The Dress Saga

March 20

My mom and sister (maid of honor) came to Tulsa to begin the dress shopping ritual. It was straight out of a movie. We got up early on Sat and headed to Tulsa for our first appt of the day at Alfred Angelo, which is new to Tulsa. I had seen a few of their dresses in magazines that I really liked so it was our first stop. I had another appt later in the day with another store. So, all in all we were ready for a day filled with wedding bliss. When we got to the store (5 minutes late for the appt), there were no cars in the parking lot, and the sign said they didn’t open for an hour. This should have been the first sign of trouble. A warning bell. Ah, hindsight. After a few minutes a lady drove up, and we attacked her in the parking lot. She told us there must have been a mistake with the appt time, but we could be taken care of with no problem…once the store opened. So, we did what any God-fearing, Southern women would have done. We went and ate some breakfast.

We got back to the store and went in. It wasn’t Say Yes to the Dress, but it was close enough for me. A lady started helping us. We’ll call her Kim to protect her identity. Kim was so sweet and helpful. We talked about what dresses I liked, didn’t like, styles, etc. I showed her a few of the dresses I had found in the magazines, and we got down to business. She pulled 3 dresses and put the first one on. I LOVED it, but we had come all that way and we weren’t going to just try on just one!! I knew right away that the 2nd wasn’t as good as the first, so we moved on to the 3rd. Again, not as good. Kim said she wanted to pull one more that she thought I would like, and when I put it on, I knew it was the one. Lace up back, gathering to the side, fitted but still somewhat A-line, perfect. My mom and sister loved it. We took pictures, we decided I’d get it in white instead of ivory, we talked about the bustle, should we do a flower in the hair, etc. Mom and Kim made me put on a veil just to get the experience, but I knew I didn’t want a veil. I took it off, and we started the ordering process.

Now, the dress I tried on was a 6. It fit me PERfectly. I was ecstatic to say the least. A 6?? Really???!!! I had lost 15 lbs and was really proud of myself. Anyway, Kim measured me but knew we were ordering a 6 cause it fit perfectly right? Now, some of you who have done this may be screaming right now “NOOO,” but I didn’t know. We ordered it. We found Laura’s dress. We ordered her’s too. It seemed way too easy. We had only gone to one store. Ah, hindsight.


June 17

On June 17th I got a call from a lady named Stacy, and she made my week by telling me that my dress had arrived. I snuck out of work early and rushed over there. I was sooo excited. I couldn’t wait to see it in white and actually put on MY dress, as opposed to the try-on one in the store. We went into the dressing room, got on the strapless corset thingy, took it out of the bag, and I turned and Stacy slipped it over my head. As soon as we started adjusting all of the layers, I knew. Something was wrong. I just didn’t know how wrong. Stacy was veeery quiet. So was I. It felt much more restricting than I remembered, but it had been 3 months so I wasn’t sure. I started analyzing my weight. Had I gained??? No, I was sure. Maybe inches??? No. Again, I was positive. I finally ventured, “it’s not fitting is it?” Stacy only said “weeeeell.” She kept lacing up the back. After a few more minutes I asked “How bad is it?” She only said “weeeeelll, let’s see once I get it laced.” I was hot. I was sweating. I felt restricted. I was about to have a panic attack. I wanted my mom. Stacy asked who helped me when I came in last time. I couldn’t remember her name. I told her how the 6 fit me sooo good. She told me she understood. Sometimes the try-on dresses stretch after being tried on so many times. She asked me if the lady had measured me. I told her yes, but we knew the size cause of the one I tried on. Right???

She got it laced and went out to the mirror. It looked terrible. The back was not the beautiful V down to my butt. It didn’t even lay flat. I felt like a COW. Stacy went and looked on the computer to see who had helped me. At that point, another lady came over to help. Stacy told her the situation and said one word. “Kim.” They made eye contact, and then I understood. I asked if Kim had made these types of mistakes before, and they told me Kim was no longer employed with Alfred Angelo. They also said they weren’t surprised. They didn’t say she was fired exactly, but they made it understood. She had been fired. Everyone knows you measure to make sure. Everyone knows you order what the tape says to order. Well I didn’t know. Evidently, neither did Kim.

We talked about whether we should try to alter the dress. Take out all of the allotted areas as much as possible, but we decided it would be better and fairer to me to just re-order it in the correct size. Stacy measured me. She compared her measurements to Kim’s. Ridiculously wrong. The verdict. 8. Sigh. I felt like a house.

They assured me over and over that I didn’t need to panic. They said they had dealt with situations like this before. Stacy said she was taking over me and my dress, and she had worked there for 10 years and had NEVER not gotten a dress on time.

“What about alterations??”

“It’ll get done, don’t worry.”

“I’m worried.”

“I know, but it’s ok. We’ll put a rush on it. DON’T worry.”

She said she would call me the next day and let me know what the customer service people said, give me a new ship date, etc.
She called. July 12th. I was disappointed but just gave in and accepted it. I told Stacy I trusted her. She said that she was glad and reminded me not to stress. I called a few weeks later to make sure the ship date was the same. It now said July 17th. Again, I didn’t try to argue. It was only a 5 day difference…


July 20

I called in the afternoon on the 20th because I hadn’t heard anything. Stacy said she expected it today. She would call customer service and call me right back. Stacy called back. Customer service said they did not have the 17th as the ship date. Stacy said, “yes you do. I’m looking at it.” Customer Service said they would look into it. Call back tomorrow.

OH MY GOD. This is ridiculous!!!! I leave in TWO WEEKS. Stacy was calm, so I was calm.
Long story and about 5 calls back and forth later. New arrival date of 28th. At the VERY latest 29th.


July 28

Aaron’s office gave us a wedding shower at Olive Garden. It was so fun. Everyone was sooo nice. There was a gorgeous small bouquet of flowers (yellow roses, and beautiful orchids vibrant blue and purple). I listened with one ear the whole time for my phone. Surely, I would get a break this time. Surely, it will come today. I went shopping. The mall. Target. I called at 4. It wasn’t there. I drove back to Muskogee.


July 29

I forced myself to sleep in. At 1:00 I couldn’t sleep anymore. I decided to head to Muskogee to tan. Aaron kept texting (“well?” “anything yet?” “kisses”) cause he knew I was stressed. He’s so sweet. Half-way to Muskogee, Stacy called. I answered the phone with the most hesitant “hello” ever. Stacy said, “Jamie?? Your dress is HERE!!” I said, “Thank Goodness!! I can be there in an hour.”

I got there and we did the same thing we had done over 6 weeks ago. We went into the dressing room, got on the strapless corset thingy, took it out of the bag, and I turned and Stacy slipped it over my head. As soon as we started adjusting all of the layers, I knew. It fit perfectly!!! Seriously, no alterations needed at all. We are doing a simple bustle and they are taking care of that so I don’t have to pay anything else. Stacy wanted to do more for me, but evidently there’re issues with stuff Iike that right now.

I didn’t care. My dress is here. It will be ready to pick up on Monday. We leave for FL on Thurs. ONE WEEK!!

And now, the dress saga is recorded for all of time. 18 weeks after it began. Leave your comments, peeps. If you don’t have an account and have to comment anonymously don’t forget to say who you are in the comment!!