No wonder it seemed long

Two weeks ago, I was surprised by a message left on my answering machine. I had just come home from work and was tossing a few groceries into the refrigerator as I listen to the mystery messages. The bridal store was calling. I figured it was simply an update of my predicted gown delivery date. Part of me wondered if there was some change I'd have to worry about. Instead, I was happily surprised to hear they had received my gown and would be shipping it to me shortly.

Wow! That's six weeks early! I was pretty impressed and rather anxious to see the gown. And sure enough, just four days later, I eyed a long, cardboard box resting against my front door. I dragged it into the kitchen and took a photo with my digital camera to mark the momentous occasion.

Given that it was dusk and I was standing in dim, fluorescent light, I must say I was a little horrified by the color of the dress. I had ordered ivory thinking that it would simply look off-white. On the floor of the kitchen, however, it looks more cream than white. The yellowness was a big disappoint, and I questioned whether I had made a major miscalculation.

On the other hand, I was still very happy with my choice. I love the style of this dress, chiffon, beading, embroidery and all. It's more princessy than I would have imagined myself choosing, and yet, it was the most beautiful thing.

I immediately went upstairs to try it one. I was surprise to find that the gown was much longer than I had been led to believe it would fall. Since the skirt section has beading, we had very carefully discussed how it would be altered without destroying more embroidery than necessary. The plan was to remove the bottom trim and bare chiffon areas, but the length would stop just below the begin of the embroidery. In this case, with more than four inches dragging on the ground, I saw that the embroidery would have to be cut into. What had gone wrong with the calculations?

I fretted for many days over the dress. I love it, but felt like I was going to be in for some tough decisions and alterations more complicated than I had imagines. Thinking this might take more time, I immediately set up a consultation with an alterations person for the following weekend.

This past Wednesday, I got a random call on my cell phone. I didn't recognize the area code. The woman on the phone said she was from the bridal store. In my mind, I figured she was following up to check that I had received the gown. You know, good customer service.

"Hi, this is xxxx from the bridal store. How are you?"

"Good, and how are you doing?"

With some hesitation, "not so good this morning. I wanted to ask if you have your gown?"

"Yes," now feeling suspicious and curious, "I've tried it on twice but it's actually sitting in the box right now."

"Oh good. I'm afraid there's been a slight error. It's hard to believe, but you and another woman both happened to order the same dress in the same color during the same week. The only difference was the length of the gown, she ordered the standard size and you have the shorter length. I'm afraid I made a mistake and sent you her gown. When the other woman called about her dress, the manufacturer said they'd already sent the dress to me. That's when I realized I had made the mistake. Since hers is a standard length, it was much faster to make. Your gown is considered a special order."

"Oh, okay. I guess that explains why it seemed a bit long."

Awkward pause. "I wanted to ask if you've done anything with your gown such as alterations?"

"No, not yet. I was actually going to take it for alterations this weekend."

"Thank goodness. Can I ask you to send the dress back to me?"

"Uh, sure."

"I'll go ahead and send you a UPS shipping label and you can use that to send it back."

"Okay, that means I'll probably drop it off at UPS on Saturday."

"Oh, great, that's wonderful. I really apologize for the mistake. I'll call and double check on when yours is expected to arrive."

Once I hung up the phone, I couldn't help but laugh. I mean, what else are you supposed to do in this kind of situation. It was nice having the dress early, but the length was certainly not ideal. She's just lucky I took good care of the dress and hadn't altered it yet. Who would have imagined this could happen!

I dropped off the dress after running some errands this morning. It's kind of sad not to have it here. I really want to see my dress. At least I got to match up my shoes before sending it off! :)