posted on April 24, 2003 04:06:03 PM new
I've groused in this space before about the fickleness of the about-to-be-wedded. This year's crop of Queens-For-A-Day promises to be no different from all the rest.
I want to buy four of your bracelets as gifts for my bridesmaids but I keep getting outbid. What's your direct price?
100% sterling silver, 18 grams, brand new, sells at Macy's for $100 apiece. I quoted her $9.99 apiece plus $4.00 shipping, for a total of $43.96. Note that the quoted price is 90% off retail.
But that's toooo expeeeeeensive! I wanted them for the price one went for on eBay the other day!
So bid, you foolish woman.
How proud your bridesmaids must be to know that you don't even value them as highly as 10 bucks.
Turn the page...
I have bids in on five of your bracelets in this style for my bridesmaids. If I get outbid on any of them, I need you to tell me if you have any more.
Sorry, we don't share inventory information with anyone as we've found it tends to depress ending auction prices.
You folks selling wedding dresses and such, you sure have a tough row to hoe.
--
"I'm thinking of the immortal words of Socrates, who said `I drank WHAT?'"
posted on April 24, 2003 04:41:11 PM new
Brides are the worst. I avoid selling ANYTHING online that may remotely be coveted for a wedding.
I designed and made a beautiful white dress for myself. It had a mini train and I hand embroidered lilies around the border.
One of my employees decided to put it in the window. I came in later and was too lazy to take it down, so I just stuck a "not for sale" note on it.
It took me less than one hour, one demanding bide-to-be and one #**)@^mother-of-the-bride to get me off my butt and take it out of the window.
The bride (of frankenstien) threw a full blown tantrum, when I wouldn't sell it to her. Her mother called me every name under the sun and a most under the moon.
My partner walked in, saw what was happening and ran for the hills (coward). The future groom showed up and actually backed out the door and said: Um. Y'all don't need me. I am going back to the coffee shop (coward #2).
They eventually left too. Not without some more dire threats and attempts at violence.
posted on April 24, 2003 05:17:08 PM new
Thats what I love about selling Memorial Day Flowers....the one their buying them for never complains. But on the other hand you would love the excuses the living give when buying them. They hate to be told aunt Fanny is DEAD and really don't give a cat hair what you stick on her grave.
posted on April 24, 2003 06:58:30 PM new
AAAAAWWWW SH*T
Brides...It's getting worse. I think in a demented way, the actually think they are "queen" the whole time they are planning the wedding!! Yes, I sell wedding dresses. No, I am not obsessed with the whole Bridal Aura...
They need to calm down and realize not everything is going to go perfectly their way.
posted on April 25, 2003 10:18:50 AM new
way back when I did surplus and liqadation I sold a glass heart cake topper retail $75.00 ( never used ) on ebay, winning bidder emailed me and promise to send $10.00 payment, never saw it nor heard from them again after many emails later, I went ahead and relisted it same thing happen again.soooooooooo I relisted one more time this time it sold they got it and 4 months later wanted to return it for refund of $15.00 myself being a nice person sent an email to them kindly explaining our return policy gets back a whinning to raging letter how Iam unfair and that do not need it anymore
I sent them back a letter with a big fat NO and what NO means and how it is spelled
further more you used it and should keep it.
I will never never sell another wedding item again PERIOD
posted on April 25, 2003 10:54:45 AM new
My favorite was the uppity-nosed woman who bought a beautiful necklace for a special occasion that her daughter went to. The next week she tried to return it, saying her daughter never wore it but I could tell she was lying.
The local paper had just been delivered and was sitting on my counter and there was a pic of her daughter wearing the necklace. I showed her and she got pizzed at me and stalked off. BTW, she also tried to return the dress her daughter wore but that store refused to accept it.
This wasn't for a wedding but I think some of the mothers are just as bad as the daughters when it comes to special occasions.
posted on April 25, 2003 01:30:31 PM new
I used to work at Victoria's Secret. I'd guesstimate that about 40 percent of the brides we saw were insane, but once they went, they were gone.
NO, there is no foundation that will get a size 12 woman into a size 8 dress. This rule is not waivable for wedding dresses.
NO, there is no such thing as a bra that is both 1) backless and 2) comfortable. Tape, straps or whalebone - take your pick.
And what is it that white satin does to your brain that you think it's OK to pay $25 for a pair of hose just because it has a wedding bell and two plastic pearls on the ankle?
We got so we could spot them coming in the door, and we'd all scatter like an old horror movie .... arrgggh! BRIDEZILLA!
posted on April 25, 2003 02:24:30 PM new
ROFL Bridezilla !!!! msincognito you gave me my laugh for the day....*note to self ...never never try to sell something for a wedding !!
posted on April 25, 2003 06:50:09 PM new
Hi,
"BrideZilla" LOL
Fluffy, I must be the dumbest person in here I have no idea what your ebay ID is but I sure like the sound of your prices. Please email me so that I can check your auctions.
