DO NOT GET YOUR ALTERATIONS HERE! Danielle at Angel Rivera did her best to advocate for me, but…read moreultimately, I ran out of time, and I needed to just take my dress and find a new seamstress in Upstate NY, where I live. I'm writing this to warn future (or current) Angel Rivera brides of my experience with the tailor shop they work with -- Christine's Custom Tailor.
My experience was an absolute nightmare. I bought my dress at Angel Rivera, and it was a good experience, but I left there under the impression Angel would be making my custom sleeves (these sleeves were integral to the dress; I've always wanted a wedding dress with sleeves). A conversation happened behind the scenes, and Angel was not doing them anymore. I, unknowingly, arrived at my first fitting to see Robert from Christine's Custom Tailor. Unfortunately, I feel I was sold the dress under false pretenses and promises, even if that wasn't the intention.
The first seamstress they assigned me to had to be REMOVED from the project. She gave me different versions of the sleeves that were 4-5 sizes too big, the next version: raw hem, still too big, buttons not equidistant, and one arm with an outside seam down to my mid forearm the other one had a seam down to the bottom of my bicep, the next version: the seam was sown crooked so it did not sit right on my arm whatsoever.
I then went to Angel Rivera Bridal Shop to talk to Danielle had this awful experience, and she had to step in and try to advocate for me. Danielle got a new seamstress from Christine's Custom Tailor on the project. She basically had to re-do the whole sleeve 2 weeks before my wedding. She fixed the sleeves and dress a lot, but I still was not being listened to about the lack of structure in the sleeve. And, now there are lipstick stains all over the sleeve.
So, long story short, a week before my wedding I have a new seamstress inserting some rigid strips of fabric to the top of the sleeve to provide more structure like I want. Then, I will have to quickly get these to the dry cleaners and pay for a 2-day turnaround because of lipstick stains all over the sleeve. They are small stains, but noticeable to me and not what you expect when you pay over a grand for alterations/custom sleeves.
I lost sleep over this whole experience, and after 6 fittings, I am exhausted... one of these fittings being 5.5 hours!!!! There are still random threads/stitches visible on the sleeve and the fabric is pretty roughed up by the buttons. I have very high attention to detail, as should any tailor shop, but this business does not.
Save yourself so much mental anguish and take your dress elsewhere. This all could have been avoided if Robert was honest about this team's capabilities from the beginning. They were way in over their heads with this project.
Unfortunately, I had to compromise on my original vision because of their lack of skill. I did not want visible seams on the forearm, and now I have them.
In the words of my new tailor: 'This is so bad. Why did they do this? These are stitches that should be on the inside, not on the outside like this. Terrible.'
Don't expect compensation, let alone an apology, from Robert if they mess up. He's not a bad man, but he is a bad businessman.
