BM dress WWYD? HIBs??? UPDATE!!!

What a nightmare!

I would be gutted too but unless you will be able to get another dress in time, I would probably just get on with it until after the wedding and then lodge a complaint - even if it's with the designers rather than the shop, but the last thing that you want to do is leave yourself without a dress for your BM with your wedding being so close...

Doesn't sound ideal if the swatch you were given doesn't actually match the dress - surely if a designer supplies material swatches then thats the exact colour the dresses come in?! Otherwise seems a bit pointless! I dunno - I'm not an expert but thats surely what a swatch is all about?

I think your sales lady has fecked up and won't admit it.

Not sure what they could do in 4 weeks for you but I'd definitely want some sort of compensation, even if you're happy to go ahead and use the dress - it sounds like you're being reasonably level headed about it and not freaking that it won't exactly match bouquet ribbon etc - but its not what you were led to believe you were ordering at the end of the day. The shop has to consider this could have been an additional dress to match already purchased dresses using that colour swatch - then what? You'd have an odd BM!

well exactly, its not like we asked for pink and got blue. Thats why i am tempted to leave it and worry about it afterwards.

Surely the whole point of a swatch is that it is the same colour as the material you'll get so you can go away and match up your colours to it?

I would stick with the dresses you have if they don't clash with anything just to save yourself the grief of looking for other dresses at short notice but defo complain to the shop and/or designer and see if you can get some dosh back from them! Do you have a photo so we can see how different it is?

loobyg - you would have thought so. I dont have any photos no, i could tell when my BM tried it on she wasnt happy, she didnt say as much though. The colour we have is very bright, would have been great for a young BM, but we deliberatly picked a more subtle deeper colour.

OK, well, what the lady says is true about there potentially being some variation in colour - this is dyelot variation, and what it means is that there can be some variation in shade between different bolts of fabric, because they will have been dyed separately. Dyelot variation is something that can happen right across the board, with all dress designers, bridal, bridesmaid, or anything really.

So it is possible for there to be a slight variation between the colour of the dress and the swatch of fabric, because they'll be from different bolts, and therefore different dyelots.

Normally (in my experience) dyelot variation is slight. ie your dress will still be basically the same colour, but there might be a slight difference. Although I have once seen quite a considerable colour difference. Without seeing the swatches, I couldn't say whether this colour difference is likely to be from dyelot variation or because someone has made a mistake.

It's also worth bearing in mind that colours can look slightly different in different fabrics - so the same colour in chiffon can look a bit different from satin. Although again, the difference shouldn't be huge.

What is the make of the dress? And what colour should it be in?

In 4 weeks, it's very unlikely you'd be able to get different dresses, because manufacture times are normally tighter than that. If the colour is acceptable, then you'll more than likely need to go with it. But if you DO want to make a complaint to the shop, because you feel an error has been made, then I think you'll need to do it sooner rather than later. You at least need to give them an opportunity to put things right if possible.

Is THAT going to stress you out, wondering if your BM is actually not happy in her dress, which at £130 isn't cheap. I'd get back in touch with the shop today if I was you - just so they know something isn't right but you're kinda tied by what you've got left time wise.... if you ordered baby pink and have got hot pink then ... does it say on your receipt/order what the colour was called? If the shop can't match the dress you've got with the swatch colour on the receipt then they've defo fecked up.

Can I just say .... its really nice to hear a bride not hitting the roof over something that actually ISN'T all that trivial - its not like you've just found out your napkins don't match the BMs undies... and yet I'm sure some brides (not nec Hitched Brides, just brides in general!) would be absolutely raging about the napkins! Good for you Claires!

DSH - its Mori Lee. its not just a slight difference in colour, it is totally different... but as i said, i can live with it at this late stage

Mrs SP - BM will be fine, she isnt a drama queen and i know will be fine about it, i just wanted it to be right when we have forked out a lot of money. and thanks for saying i am not a drama queen

sorry DSH - id ditn answer your questions. The colour should have been Fushia, and the fabrics on the swatch and dress are exactly the same.

OK. If there's a big difference then it sounds like someone has made a mistake (although obviously I can't say for sure - we don't stock Mori Lee, so I can't really comment on the reliability of their colours). I take it the dress matches the colour in the Mori Lee swatch book though? But the swatch you have doesn't match the colours in the Mori Lee swatch book? And that the swatch you have was given to you by the shop?

How did you pick the colour in the first place? Did you pick from a swatch card?

It is possible that the colour you were given was actually from a different designer, as 'fuschia' is a common name and appears amongst pretty much all designers!

No one will notice the slight colour difference with ribbon on flowers etc (I promise you - even I wouldn't notice this, I'm sure, and I spend my life colour coordinating bridal parties!!), but obviously you're not pleased that you haven't got what you thought you were getting. Like I said, if you want to complain, do it now, don't wait till after the wedding.

thanks DSH. we saw the colour we wanted but the dress was long and we wanted a tea length one. So she tried the dress on in the correct colour, but then tried the actual dress on we wanted which was green! the woman said she can get the short dress in the fushia and so thats how we ordered it. I am now beginning to wonder whether the 2 dresses were actually different designers, although she said they were both mori lee

my mum has made it quite clear she isnt happy, and she is going back tomorrow to see the dress again, i think we need to complain now as you say, but put up with the dress we have and maybe ask for some compensation or something??? as we dont hav ethe time. The assistant is on about putting a black chiffon underneath the pink chiffon to try and darken it, but i think thats going to look crap

updated on page 1

Wait to see what the correct dress looks like - maybe you could try to get a bit of a refund for all the messing around.

I know they tell us it takes 4months but that's just the length of the waiting list. It sounds to me like the shop has pulled out all the stops to get you the dress you wanted so I'd trust its a new one. As pink is a popular colour and you sound like you only have one BM then it's probably made it easier for them to source one that's been made up for someone else.

thats true, i cant really be bothered with it now tbh, its too close to the wedding to worry about it as long as we get the correct colour

Well first off, great news that its not you going crazy, and that the shop admitted the mistake.

I suppose if they're getting something in, its a case of wait and see what its like - if its in MINT condition then ... even if it is a sample .... I dunno - depends how much you want the right colour ... I'd defo be asking for some compensation anyhow - just for the mess up. Its just not cricket!

I would at least wait and see. They've probably been frantically running around trying to sort it and might have got the correct one from someone else's order.

It's highly unlikely that the replacement dress will be an ex-sample. Unless you've bought from a chain of shops (where they might feasibly transfer dresses between branches), no bridal shop is going to give/sell their used sample back to the manufacturer to go to a different and completely unrelated bridal shop. It just doesn't work that way.

Far more likely is that the manufacturer has the correct dress in stock. Some manufacturers do hold stock, particularly of popular colours. So that may be it.

Hi,

I disagree with the girl at work. Some of the designers hold stock & you can ring & ask what sizes & colours they are able to send out to you. If it's a popular colour & size, they may very well be able to replace the dress in such a short time limit. The normal procedure for ordering dresses is the few months, but in special circumstances you can ring & ask if they have a dress available to you. I know she was trying to help, but her comment which could be totally unfounded as she has no experience of working in the wedding industry has just stressed you out with another worry that you don't need. It'll all work out, phone & have a chat with the manager so she can put your mind at rest.

L