So I wrote a few days ago about my communication with a Chicago etsy seamstress about making my wedding gown by scratch to look like the jcrew Lucinda dress. I wanted to give you all an update on how that is going.
The first thing I did after my initial emails with BeyondtheReflection, aka Brandie Thomas, was I called my momma and asked her if she would be broken hearted if we didn’t have that mother/daughter moment in the bridal shop where I’m standing on the circular platform thingie and I’ve tried on a dress and I’m looking in the mirror and she’s crying and I’ m crying and the sales person is crying because we all know that I’ve found THE one. She said, “Of course not!This will be so much fun” I love my mom. Have I told you all that before? I LOVE my mom. Both my parents are totally supportive of anything that I want to do, plus my mom has extreme common sense and exemplary taste in all things beauty and fashion related.
My mom and I both are having so much fun so far in planning this wedding. She is the one person who never tires of hearing my revolving door set of ideas. Now we are both looking forward to the fittings and the trips to Chicago to work on this dress with Brandie. We are starting this weekend by taking my measurements and sending them with the deposit for my dress so that Brandie can start work on the muslin mock up.
Getting to this point took a little work, though. Along with being supportive, my parents are protective of their rights and are often leary of businesses and vendors. Everything has to be in writing. My mom insisted that I ask for references and for a signed contract from Brandie before I submit my down payment via PayPal. I was a little uncomfortable asking for this…although…I don’t know why I would be. If you have prior success in your work, you’d be happy to show it off, right? Anyhoo, Brandie was great and gave me several references to contact, and they have had nothing but wonderful things to say about their experiences working with her.
I also asked Brandie if I could draw up a contract for the dress, and she agreed to that as well. I am no lawyer, so I Googled “seamstress contract” and came up with three different examples that I combined into one to make it work for my situation. I emailed it to Brandie and asked her to look it over and to make any changes that she saw fit and send it back to me. It went back and forth a couple of times, but before two days were up, we had a contract. This weekend, Brandie is signing it, scanning it, and sending it to me to be signed and sent back with my deposit. Easy peasy!
If any of you are considering going this route and would like to see the contract that I used, feel free to leave me a comment, and I will email the template out to you.
Jenny Bryde 