Alfred Angelo-Take Two

Fast forward: March

My fiancé', maid of honor/wedding planner, and I were checking out some possible venues. I noticed on my GPS that not only were the two venues we were looking at relatively close to each other, but the Alfred Angelo bridal shop wasn't too far, either. After the venue visits, we decided to make a stop at the bridal shop, although we didn't have an appointment. The sale had just started for the gowns. I didn't want to try the gown on because I didn't want him to see the dress as of yet. However, Mandy (the maid of honor) did look around and try on some dresses.

We did mention that before, we had tried to set up an appointment and no one had gotten back to us about rescheduling. The lady assured both of us that it wouldn't happen again. So we decided to give them another shot because I wanted to take advantage of the sale.

I put it in the hands of Mandy to try to set up an appointment with them. She and I both tried a combined total of six times to get a hold of them, continuously leaving messages. No one called back.

I knew I had to let my job know in advance so I could take off the time to go, but with my not hearing anything back from Alfred Angelo, it put me in a bit of a bind, and I was not a happy camper at all. Plus it was close to the end of the sale, and because I had not heard word, I was going to miss out on saving up to $300 on the dress I wanted.

Not good customer service at all.

So, that's when I went on Alfred Angelo's website, got their customer service e-mail address, and let them know about the less than exceptional service I had received from their Cherry Hill location. Sure, there's other locations I could go to, but they are further out than the one in Cherry Hill. I just felt like if that location did not have time for me, they should have let me know; then I could have invested the time and gas to get to one of their other spots. But neither my maid of honor nor I received any type of response either way. That's the thing that got to me…if not a phone call, at least an E-mail.

It's a shame you don't get results until you complain. I didn't want to because I've been on the other side of the coin. Where I had to be the representative trying to provide the customer service, so I tried to be understanding by giving them another shot. But after I gave another shot and Mandy and I both felt like we were ignored.

Does it stop me from loving the product? No.

But it does give me pause with the service associated with the product because it is not how you treat a person who wants to do business with you.

I missed out on the sale, but they are now being more attentive, sending out E-mails about scheduling the appointment. Mandy is still going to see if they are willing to give some money off the dress for the inconvenience.

In the meantime, I am exploring other options, just in case this doesn't pan out. But it would be a shame if I missed out on the ultimate dream dress because of nightmarish service.

 

Alfred Angelo: Take One

 

I am really a big fan of the clothing. I think they do a good job of having different types of gowns for every type of figure. I really love that they have the Dream in Color series.

When I first envisioned my wedding…it was entirely different in a sense that I envisioned my dress to be long sleeved, satin and lace. It looked very traditional in form. However, that was back in 1996, and that dress retailed for about $5,000.

Since then, I have discovered many things:

1. Lace, although pretty, is very delicate and can tear somewhat easily. Also, at times, it can be a bit scratchy. I don't want to tear anything or be super itchy during the day.
   
2. I've noticed that the sleeve trend leans more towards see thru. If I'm going to have sleeves that are see thru, I might as well not have sleeves.
   
3. I don't have five thousand dollars to invest on a dress.
   

Now that all of that is out of the way, I could have a realistic take of what I wanted my dress to appear like. I fell in love with a dress in the Dream in Color series by Alfred Angelo…in the exact blue I want for the wedding.

I discovered I liked the look of this dress, along with about four others, in late January. I know the ceremony isn't until late next year, but I figured it's never too early to take a look and make a decision.

So I got on the website itself, signed up to be a part of Passport (so I could save the designs I wanted to try on), and went through the online process to make an appointment back in February. A couple of days before heading out to the location, which is about forty minutes from me, I got a call from them saying they couldn't do the 2pm appointment for Saturday, if I could come at 6pm. Since I wasn't quite familiar with where I was going, and it still was getting dark pretty early at the time, I did call them back and let them know that 6pm wasn't feasible for me, to please call me back to do a reschedule. However, one of the retailers of their products, which was closer, was able to accommodate me in order to try on some dresses. I tried on all the choices….one of them wasn't available (and it was my prime pic), but it was my second choice that ended up capturing my heart the most.

A few weeks later, Alfred Angelo advertised there would be a sale on the dresses, up to $300 off. I figured it would be a good time to try to get the down payment together to get the dress. However, the catch was that it had to be at the Alfred Angelo shop itself not an authorized retailer to redeem the coupon.

Would I be able to negotiate for them to make an exception? Or would I give the Alfred Angelo shop another go?

