SuperSam
03-28-2007, 07:13 PM
Greetings All!
I've posted a few messages about the pain of dealing with an un-kind, un-caring wedding vendor, and now maybe I should shed some light on the real Sam so you guys don't think I'm psycho...
Anyway,
I recently tied the knot with my love of 5 years, Mike, and an actually pretty mild day in downtown Seattle WA, amidst the piers and bustle of the busy streets. Don't worry, we were in a hotel, not actually in the streets :laugh: . It was a beautiful wedding if I do say so myself, and I'm kinda proud because I did all the planning myself from 3000 miles away - that's right, long distance. I live in the great state of Mississippi and my husband lives in North Carolina. We are both from Washington and wanted to share the day with our family (99% of which live in WA), so we had no other choice.
Our wedding may have been one of the most stressful events of my life - not just because I live 3000 miles away from the wedding site, had to do everything myself, paid for everything out of my own pocket... that stuff I knew was just gonna have to happen, and I was prepared. I had all the books and was ready to hit the ground running. No, it wasn't all that working against me. It was the pain of dealing with David's Bridal - seriously.
Anyway, we found a great DJ service, florist, baker, and hotel to host the wedding ceremony and reception - all online thru other forums and websites. Really pretty easy and went very smoothly. I purchased my beautiful princess ballgown from Alfred Angelo, and liked their service so much ordered all the bridesmaid gowns from there too. Why Alfred's? well, DB was evil.
I fell head-over-heels in love with the most adorable flower girl dress - it looked just like my wedding dress but tiny! how totally cute! I must have it! So I sucked it up and went to not one, not two, not even three... but four DB stores just to be ignored by multiple sales reps or pushed around and have multiple items shoved in my face. It was one extreme or the other. But I really wanted that dress. So, I ordered the dress in ivory size four 4 months in advance.
Meanwhile, Mike and I are getting ansty about the upcoming nuptuals. We don't get to see each other a lot due to our working conditions, but chat every night via cell phone. It really is the only way we keep going. And it's going to be harder when he deploys to the desert. We are both military and our bases are about 11 hours drive from eachother - that's a long drive to see the other person, but one we gladly make.
The flower girl dress arrives - it's perfect! so cute! but it's white. No problem, send back and DB will send the right color. 4 weeks later the dress is back, it's perfect, it's ivory, it's waaaay too big - size 8. Ok, send back, we'll get it right this time. By now, wedding week has arrived and the big day is getting closer...
The day before the wedding DB finally gets the flower girl dress in and it's finally the right fit - but now it's red. What? yes, that's right, red. Practically on the other side of the color spectrum! So now what? that's what I said. Everything else about planning a long distance wedding while working full time and a reception for 100 people was just too easy... something had to be difficult. Why not this? great.
I contacted the DB in Seattle and explained the situation to the manager who was wonderful and offered to exchange the dress for any size 4 in ivory they had available. She even pulled them all off the floor while my bridesmaid and sobbing flower girl made the 45minute trip out there to pick a new dress.
The wedding was perfect. My girls were all so beautiful in their dresses, and my flower girl, though not in the matching dress I so desperately wanted, was so adorable and thrilled to be in the right color.
In the end, not so bad. I probably did stress too much over the little details... but then again, if I don't then who would? somebody's gotta do it, right? The wedding was great and turned out just how I had always dreamed it would; and the nightmare of dealing with David's Bridal is finally over.
I've posted a few messages about the pain of dealing with an un-kind, un-caring wedding vendor, and now maybe I should shed some light on the real Sam so you guys don't think I'm psycho...
Anyway,
I recently tied the knot with my love of 5 years, Mike, and an actually pretty mild day in downtown Seattle WA, amidst the piers and bustle of the busy streets. Don't worry, we were in a hotel, not actually in the streets :laugh: . It was a beautiful wedding if I do say so myself, and I'm kinda proud because I did all the planning myself from 3000 miles away - that's right, long distance. I live in the great state of Mississippi and my husband lives in North Carolina. We are both from Washington and wanted to share the day with our family (99% of which live in WA), so we had no other choice.
Our wedding may have been one of the most stressful events of my life - not just because I live 3000 miles away from the wedding site, had to do everything myself, paid for everything out of my own pocket... that stuff I knew was just gonna have to happen, and I was prepared. I had all the books and was ready to hit the ground running. No, it wasn't all that working against me. It was the pain of dealing with David's Bridal - seriously.
Anyway, we found a great DJ service, florist, baker, and hotel to host the wedding ceremony and reception - all online thru other forums and websites. Really pretty easy and went very smoothly. I purchased my beautiful princess ballgown from Alfred Angelo, and liked their service so much ordered all the bridesmaid gowns from there too. Why Alfred's? well, DB was evil.
I fell head-over-heels in love with the most adorable flower girl dress - it looked just like my wedding dress but tiny! how totally cute! I must have it! So I sucked it up and went to not one, not two, not even three... but four DB stores just to be ignored by multiple sales reps or pushed around and have multiple items shoved in my face. It was one extreme or the other. But I really wanted that dress. So, I ordered the dress in ivory size four 4 months in advance.
Meanwhile, Mike and I are getting ansty about the upcoming nuptuals. We don't get to see each other a lot due to our working conditions, but chat every night via cell phone. It really is the only way we keep going. And it's going to be harder when he deploys to the desert. We are both military and our bases are about 11 hours drive from eachother - that's a long drive to see the other person, but one we gladly make.
The flower girl dress arrives - it's perfect! so cute! but it's white. No problem, send back and DB will send the right color. 4 weeks later the dress is back, it's perfect, it's ivory, it's waaaay too big - size 8. Ok, send back, we'll get it right this time. By now, wedding week has arrived and the big day is getting closer...
The day before the wedding DB finally gets the flower girl dress in and it's finally the right fit - but now it's red. What? yes, that's right, red. Practically on the other side of the color spectrum! So now what? that's what I said. Everything else about planning a long distance wedding while working full time and a reception for 100 people was just too easy... something had to be difficult. Why not this? great.
I contacted the DB in Seattle and explained the situation to the manager who was wonderful and offered to exchange the dress for any size 4 in ivory they had available. She even pulled them all off the floor while my bridesmaid and sobbing flower girl made the 45minute trip out there to pick a new dress.
The wedding was perfect. My girls were all so beautiful in their dresses, and my flower girl, though not in the matching dress I so desperately wanted, was so adorable and thrilled to be in the right color.
In the end, not so bad. I probably did stress too much over the little details... but then again, if I don't then who would? somebody's gotta do it, right? The wedding was great and turned out just how I had always dreamed it would; and the nightmare of dealing with David's Bridal is finally over.