Cheers,
Adrian
[email protected]
posted on April 27, 2003 03:32:30 AM newMPI After I graduated, I went to work as an event planner at a big local hotel that did a LOT of weddings. About three months in, they decided "wouldn't it be great" if they started offering my services as an overall wedding coordinator. (Guess they thought my 60 hrs./week left me too much leisure time.) They told me they'd hire me a (part-time) assistant "to handle the paperwork."
No dummy I, I hired an assistant with wedding experience and slid the entire weddings business off onto his capable shoulders. Apparently, brides respond to gay men much better than they do to harried young women ... it was like they were boots and he was the drill sergeant. I actually heard him yell at one bride who presumably had put on a bit of weight since buying her dress: "Cynthia, are you EATING??!!" Cynthia dropped whatever-it-was so fast you'd think a roach had just crawled out of it!
[ edited by msincognito on Apr 27, 2003 03:33 AM ]
posted on April 27, 2003 07:35:46 AM new
What a fascinating topic this is! I had no idea, not being a seller of stuff a bride would want. (Except for a wedding planning book featuring African-American/African/tribal customs, which brought a good amount and there was no trouble.)
posted on April 27, 2003 09:09:35 AM newApparently, brides respond to gay men much better than they do to harried young women ... it was like they were boots and he was the drill sergeant.
Not just brides...All of the women that came into our stores thought my ex-partner was gay. The customers loved him.
Women would ask his opinion on what to buy or wear. They followed his advice like he was a Halston or a Versace. Women would bring in items from other stores and ask him if they should wear them. Those same women would ignore what I had to say.
One day a regular tried on a skirt and asked his opinion. He said: "Mmmmmm, not today. The hips don't like it."
She purchased a whole bunch of other things and left the skirt. She came back about 3 weeks later. She had lost quite a few pounds and she wanted the skirt. We had one left in a smaller size and she bought it.
My ex-partner isn't gay and I PICKED OUT THE CLOTHES HE WORE....still do.
posted on April 28, 2003 06:26:13 AM new
Wow, I was planning on marketing some of my handmade jewelry towards brides, but may rethink that after reading this!
posted on April 28, 2003 07:26:39 AM newWow, I was planning on marketing some of my handmade jewelry towards brides, but may rethink that after reading this!
Good...unless you enjoy having brides tell you, "I make jewelry myself and I can make this for a LOT LESS!" Like George Zimmer says, "I guar-ran-tee it."
There *are* some sensible brides. I've known of...um...one realistic and levelheaded bride in the last forty years. She didn't want any lavish gifts (they wouldn't have fit her lifestyle) and she actually sent us a note apologizing for having used the dessert dishes we gave *before* she sat down to write her thank-yous. How charming is that? It was sweet to know that we got her something she liked so much she couldn't wait to use it.
But she was a mature (late thirties) first-time bride. Not at all the norm.
Most brides want the Royal Wedding in St. Paul's Cathedral and want to wear the princess dress with the twenty-foot-long train carried by two small adorable boys. Since this privilege is reserved for British royalty and since the American equivalent is far, FAR beyond the means of the average bride, she resolves to get as close as she can with what limited funds she has. (It doesn't help that there are dozens, literally dozens, of books purporting to show exactly how a Royal Wedding can be accomplished for under $1,000.)
Generally it is no use reasoning with these people. Home weddings with a small group of loved ones, for example, have a centuries-old precedent and can be both charming and deeply meaningful. But marrying at home doesn't fit into the fantasy, though somehow getting married on the grounds of a "historical" mansion that rents itself out at $1,000 an hour or more for such occasions so that the bride can pretend to be far wealthier than she actually is, does.
Something has to give, somewhere. Fairy-tale wedding locations do not negotiate on price, but eBay sellers selling bits of oh-so-necessary frippery can be squeezed with impunity.
Brides are, by definition, the worst possible customers. They want it free (or nearly so), it must be utterly PERFECT, and they are on a strict (often self-imposed) timetable. Due to a pandering wedding industry, brides are delusional about their importance in the retail world. Worse, all this is happening during a time they're trying to hold onto a guy who is starting to understand that old saw about a girl becoming her mother in twenty years.
--
"I'm thinking of the immortal words of Socrates, who said `I drank WHAT?'"
posted on April 28, 2003 10:38:25 AM new
I used to be a wedding photographer. I need to go to another post now. I feel that twitch coming back in my eye. Anyone for a drink?
[ edited by reddfoxx on Apr 28, 2003 10:39 AM ]
posted on April 28, 2003 11:00:50 AM new
LOL Red! I explored my masochisitic side one time in that field and ran screaming from the reception vowing never ever again.
posted on April 28, 2003 11:35:03 AM new
I agree that weddings have gotten way out of hand! Oprah has devoted more than one hour-long show to this topic. It's is horrifying to hear a bride-to-be say that she plans to spend $50,000 on her wedding, skimping all the way!, and CHARGE IT. