My Dramatic Wedding Dress Story

Fairy Godmothers do exist; mine is wedding dress designer Sareh Nouri.  This is the story of how I became the unluckiest, luckiest bride.  A wedding dress horror story turned into a Cinderella fairytale.

I thought the easiest part of planning my wedding would be finding my wedding dress.  As most brides will tell you, “you just know when it’s the right one.”  Well, guarantee most of those brides aren’t a size 14.  Once I started wedding dress shopping, I quickly realized how challenging it would be.  Sales associates at every salon had magical ways of trying to fit my curvy bum into a sample size, but it was nearly impossible to choose a dress when you couldn’t even get the sample on.  The almost nonexistent amount of dresses in my size was astonishing.

I went to boutiques in both Los Angeles in New York and felt defeated every single time.  It was awful! I even had one sales associate tell me, “well you’re going to lose weight before the wedding, so the dress will fit better.”  Not okay.

A month after I started wedding dress shopping my mom surprised me in Los Angeles to help me find my dream dress.  I didn’t have a designer in mind nor a budget.  I just wanted to look and feel amazing.  I tried on this Martina Liana dress suggested by a sales associate at Panache Beverly Hills and instantly knew it was the one.  I felt like Marilyn Monroe, and after months of feeling fat and frumpy in dresses, I finally found my confidence again. 

We ordered the dress on the spot and luckily for me, the sample size I was trying on, which was a size 16, was the perfect size for me.   The fit was excellent; the length was perfect, it was a done deal.  When ordering the dress, I made slight adjustments.   I ordered it with a buttoned and zippered back instead of the corseted version I tried on.  I also decided to pay for extra length.  I tried the sample size on with 4” heels, and it was perfect, but since I am 5’10” I figured let’s play it safe.

This was March, and my wedding was in September, and since dresses usually take 3-8 months, I told them my wedding date was the end of August because I didn’t want to have to rush with alterations.  Thank goodness I did that.

The dress came in mid-July, leaving a month and a half for alterations which is plenty of time.  I was beyond excited to try on my dress and found the perfect shoes, these 4” lace-up Jimmy Choo booties that Carrie Bradshaw would envy.

When I went to try on my perfect dress, it was a nightmare.  It was 6” too short.  Six inches. This was after the sample was perfect and I still paid for extra length.  It should have been 3” too long.  It was a disaster, and it was unfixable, and it was a unanimous decision that they had to order me a new dress. 

I was distraught but knew Panache would handle the situation. Luckily, the dress came in early, so we had plenty of time to get a new dress.  Well, I forgot how long it took to make wedding dresses, and the new estimated delivery date was August 25th.  This was merely a week and a half before my wedding across the country, and I could not take that chance.  That would leave me two days for alterations before my flight back to NJ.  I said the latest I would accept it was August 5th and thankfully, the designer said they could get it to me by then.  Although I was still a bit nervous, I was confident that if it came in by August 5th, I would have plenty of time for minor alterations and had no need to worry.  The dress was too short, but it was just a slight hiccup.

August 5th rolls around and my dress is ready!  I was ecstatic.  My wedding was only a month away, and now everything was starting to come together.  I scheduled a fitting, and luckily the dress was the perfect length.  It was extra long!  However, the rest of the dress was tragic.  It was awful.  I was in disbelief.  The reason I fell in love with the dress was that the body fit perfectly and made me feel like I could strut the Oscars red carpet without anyone noticing I didn’t belong.  Now the dress did not fit at all.  The designer was supposed to send me a new dress, but I don’t think that ever happened.  I assume that they tried to add extra length on the first dress by extending the fabric through the hips and waist.  However, by doing this, they completely altered the dress and now the hips and butt area did not fit at all.  On top of it, the lace appliqué on the dress was frayed and falling apart.

The manager who I was dealing with was horrified.  The fit of the dress was awful!  However, the seamstress was very optimistic and made me and the salon manager confident that she could fix it.  She said, “I just need to open the dress up and add panels to each side to create extra room.”  Now, this sounded like a lot of work but she said she could do it in a matter of days, and as a stylist, I know the magic of tailoring.  Great alterations can completely transform a garment, and I was dealing with professionals, so I should not worry.

After leaving the bridal salon, I called my mom and explained what happened, and she was devastated.  She couldn’t believe the dress didn’t fit and when I told her how they would be fixing it she screamed, “they are doing patchwork on your dress Kristina! This is unacceptable!!”  She was mad at the designer, disappointed at the salon and frustrated with me for not freaking out at everyone.

My outlook?  I was obviously upset and stressed, but the seamstress promised it would be fixed in just a few days so at that point there was nothing I could do but remain positive.  I figured there was no need to enter panic mode until necessary.

