I came in the summer of 2017 looking for wedding dresses. What made me choose d'Anelli Bridal over the other place in Cherry Creek was their in-house seamstress. The second reason I chose d'Anelli Bridal was because the price they quoted me for alterations. Maybe it was because their in-house seamstress, the price they quoted me was $100 less than the other places.
The problems started after I purchased the dress. I came in for the inspection and noticed the zipper was finicky. The lady helping me that day was struggling with the zipper as it got stuck both going up and going down. After watching her struggle with it for 10 minutes, I offered to help and I had to move the thread around the zipper and she maneuvered the zipper and was finally able to unzip the dress for me to get in. I clearly stated the zipper was an issue and continued to inspect the dress for any tears, rips, or missing beading but found the dress to be perfect otherwise.
Fast forward a month to my first fitting, I met the seamstress and the first thing she told me was how she hopes someone told me to budge $600 for alterations. $600?! That's three times more than what I was told before purchasing the dress. Im not sure if it's the sales lady's fault or the seamstresses fault here with all the discrepancies, but either way, it wasn't acceptable in my opinion. That was my deciding factor in purchasing a dress here and I clearly asked for prices before purchasing the dress.
Then, the contact they asked me to sign had generic itemized prices but it was left to whatever prices the seamstress quoted. For example, to fix the length of the dress stated it starts at $250 but apparently for the dress I bought and it's complicated hem, the outer layers itself would be $300 minimum and to hem the inner layers was an additional $100. Why weren't those prices quoted to me when I asked?
I was getting ready to try on my wedding dress again when the seamstress couldn't get the zipper closed, she said it would cost $20 to redo the zipper. I asked her why it would cost me to redo the zipper when I mentioned it at the inspection the zipper was a problem and told her I refused to pay for it. She said she would try to fix it, started cutting off some of the tread that got caught in the zipper tracks, and fixed the zipper in 30 seconds. Why she told me she would have to reset the zipper and charge me $20 is the exactly the reason I felt like I was getting scammed.
When it was time to pay, I'm not sure if the manager or owner (she didn't introduce herself but her role seemed transparent it was the boss) was upset with having to deal with the situation, or if she didn't make the thousands in alterations she was expecting to, she tried taking away one of my alteration appointments stating since I'm not getting a strapless dress, it "wouldn't really matter" even if I fluctuated in weight. (Usually they do 3 alterations-- one 2 months before, 1 months before, and the month of the wedding where you pick the dress up the week of the wedding and that ensues the dress is as perfect as it could be).
Now at my second fitting, there were alterations that I have paid for that wasn't done to the dress. That was the final line for me so I complained to the manager stating the blatant dishonesty and refunded me the money for the alterations that were not done. What I recommend is keep your itemized alteration receipt or ask for a copy, and take pictures of the dress and alterations every step of the way. That is what I did and how I was able to get my money back on work that wasn't done.
To add, Sarah, my seamstress was rude throughout the whole process and when our times to meet for the next fitting didn't match up, she stormed to the back (which was around the corner from the fitting rooms so I heard everything) and was complaining about how difficult I was to the other workers. How unprofessional.
All of this only skimmed the surface of the continuous problems I had. I felt like there was just a lot of dishonestly during my experience here. And since they told me to wait until 2 months before to start my alterations, it was already too late for me to start researching places and find another seamstress.
Every wedding shop will give you exceptional customer service and huge selection, save your money and go to a place where they will be open, honest, and transparent with you throughout the whole process. If they won't show you prices, most likely it's because they're waiting to throw a curve ball in your direction. read more