Bought my wedding dress at Gingerbread House Bridal, and have had a great rapport with both Kathy (owner) and Jennifer. They took the time to give me their elicited opinions when I asked, and I considered them both friends. Enter the seamstress: I was assured by the shop that she was the best (can't remember her name, starts with an ""M"") and that I would be thrilled with her work. I needed very little done to the gown- just a bustle and the shoulders taken up a bit. When the gown came back, it was as if nothing had been done to the shoulder straps; they were still falling off, and the dress was gaping at the chest). I asked if the seamstress could take the shoulder straps up more, and she was called. To her credit, she came right over and pinned my straps to take them up. She said she feared that if we took them up too much, the arm holes would cut into my underarms. We agreed on a happy medium, and I left. A week later and just days before my wedding, I came to pick up my dress and was not even offered to try it on since alterations had been made. At my request, I was allowed to try it on and discovered that the arm holes were so tight, it felt like it was cutting off my circulation. This was NOT how it felt when the seamstress pinned it. I was told by Jennifer that there was really ""nothing that we can do,"" and I left. After careful thought- and much frustration that the alterations were not what we agreed on- I called Cathy (owner); she agreed to let me bring the dress back in to see what could be done, but told me that I didn't like the straps falling off, and I don't like it this way either, with the arm holes cutting into me. Basically, it was one or the other. Can you imagine?? The day before my wedding, I went back to the shop with my dress to meet the seamstress. She told me that she'd tried to warn me that this would happen if she took the straps up (as if I would so, ""No, go ahead and make it cut into my underarms; I know more about alterations than you...""). She said she would just take out what she had done before. I asked her why she couldn't take it up the amount she had when she pinned it, and she told me that things will always feel different when they're pinned and when the job is actually completed. If she recognizes this, should she not allow for that? After she told me that I would have to pay for her sloppy work, I took my gown and left. It's a shame: I'd had a great experience with Gingerbread House Bridal until this point, when there was an issue. Watch out!
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