Four days later I was back at the salon to try on my altered dress.  This time I brought a friend for backup.  I couldn’t even leave the fitting room before bursting out into tears.  The dress was terrible.  I thought I was hallucinating seeing different colors on the dress, that’s how awful it was.  The panels the seamstress added created a balloon-like effect throughout my hips and butt.   The formfitting trumpet silhouette I loved was destroyed, and I felt like I had MC hammer pants around my hips.  Not only that, it turns out I wasn’t hallucinating-  the dress was two different colors!  They received the extra fabric from the designer to create the panels but received white fabric instead of ivory, so my dress was now two different colors.  I still do not understand how white fabric could be stitched on to ivory with no one noticing.  It was two different colors.

The look on my friends face when I walked out of the dressing room was complete horror.   The salon manager couldn’t even look me in the eyes.  Her draw dropped, and she summoned every sales employee there.  It was evident that the wedding dress was unsalvageable and I now needed a new dress.  They brought in every sample that would fit me in the hope I could walk away with a new dress.  However, as you recall, I am not a sample size so out of the hundreds of dresses, I only had six to try on, and out of those six, only one was remotely in line with the style I desired.

I proceeded to try the dresses on, and although some did fit well and looked great on, they were all too short.  There was one dress I did like, and it was similar in style to what I was looking for, but it was a bit small, and it was at least 3 inches too short.  The manager called the designer to see if they could make me one on time but of course, the answer was “no.”  I needed a brand new wedding dress in 2 weeks.  Impossible! 

I’ve always been very optimistic and carefree, almost to a fault and I’ve always tried to see the brighter side of situations; my mantra being, “whatever’s meant to be will be.”  Well, for someone with a bright outlook, things were looking very dark.

I stood there, 9 am on a Saturday morning, three weeks before my wedding with no idea what I was going to wear on my wedding day. 

I felt helpless.  I needed my mom.  The thought of searching for another dress was incredibly daunting.  I knew how challenging it was the first time because of my size and knew my height made it even more difficult, and I didn’t want to give up my Jimmy Choo booties, I loved them!

Out of nowhere, my fairy godmother, Sareh Nouri walked into my fitting room.  “Hi Kristina, my name is Sareh. I am a wedding dress designer, and I heard about your story, and I am so sorry this happened.  I saw the style of dress you want, and I think if you want to work with me, I can make you a wedding dress on time.”

All of a sudden Sareh was walking around me critiquing the way too small sample I was trying to squeeze myself into so I could have a wedding dress.  “This dress does not work for you, stop trying to make it happen.  The color is too white; there is no boning in the chest, it’s too small and too short.”

“UM, who are you?”  I thought to myself. No really though.  Who was this woman?!

Sareh told me to turn around and before I knew it I was she was pinning a bow on the dress she just told me looked awful on me.  “My dresses have bows so I want you to get an idea of what this silhouette would look like with a bow.”

Sometimes, things really are meant to be. 

It turns out Sareh is from New Jersey and happened to be in Los Angeles for 24 hours for a trunk show.  I am from New Jersey, and my wedding would be in New Jersey.

She asked about my fiancé and the theme of our wedding, and I described to her the Old Hollywood Glamour style I was going for and told her my venue, and she squealed, “Oh my goodness I did a photoshoot there!  That wedding venue is perfect.  My dress is perfect for that venue.”

Next thing I knew, I was getting measured by the designer Sareh Nouri, ordering a dress I never saw in person, let alone tried on, to have made for me in 2 weeks.

I took a leap of faith but knew it was just meant to be.

“You ordered a dress without seeing it in person or trying it on?!” my mom thought I was insane. 

“Don’t worry mom, she’s from New Jersey, and she did a photo shoot at the Pleasantdale Chateau, and the dresses look beautiful in the pictures.  She measured me!”

Two weeks later I took a red-eye to New Jersey, a week before my wedding and went to try on my wedding dress.  I don’t know who was more nervous, my mom or I.  We walked into Sareh Nouri studios and were greeted with warm smiles and open arms.  I am the first bride they have ever had in the studio which made me feel pretty special.  I tried on the dress and immediately had a team of 6 surrounding me.  The entire Sareh Nouri team was involved.  Hem the dress 3 inches, take it in here, pin it there.  I felt like Cinderella with her helpers of mice and birds working magic except I had couture designers, expert pattern makers and seamstresses for the stars.  What a world.   The dress, a size 18, was too big, so they had some major work to do and only two days to do it.

When I arrived at the studio two days later, I had my dream dress.  It was incredible.  Sarah not only made me a custom wedding dress in 2 weeks, but she also made me a custom veil in 3 days.  The experience I had working directly with her and her team will be something I’ll never forget.  They saved me from a traumatizing experience and instead provided me with the best experience of my life.  I loved my new dress even more than the original. 

The entire experience made my wedding day even better.  My fiance kept reassuring me that I would look amazing no matter what I wore and his support during the whole situation made me love him even more.  Since Sareh Nouri’s studio is in New Jersey, I was able to have my family at the fittings which meant the world to me.  Because I focused on the dress, I didn’t allow myself to worry about anything else.  I went from not having a dress to working with a couture designer on my custom dream dress.  If that disaster could turn into a dream, surely everything else would work out perfectly. My Old Hollywood Glamour wedding was everything I could have ever dreamt. 

All professional wedding photos by Kelly Kollar.