My daughter and I had a disastrous experience I would not like any other bride to go though. The trying on and ordering of the dress went well. However when the dress arrived it was not what we had ordered and the following points outline what we found with the dress:
The dress was too tight - the bride had not changed in weight or size - the sales person said she must have gained weight. There was no other reason. The sales person didn't check to see if it was tight, she would do nothing, not even touch the dress to feel that it was tight.
We had requested a reduction in the amount of fabric in one area of the dress. This was done however it appeared that the fabric was reduced to all areas of the dress which made the dress look very different from the sample and not what my daughter wanted nor what we had ordered.
We were told that Novia Mia's seamstress would see what she could do. We were not confident that the sales person cared what we thought of the dress. I was not comfortable going to Novia Mia's seamstress as I had read reviews that were not satisfactory about her. She is also the mother of one of the owners. We paid for the dress and left. This was a mistake as the owner didn't want anything to do with us once we left the store. Please note that no where on Novia Mia's receipt does it say final sale or no returns.
We took the dress to a reputable seamstress who found the following:
The inner layer of the dress was made for a mermaid style dress not the A line style we had ordered. This was one reason it was so tight on my daughter.
The third layer of the dress had a mistake in the cutting of the dress where a 2.5 inch cut had been made in the wrong place. Instead of replacing this piece of fabric they used it and made the dress 2'5 inches tighter. This same layer was cut salvage to salvage rather than on the bias. When a fabric for a skirt is not cut on the bias there is no swing and the fabric cannot drape. Draping was an important part of the design of the dress.
The result was except for the sleeveless top the entire dress had to be remade and we had to purchase new fabric due to the mistakes in cutting there was not enough to make the dress.
When I approached Adrianna, one of the owners, she was not helpful. We had pictures of my daughter in the sample dress and the dress the arrived for her and you could see that they were very different. First she tried to deny everything I showed and explained to her. She gave me conflicting information. For example on the phone I asked her if she checked every ordered dress that came into the store she said no. When I met with her in person she told me she thoroughly checks every dress when it arrives. She tired to tell me it was due to the changes we made to the dress that had caused the problems. When I showed her on the sample dress what had occurred on my daughters she admitted that a mistake may have been made.
I asked for her to pay for the alterations of the dress which she refused. She stated once you have taken the dress from the store that there is nothing she can do. She offered us a beaded belt and a beaded hair comb in compensation claiming that together they had a value of offer $500.00.
When I picked up the veil the comb on the veil had been sewn on backwards.
When the first pictures of the wedding were posted on Facebook Novia Mia liked it immediately. By then it was not their dress. Which means they didn’t learn anything from their mistake?
Since this experience my daughter and I have spoken with a number of people that have had issues with Novia Mia. In summation I would say that if your dress comes in fitting right you may be ok however a friend of my daughters did have a dress that fit well when it arrived however by the end of her wedding all the buttons had fallen off of the back of her dress.
The service we received at Novia Mia was nothing but dreadful. Very sad when it is supposed to be a happy time. Thank heavens for our seamstress who saved the dress.