More to come.

Aggravation (or just catching me on the wrong day)

the aggravation has just hit me today.  i guess it has been building for a while but it really hit home today.  there are times when i feel like i'm the only one invested in this whole process.  although i like being on the forefront when it comes to brainstorming ideas and ways to make things more organized, i get more annoyed when i delegate something, and it's not completed to my satisfaction.  or it's not handled with the gusto and thoroughness i would like.  the virgo in me just wants to take over and do everything, but i feel like if i go through that trouble, even more resentment will come to the surface because it defeats the purpose of my delegating when i end up doing everything anyway.

i gave myself a tiny bit of a break from the wedding stuff.  not saying i don't think about. i think about it a whole lot.  but i don't want to get to the point where it's a total constant.  a few things haven't been going my way, like trying to get to the bridal place where they were having a sale off the gown i was interested in purchasing. they kept giving me the runaround and in the end, i missed out on the sale.  the only thing i can hope is that maybe the sale will come around again for me to take advantage.  i did complain to their headquarters because that's not the way you do service for someone who wants to be a potential customer.

i want to talk to him about it, but he's getting stressed out about the mundane stuff, like getting all the addresses together so we will have them and not have to scrounge around.  and finalizing the participants in the wedding party.  sure, according to traditional wedding guidelines, we are doing things a little backwards, but i don't want to deal with finding people to be part of the wedding party later.  so how can i talk to him about the annoyance i'm dealing with in trying to get the dress i really want?

i don't want to lose hope in being able to get the dress.  i mean, i looked at it and was in love with it.  and it wasn't even my primary first choice.  it was my second choice because the one i liked as my first choice, none of the stores seem to have it on hand.  but i was able to try it on at one of the retailers, after the bridal shop gave me the runaround the first time i went through the online process to schedule an appointment, and my heart stopped.  i really felt like it was indeed "the one". 

i have alternatives set aside in case i can't get it; it's just the principle of the thing. and trying to get him involved in the meetings, getting his input. i get tired of hearing "whatever you want" as if he isn't part of the ceremony.  i get he isn't big on certain parts of it, but at least, let me keep you in the loop of what's going on.  because in the end, he and i are the ones coming up with the money for it, so he needs to be at least fifty percent invested.

then, on top of that, i feel like the wedding coordinator isn't one hundred percent focused like she should be.  not saying anything bad, but i know she is the type where if she gets distracted on too much negative stuff, then she can't be as productive or effective as she needs to be when it comes to getting stuff done.  i'm trying to be respectful and give her the space she needs and not push.  but when i feel like that we've been going nowhere fast in the preparations for the past month, it's hard for me to not act like i have ants in my pants.

as much as i want to take the reigns and tackle everything, i am realistic enough to know i don't have time for everything.  i don't want to do this alone, but i don't want to have people around me and still feel like i'm doing this alone.  my anxiety level has been at peak for the past few weeks.  i know it will go down once i see the results i want, even if they aren't happening as quick as i would like them to.

i just need him to get right and her to get right.  it's hard for me to deal when both of them are out of sync.  cause the virgo in me starts forgetting they are both geminis and their energies tend to ebb and flow a lot...still doesn't stop it from driving me nuts.

okay. i feel somewhat better now. i just have to pray to take this irritation and direct it into something positive...or spur me to be more creative in other ways.

thought~you can only control your reaction to someone's behavior not the person himself

Intro

this serves as the joy, the pain, the creativity, the frustration, the bustle, and the hustle of one going from friendship, to relationship, to engagement, to wedding.  whether i have followers on the journey, silent observers, or no observers at all, i now know that in order to keep my sanity, i have to blog.  otherwise, i will go insane with no outlet.

The Engagement: 12-23-2011

Well, he said he had a big surprise for me.  I did not realize how big.

I was so taken back by the creativity of the proposal; I had to take a picture of the plate and the cheesecake.  It was so awesome how he remembered that The Cheesecake Factory was one of my favorite places to eat at as well as strawberry cheesecake being one of my favorite desserts.

I didn't answer right away; I was too busy trying to snap the picture just right...then I realized all the waitress staff was waiting on my answer as well as him.

So I did say, "Yes" after "oohing" and "aahing" over the cheesecake.  It was almost too good looking to eat, but I did eat it (once I took the ring off, of course).

He was worried about whether the ring was flashy enough or pretty enough.  I told him it was beautiful...the thing that mattered was that it was from his heart.