Use Nelda's Tailors at your peril.

In less that one week, I'm going to be the maid-of-honor (Or matron I guess. It's hard to know since all of the bride's attendants are married.) in my friend Jennifer's wedding. And there is the possibility that we aren't going to have anything to wear.

The bridesmaid dresses are being made by Nelda's Tailors on Airport Blvd in Austin. Nelda's is only open from 8am-5:30pm Monday through Friday and 9am-12pm on Saturdays. The tailors have had the fabric and patterns since August. All of the bridesmaids were measured at Nelda's by the end of September, beginning of October. A few weeks later, the bride was told the dresses were ready for us to go in for fittings. They never called the bridesmaids, despite having our phone numbers and having told us we'd be called when the dresses were ready. I went in to the tailor on October 22nd for my fitting only to be told that my dress wasn't ready, but the other bridesmaid dresses were. They were unable to fit me because the tailor, who works weekdays only, prefers to do that himself (no one bothered to tell the bride this when she initially made arrangements for our dresses to be made there). They asked me to make an appointment to come back during the week. The other bridesmaids who showed up for their fittings also found that their dresses were not ready. Jennifer (the stressed out bride) then called Nelda's and made arrangments for us to come in for fittings on Saturday, October 29 (eight days before the wedding).

I called that Saturday to make sure that my dress was ready for a fitting. I went in for my fitting to find that my dress was basically just pinned together in a few pieces, the only sewing done so far was a zipper. The other bridesmaid dresses were in similar shape. The tailor made some adjustments to the pinning. I asked if Tuesday morning would be too soon for me to come by for a final fitting (I was hoping to combine the fitting with a doctor's appointment so as to not have to take any further time off work) and the tailor said that was fine.

November 1st, (six days before the wedding) I show up for my fitting only to be told that my dress isn't ready and that the tailor is working on one of the other bridesmaid dresses. I was asked to come back at 4pm. Um, no. I actually work for a living and can't keep stopping by a tailor's in hopes that my dress will actually be done. At this point I'm going to have to work through lunch one day this week so that I can leave work early in hopes of getting to Nelda's Tailors before they close at 5:30pm.

Nelda's Tailors has caused numerous inconveniences, given the impression of total incompetence, and has pretty much outright lied to the entire bridal party. Jennifer's wedding is in six days, and she and her attendants will spend that time worrying that Nelda's Tailors will not finish the dresses in time.

Edited to add: There was a message left on my answering machine (so I didn't get it until I got home) November 2nd (four days before the wedding) letting me know that my dress was finished and could I come in at 1pm? Again, no. I work for a living. (I tried making it as a professional bridesmaid who has loads of free time to drop in on tailors, but I just couldn't cut it.) The message also said that they'd be giving me a $25 discount on the price of the dress. To make up for the inconveniences I suppose, or just because I'm super cute? They didn't say. So the next day I went in to pick up my dress, which was finished and does appear to fit alright. The receipt showed a discount of $20, instead of $25. But what do I care? At least Jennifer won't have naked bridesmaids.