Whether a woman is preparing for a prom, formal dinner, or even her wedding, she wants everything to be perfect. This is especially true of the dress she will be wearing, since this will set the tone for the occasion. In most cases when selecting a wedding dress or formal dress, alterations will be necessary. Since the alterations made to a dress are extremely important to ensure it fits correctly, never hesitate to ask your alteration specialist as many questions as possible. As for which questions are deemed to be most important, here are five questions you should never forget to ask your alteration specialist.
How Long Will the Alterations Take?
If there is one thing you don’t want to encounter, it’s finding out at the last-minute that your wedding dress or gown is not ready when you need it for your big day. Rather than risk having this happen, always make sure you ask your alteration specialist how long the alterations themselves will take. By being given a specific date when your dress will be ready, you can call or drop by to get updates and see how things are progressing.
How Many Fittings Will be Needed?
If you think you will only need one fitting session to make sure your dress is altered to your specific guidelines, think again. In most cases, it takes several fittings for an experienced alteration specialist to create the perfect dress for a client. Therefore, once you’ve picked out the right dress for you, make sure you ask early on how many fittings will be needed, and then keep enough time open in your busy schedule to make each appointment. This will be very important, especially if your dress has lots of lace or other parts that will require extreme detail to alter.
Will I Encounter Any Unexpected Costs?
While most professional alteration specialists will provide you with a direct quote of the cost of their services at your initial meeting, never hesitate to ask if there could be any unexpected costs you could encounter along the way. Since this is likely to occur, always ask your alteration specialist to provide an estimate of what they believe the total costs may be in the end. In some cases, you may be able to reduce the costs by eliminating some alterations that may not be essential to you looking fantastic.
What Happens if the Dress is Damaged?
While most alterations go smoothly, there are those rare occasions when something goes wrong during the alterations process and a beautiful dress gets damaged. If this happens and you have not thought of this possibility, you will find yourself under plenty of stress to put it mildly. Therefore, always ask your alteration specialist what policies and guidelines they have in place should something happen, and also what type of insurance coverage they have regarding damaged merchandise. To play it safe, you should always pick out one or two other dresses that could be used as back-ups in case something happens to your first choice.
What Should be Worn to the Fittings?
If there is one surprise you don’t want to encounter after your dress has been altered, it is realizing it is too long or perhaps too short. To keep this from happening, always ask your alteration specialist what you should wear to your dress fittings. Most of the time, your specialist will suggest you wear the shoes you plan to wear with the dress. Also, most alteration specialists recommend you wear whatever undergarments you plan to wear with the dress as well. By doing so, you and your alteration specialist will have a good idea how the entire ensemble will look once you are ready to walk down the aisle or make your grand entrance at a ball.
By asking these questions, you can avoid unexpected and unpleasant surprises while making sure you look stunning on your big day.