small flaws I mentioned, so the consultant recommended I use the in-shop seamstress (Mary Hafner). I couldn't find any information/reviews about her online, but the consultant trusted her, so I went with it. That is where I went wrong. Right off the bat, this seamstress seemed unfriendly and coarse. At both of my fittings, which happened mid-May and mid-June, she was not wearing a mask (which doesn't bother me, but seemed completely unprofessional, given the COVID-19 pandemic). When I gave her my thoughts on what I'd like altered, she was kind of pushy about what she thought would be best, almost like she didn't consider what I'd requested. (Granted, a lot of what she said was based off of her experience as a seamstress, but she also changed my mind about what I wanted my veil to look like, which wasn't cool.) I tried to let this feeling of uncertainty roll off my shoulders by thinking, "This seamstress apparently has a lot of experience, so even if she rubs me the wrong way, I should just trust in her skills", but I was WRONG. (For background knowledge: My dress is mermaid-style with intricate beading on the bodice and a tulle skirt.) There were MULTIPLE errors in my dress when I received it back. There was a noticeable rip near the zipper on the side of the bodice. The bodice was supposed to be close-fitting, but the zipper VERY EVIDENTLY bunched up near my hip, visible in all of my wedding pictures showing that side of my body. The zipper itself would not go past a certain point without SIGNIFICANT pulling. The bra cups added into the dress were poorly sewn (like, I could've done a better job if I'd done it myself). I asked for beading on the edge of my veil and there was none. Mind you, the impression the seamstress gave me at our initial fitting was that the dress/veil would be nothing but flawless in the end; in fact, multiple of the issues I listed above we SPECIFICALLY talked about fixing at my initial fitting. The seamstress also had more than enough time to fix these issues-- I bought my dress early March, my initial fitting was mid-May, I received my dress back mid-June, and I got married late-August. My mom and I ended up calling the seamstress back and asking her about these issues. She gave us excuses in response-- "You have no idea how long I spent on your dress", "I worked on that for such a long time and that's as good as it's going to get", "I can't fix that because the fabric is too fine", things of that nature. She eventually agreed to take the dress back and spend some more time on it, but I noticed no difference. I PAID OVER $600 ON THESE ALTERATIONS. COMPLETELY frustrating. If there is one thing a bride should not feel on her wedding day, that would be disappointment about her wedding dress. I most definitely did.
Altogether, I'd give The Shabby Chic 5/5 stars, and Mary Hafner 0/5 stars.