Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Tailor Troubles...Part II

Now...where were we? Oh yeah, B tried on his suit and it didn’t fit...then I tried to fix it and that didn’t work...catch up here if you want!

So now it’s Tuesday before the wedding. B doesn’t like his suit. Can he wear it? Sure. He could wear it. He wouldn’t like it, but he could wear it. The sleeves and pants legs weren’t quite as noticeable as we’d first thought. And with the jacket on and buttoned, it didn’t seem nearly as big as when it was left open, and it served a dual purpose of covering up the trousers. But that’s where we ran into problems.

You see, B never intended to wear his jacket more than necessary. Like any other man I know, he wanted to shed the jacket as soon after the reception as possible and just walk around in his slacks and dress shirt/tie. Which wouldn’t be possible in these pants. Hmmm...his suggestion was to take a pair of black dress slacks that he owns and loves and just change into them after the ceremony and before the reception. No one would be the wiser more than likely, and all would be right with his world.

But that seemed like a lot of work to me. So I offered the ultimate solution – let’s buy a new suit. Yes, we’d be crunched for time on alterations, but when I called Men’s Warehouse to check about doing them in our time frame, they assured me that it was possible. I didn’t even want to ask what the extra charges were for doing the rush job. But B didn’t like this suggestion. I mean, we’d already bought a suit, right? Right. He seemed to remember that MW did sell Calvin Klein separates as well as suits...so what do you think the odds were of us finding something that matched close enough?

If you guessed slim to none, you’d be right. We actually did find a pair of slacks that almost perfectly matched, but they were flat-front slacks, which didn’t do well on B. He tried his size...then a size larger...and another size larger still trying to make them look right. They didn’t. I wasn’t certain about matching a non-Calvin Klein slack with the CK jacket, but the saleslady was insistent about it, and we found a pair of slacks that he liked and put them on hold since neither of us was sold on the idea.

You see, B wanted to go home and put on the pants that he already owned and walk into the sunlight and prove me wrong. He had previously said that they matched, and I said that they wouldn’t match in the sunlight. And really, why spend $85 when you might have a pair at your house that might work? So we left with no solution.

I got a phone call within the hour telling me that I was right. I started looking around for a tape recorder...just kidding.

On my way home from work that night, I stopped at MW and paid for the pants that we had placed on hold. Sure enough, five minutes after I left the store, B called and asked me to stop and get them. I can be SO smart sometimes! But once we got them home and paired them up again on him, the blacks just didn’t match. Back to square 1...

Since we’d already tried to match the jacket with a pair of pants, B came up with the idea of going back to MW and trying to match the pants that he already had and liked with a new jacket. I wasn’t 100% on board with that idea – I mean, hadn’t we already tried that with the other pieces? But I went along for the ride. As luck would have it, there was ONE jacket that matched his pants that he liked so much! He tried it on and turned this way and that way in the mirror to get a better look...

And that’s when the saleslady that had helped us TWO times earlier in the day came up and about had a heart attack. Apparently, the jacket that matched so well was a Tuxedo jacket. And we were doing the unthinkable and pairing it with dress slacks. Not suit slacks. Not Tuxedo pants. Dress slacks. Slacks that we bought for $19.99 at Ross one day while out shopping. Yeah. We’re those people. LOL! She started to give him a really hard time about how tacky it looked and all, and I could see him starting to cave in and take the jacket off. I could see her point, the lapels were slightly shinier than the rest of the jacket material, but not to the degree that normal Tuxedo jackets are. It infuriated me that something that B really loved two seconds earlier he now was starting to doubt.

I’m sorry. You can diss me all that you want, but when someone starts to make my loved ones feel bad about their choices (be they tacky or not!) I have to step in. I put her in her place rather quickly by telling him that I didn’t care if it was a Tuxedo jacket paired with dress slacks. If that’s what he liked, and that’s what he wanted to wear, then I was buying it. Period. End of discussion. I mean, it’s not like our family and friends are such fashion snobs to notice the difference, or have the guts to say anything. Right?

The tailor from MW came out and marked up the jacket where it needed to be altered, and then we paid and went to eat. Problem solved. B picked up the jacket Saturday morning before the wedding, and I have to be honest here and tell you that not ONE single person noticed that it was a Tuxedo jacket. I guess the real test will be when we get our pictures back from our photographer to see how the jacket looks there, but I honestly don’t care. He got a jacket that he loved...and he was happy. That’s the most important thing to this story.

So the moral? Go to the alterations shop to pick up your own alterations. Try them on in front of the person that worked on your item of apparel. Speak up if it’s not done right. And don’t pay for it until you’re 100% satisfied.

Did you run into any last minute wardrobe problems right before your wedding? I hear a lot of stories about rented items not fitting correctly...

4 comments:

  1. Oh my goodness - this sounds like a total nightmare! So sorry you had to deal with this just days before your wedding!! You handled it GREAT though!

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  2. Wow! I'm glad it worked out in the end, btw, I left you a goodie on my blog!

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  3. Glad he was happy in the end! I can't imagine going through this the week before your wedding!!

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  4. We didn't have a problem with things fitting, our problem was MISSING things. We rented tuxes for all the guys...but one was missing a tie, another was missing his vest, socks...you name it and just about each guy was missing something. Luckily this was something I didn't find out until AFTER the ceremony...

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