Disappointed with dress once it came in.

I know nothing about alterations, so I cannot a answer your question but I would ask the boutique to pay for the bust to be altered. It is not your fault they didn't pay close enough attention to a designer that they carry. But I am sure whatever needs to be done, can be done. If it cant then the boutique has some serious making up to do!!!!

Your dress is absolutely beautiful by the way!

Omg I totally almost bought this gown, I am soooooo in love with it! And I love it on you, it is so flattering, I can only imagine how hard it would be if my gown comes in different then when I tried it on but it still looks great on you and a good alterations person should be able to fit it to your body to fix the "flappy bits"

I'm not sure about the boning issue, but I had my neckline changed on my dress with no issue. I would try to make an appointment and get specific answers about how they will fix the issue. It may take multiple fittings for it to fit perfectly. Just make sure all of your concerns are addressed.

The salon absolutely needs to cover the alterations to make the bust how it should be. Or, if time, reorder the dress properly. It is their responsibility to make sure that they are ordering what you requested. There's no excuse for " well we didn't know they'd do that", I can't imagine a designer adding extra stuff to an ordered dress without some direction from a shop / purchaser.

I 100% agree that the bridal salon should be responsible for altering the neckline. Depending on how long it took the dress to come in (and if you feel comfortable) it might be easier to just have them replace the dress entirely and with the neckline that you originally ordered. This might give you better peace of mine knowing that you don't have to worry about altering the structure of the dress.

That's insane to me how going up sizes would completely CHANGE the design of the top of the gown? I would also be disappointed. I feel like they should have known or told you before ordering the dress for you. It is an expensive gown, and now you need alts. UGH I can only imagine how stressful it is!

I am so upset for you. The salon should take responsibility for this (if not full then partial) because this is in no way your fault, and they’re the professionals who should know this about the dresses they’re selling.

I had a similar incident with my first engagement ring and needless to say, I was furious at the way the jewellery store handled it and I didn’t keep it (my FH had me pick out my engagement ring post-proposal).

Ohh no! I agree with everyone else that the salon should be accountable for either ordering a new dress or covering the alterations to fix the neck line. Does the bridal salon have in house alterations? Many of those ladies are miracle workers and can do almost anything, so they should be able to fix it!

Any good wedding gown seamstress should be able to alter a gown with boning. It can be an intensive process, but boning is just pieces of plastic sewn into the dress. Considering that the shop wasn't aware of the initial issue, it makes me nervous about whether or not their seamstresses are good...

Omg what a difference ..id be so heart broken .. absolutely shops fault .. my dress will liklwy be a reconstructoom .. but because im busty .. i had to order a 14 .. and size down to an 8

Oh no, there is definitely a difference there. Do they not make any plus size gowns without the extra coverage? They should have disclosed that to you for sure! Other than that, the dress is beautiful! I hope they can fix the top for you...keep us updated!

Yeah...that's not okay, the salon should be taking care of this for you. I see your concerns, and I'm in total agreement with you, it changes the dress and you don't need the coverage. It's just plain weird that they automatically do that, they should make it an option and prompt the store to ask customers when they are ordering or something.

It really frustrates me that the boutique just chalked it up as something that they will pay attention to "next time". NO! You fell in love with one dress and got another! I completely see what you mean and it doesn't look right. Im
sure alterations could fix it but I don't think that's something you should be responsible for. You paid for one dress and got another. My heart breaks for you. Keep us updated we are rooting for you!! Also you look stunning in the first one!

The top right looks PERFECT to me-- as a fellow HP bride, I'm disappointed FOR you!! I agree with PPs, that the salon should have known this, especially since I'm assuming there was an up-charge for the extra flappy bits? (Which I also don't agree with, but I digress) Talk to salon management, especially if they do in-house alterations. They might be able to swap the top of yours out for a standard top. But above all, please try not to stress out too much! I know that's easier said than done, but seamstresses have done a lot more with a lot less and they are truly magicians!

Thank you all for your replies. I have subsequently emailed the salon owner, I kind of feel bad because I get the feeling she had never dealt with this and did not know, or was not made aware of, the huge change in the dress. It is a relatively newer salon, and they mostly serve thin types. Not my type. She offered to cover the bustline issue, which I very much appreciate. But, after further examination it looks to me like there is a HUGE space left between some of the appliqués and beading, and I am very worried that even just having the seamstress cut the bust back, it will look odd. Definitely not the gown I tried on. I am going to post another image, the same as previous, but with arrows pointing to the discrepancies I see.

I also DM'ed Hayley herself on Instagram, asking for advice, and I wasn't really expecting anything since she is so busy but she did get back to me. I will also include that little screen shot, she told me to email the JLM company, which I did, to get their advice. I will say, it is VERY impressive to me that the designer of the gown actually replied. She is a true unicorn. The salon owner also said she is going to reach out to her HP rep to discuss options. I am almost of the mind that I need to send it back and have the original top sewn onto my plus sized bottom.

I really did not want to make a huge deal of it, but at the end of the day, it IS my wedding, and the gown I fell in love with is not the one I received. My parents paid for my gown, and $5k is nothing to sneeze at, especially when there are major differences in what was signed on versus what was received. I hate to be the "problem" bride for any of these people, but I really want the gown to look like I had imagined, what I tried on. I know that intrinsically you have to add fabric for a plus sized person. But, the huge gap in what I tried on versus what was delivered has really left me quite disappointed.

I feel awful, and I hate to be a cause of strife for those who are working on this for me. I feel like I need to send flowers or something to the salon owner, because I don't want to be a burden. But I DO expect to receive the gown how it looked on me when I ordered. UGH. Help???

spacing on design

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Thank you for your input CBD to Be! My fellow HP girl! See my response below. I am lost.

My heart is so there with you...I think I remember seeing your “say yes” post? It’s such a beautiful dress! I don’t know anything about alterations, but you’re right to demand them. I’m sure you’re being very nice given the circumstances! Keep us updated! ❤️

Ps—I’m plus sized too, so I am so mad they did that!!! Grrrrrr!

I'm plus size, but smaller on top too, and when my gown came on it was a disaster. I contacted the designer, they made a whole new bodice in 24 hours and shipped out to the store to be attached. Can they do this for you?

So those pictures you posted .. the one other then you is totally my friend lol, I was just looking thru her IG to see how hers looked and noticed it was because of her tattoo.. I’m not sure what she did but I remember her telling me she was customizing a lot of it - I can try to ask her what she did