The W.O.T.

Yes the W.O.T. If you had this marked next to your name on our diary you won’t be coming back any time soon as you are a “waste of time”.

Believe me there are people out there with nothing better to do than visit wedding shops to try on dresses just for a laugh. You can usually spot them a mile off though but I do feel sorry for the "off the peg" bridal shop as they must get these girls a lot. I do know though that many of these shop owners demand the younger brides bring their mothers with them so beware! they have ways around your tomfoolery.

So there are diferent catagories of W.O.T.

Just a bit of fun girl...
Oh what a joy these are so much fun ! in case you were wondering I am being utterly sarcastic. Funnily enough these are the same girls that call demanding an appointment at one minutes notice and if they don’t get what they want they throw the tiara's accross the room (well maybe not but you know what I mean). They prance in half an hour late because they had a late lunch and wanted to finish off the bottle of wine but still expect a full hour (I mean what does it matter that they put out another bride). When I ask their budget…

“oh around the £500 mark but at a push I could make it £800".

Now don’t get me wrong I have nothing against these brides, £800 is a lot of money to spend on a dress. I politely tell them my dresses are designer silk gowns and range at £1400+ to which they reply

“oh well I will try on anyway it’s a bit of fun isn't it”.

Well can I point out its not a bit of fun for me having some bride messing about for an hour when another bride has been turned away because we are fully booked up for the next six weeks! Don’t be surprised if I don’t find it a bit of bloody fun and boot you out the shop!

Wedding Dress Weirdo.
When working for another shop I had to do a dreaded wedding fare (we will come to those later). A lady came to the stand and went through our collection of wedding dresses and arranged an appointment to view. She came to the shop and spent well over two hours trying on dresses until she had decided on a style, asking questions over numerous emails and calls. She then came back two weeks later to try on again and again a week after that. Then, nothing no calls no emails nothing, we shrugged it off presuming she had bought elsewhere.

I receive a call from a bride wanting an appointment to view our dresses a few weeks after opening the shop. The name rings a bell but I proceed anyway and low and behold in she comes the same bride. Perhaps she had cancelled her wedding you think? Perhaps she is marrying someone else? I ask her if she has tried wedding dresses on before? She says no. Strange! Do you have a twin? No. Giving her the benefit of the doubt I allow her to try a few dresses on. Feeling like I was going through deja vous we receive countless emails and calls about the dress she definately wants and visits another time before never hearing from her again!
Six months later we are at another wedding Fare and whom do I see? You guessed it this time at another stand. I visit the stand after she has gone and ask they shop owner had she had the girls in before? “Oh yes she is getting her dress from us she has been in three times now so she will be ordering soon” don’t hold your breath I think.

Super WOT.
Or of course there are the super WOT’s which claim we don’t have enough stock – So I have spent the value of a new German Sports car in dresses this season and have the value of a small holiday home in Majorca already on the rail but that is simply not enough.

“Is this all you have”

we hear as the bride peruses the sagging rails of stock.

“Are you getting any more in?”

To which I usually reply, “what are you looking for”? Now I will guarantee you at this point she will bring out a paper clipping from a wedding magazine of the most hideous wedding gown know to history, it will be stroon with bright pink lace and heavy beading with bow peep style swags and rather attractive wonky bow on the behind. I am close to laughter and feel so strong the urge to burst out “your having a laugh aren’t you?” I don’t think I will be getting anything in like that I am afraid my designers shy away from the bloody ridiculous.

And then there is MEGA WOT!!!
I had an email from a bride wanting to come and visit I of course obliged. She came in and spent three hours trying on dresses to then tell me her wedding was two years away but she wanted to get sorted early. Annoyed but giving her the benefit of the doubt she left the shop with details on five different dresses of which she just couldn’t make up her mind which one she liked best.

She emailed six times in one week to go over the prices of each again and again asking if I would “do a deal for cash” or “would they ever be available in the sale”. Of course I don’t mind people asking me this but I had to remind her that our size 12 sample if it was in the sale would not magically change to fit her as she is a size 16 anyway.

She emails again to say she has seen another dress she really likes from the designer we stock and do we have it? we don’t, but the damn designer said to her we could borrow the dress for her to see! So we pay the £25 to borrow the dress and she likes it very much.

The thing is, she looks dreadful in it absolutely dreadful. Remember the huge hipped ones? And what don’t you wear? Bias cut right? Wrong you do if you are “Miss Strange”. I try my best to change her mind but she won’t budge. I then try offering a different skirt style one that doesn’t show her early middle age spread and doesn’t emphasise but skims! Big mistake! As she would want to see it first though, I mean, what if I didn’t like it?

So she now wants me to order a dress for free as a sample for her to try on before ordering. Politely I show her the door and ask her to speak with the designer personally. Twenty-five pounds and many hours poorer I breathe a sigh of relief that she has gone.

Oh no she sends another email saying the designer has the dress with the other skirt and we can … you guessed it, borrow the sample. No bloody way I think and tell her she will need to travel to the designer, as I am not bloody paying again.

The saga is not over yet, she emails again to complain to me that the designer did not have the dress she wanted and her time was wasted. I send back a polite note to say in a nice tone that its not my bloody problem and she would have to complain to the designer not me.

Oh god another email she is still pissed off with the designer (though not, strangely, complaining to her only to me!) and I am still down twenty five pounds not to mention many hours in dress fittings and twenty emails. I ask her what exactly she keeps emailing me for? She replies, “I just thought you were nice and I wanted someone to let off steam to” so obviously her family are sick of her as well.

So the outcome, she will never ever buy a dress from that designer not even if you paid her even though she loves it and thinks it was the best dress she had ever seen so there! Cutting your nose of the spite you face springs to mind. Oh and can she have another appointment to look at the other designers in my shop again? No bloody way, I reply email to say I think I have helped her all I can, she replies again saying “I think you are fed up of me now aren’t you” deleting a reply which just read “yes” I changed it to - well you did say your budget was £750 and we don’t have any other dresses at that price so its just upsetting you to come again and view dresses you cant afford, she replies – I just thought I could get some more ideas though, at which point I consider the fact that this is not a bride but a weird “not really getting married” lady who just wants to harass someone so I ask her to look elsewhere and then block her emails ha!