A Less Formal Affair

Terrible customer service! I called them to set up an appointment for a wedding dress. They were not friendly, and asked me to send them a bunch of info (my size, examples of dresses I liked, etc). So I did, but I never heard back. A few weeks later, and a week before my supposed meeting, I called and they did not have my appointment. They did not apologize or act the least bit sorry. This SHOULD have been where my experience ended with this place but I did not know they are the same business as «A fitting place…» and I later called A Fitting Place to have the dress that I did buy altered…
I bought a simple wedding dress from J Crew for $ 350. I went to A Fitting Place to have it altered and it cost $ 376 for alterations! Yes, you read that correctly. MORE than the cost of my dress. She did a great job, but that is absurd. Also, they were not warm and friendly like I expected a place that caters to brides should be. Didn’t ask about the wedding, didn’t engage me at all.
When I went to pick up my dress I was not even greeted when I walked in– again, they are just not warm and friendly at all…
And to top it all off, when I asked how much it would cost to press my dress (keep in mind my dress is basically a white sundress) they busted out their price list and quoted me from the «Fancy wedding gown» price of $ 75 AND UP! I said «well, doesn’t my dress qualify as the „informal dress“ category?» Nope. Now, I don’t know much about pressing clothes but given my previous experience here I had a hunch that this was a rip off so I declined.
And guess how much it cost to have my dress pressed elsewhere? $ 13.

I purchased a custom dress from Grace for my wedding. While the final product ended up being just right, the process to get there was stressful.
After visiting a lot of different shops, I made an appointment with Grace to look at some dresses at her shop. The ones she showed me were not what I was looking for. But one seemed to be OK. We decided on a custom gown based on that dress with some changes. I paid upfront. She told me I’d have my dress in 2 months. Great, I thought. So, I waited 2 months and since I hadn’t heard from her, I contacted her asking her what’s up. I think she must have forgotten about me. When she replied, she told me that my muslin pattern was ready to try on. Okay… so, maybe I just misunderstood the process, but she never described this step. I went in, had the pattern checked out. It wasn’t quite right, so the pattern maker (not Grace) asked for another draft, but Grace argued vehemently against it to the point where she said I’d have to pay an extra $ 30 to get the pattern right. Of course I acquiesced, only to be told later that she actually was charging me $ 50. She also charged me over $ 1000 for the dress, and even though it was custom, she still ended up charging me an extra $ 200 for alterations. It came to my attention that Grace is focused only on the money she can get out of you.
I don’t recommend working with Grace at A Less Formal Affair unless you want to be stressed our about your dress in the months leading up to your wedding. Grace may own the business, but she doesn’t actually seem to know anything about making dresses. You’re better off finding a seamstress to work with directly– your cost will be less and you won’t be going through a middleman. That being said, the final product did end up being what I was looking for at the beginning of my search. It was simple and elegant and fit me perfectly.

I found my dream dress here — a dress that was elegant yet blended with the outdoor setting of the Colorado Rockies. When I first called the owner, Grace, to set up an appointment, she calmly told me to go to all the other boutique shops first, figure out what I like and don’t like about certain dresses, then come by A Less Formal Affair and she will have my dress picked out. I thought that a bit of a bold statement. But off I went — visiting 5 other stores, increasingly anxious and disappointed that I hadn’t found ONE that I would be OK with. I called Grace. We set up an appointment. I told her what I liked and didn’t like. She told me she would have my dress waiting for me. And, she was right. I knew it instantly.