Dress Fitting That Went Horribly Wrong But Turned Out Fine

Sometimes everything that could possibly go wrong does. That's what happened at my first dress fitting.

But luckily, everything somehow ended up just fine...let's chat about it, shall we?

(Jeff, don't click the link, mmkay? I mean, I'm fine with it...but you're all set on not seeing the dress...)

Thing That Went Horribly Wrong But Turned Out Fine #1: The Language Barrier
So I walk in to the shop where I brought my dress, and the shop owner introduces me to the seamstress by saying this: "Katie, this is Karime...she doesn't speak English." Umm, what?!?! I don't know about you, but I would like to at least be able to speak to the person doing my alterations! I actually know some Spanish, and I was preparing to muster up everything I've ever learned and use it to the best of my ability when another person was introduced to me: "This is her daughter Laura; she translates and helps out." Whew. Thank the Lord. Crisis averted.

Thing That Went Horribly Wrong But Turned Out Fine #2: The Graduation Robe Dress
My dress didn't fit. At all. If you haven't figured it out yet, I'm pretty small. I'm 5' 2''. My head is small. My boobs are small. I can't wear bangle bracelets because they fall off of my hands. I can't wear long earrings because there just isn't enough space between my earlobes and my shoulders. Anyway, I ordered my wedding dress in the smallest size it comes in, and the people at the shop told me it should be perfect, and that my measurements were actually right on with the sizing chart (you know, since wedding dresses run big and all).

So I get there, and I put on my dress. And it's huge. Like real huge. Like I-had-to-hold-it-up-so-it-didn't-just-slide-off-of-me huge. Like where-the-heck-did-my-boobs-go huge. It was like a big sheet or a trash bag or something. Actually, now that I think about it, it felt awfully similar to my graduation robe. It doesn't matter how big or small you are, when your wedding dress doesn't fit, it doesn't look good on you, and you don't feel pretty, and you don't feel like there's any way you could possibly get married in it, and you feel sad. And your mom and your seamstress and your seamstress's translator/daughter and the random other bride in the shop are all telling you it will be fine, and you believe them mostly, bust still...it's your WEDDING DRESS, and it looks awful on you. Not a good feeling.

My wedding dress felt similar to this outfit.

And we all know how I feel about this outfit...

But wonderful seamstress Karime said some nice things in Spanish (some of which I actually understood) and went to town pinning and stuffing bra cups in the top and lo and behold, it looked right. And I felt like a bride. And I liked my dress again. And I'm actually looking forward to trying it on again. Sigh of relief? You bet.

Thing That Went Horribly Wrong But Turned Out Fine #3: Gosh, Shoes.
The morning of the fitting I was walking around the house in my beautiful wedding shoes, you know...breaking them in or whatever. I randomly decided to do a little dance in the kitchen and whoa...those heels were higher than I thought. Turns out I cannot dance at all in 3 1/2 inch heels. I'm lucky I didn't break an ankle or something. Panic.

Hello, pretty. It's not you, it's me.

Maybe you can come with me to the rehearsal dinner?

My mother was nice enough to drive all over Houston with me for hours looking for champagneish-ivory shoes that were wedding-appropriate and shorter-heeled, but we couldn't find a thing. Panic again.

I finally went to the appointment shoeless, but I grabbed a pair of heels that seemed like a good height, measured the dress according to those, and then went home with a number: 2 inches. My seamstress was surprisingly understanding about the whole thing, and I was able to find the perfect pair of shoes later (to be featured soon on Spirals and Spatulas!).

Thing That Went Horribly Wrong But Turned Out Fine #4: The Cap Sleeves From Uglyville
The cap sleeves that I ordered from Casablanca to match my dress came in, and they looked nothing like the cap sleeves that I was shown in the store. They're not sheer, but solid. Their not curved, but scalloped. They don't go over the outer bits of my shoulders, but right over the top like spaghetti straps. Severe disappointment.

These are pretty. Unfortunately the ones that came with my dress looked nothing like this.

But I just decided to forget about them entirely and go strapless, and the bridal shop was nice enough to refund us for them, and all was well.

Thing That Went Horribly Wrong But Turned Out Fine #5: "Whoa, how much?"
So basically they have to alter every single inch of my dress. Which is a lot of alterations. Which is a lot of money. The alterations bill was more than half the cost of my dress. Which, if you know anything about wedding dresses, is not a small amount of dollars.

So we get this bill and we're asked to pay half of it. And my wonderful mother just paid it. No questioning, no surprise. She just paid it. Which was so, so, so amazing of her. On a day when I was really worried about my dress and a stressed and such, she was so supportive, and so generous. I can't thank my parents enough for just paying that bill that would make my dress fit. I told my mom that later, and she just responded that she was expecting it. At least one of us was. Haha.

Anyway, so that's the long and drawn out story of how my dress fitting went horribly wrong but turned out fine. I felt really happy by the time I left the appointment, and I get to go visit my dress again on Sunday!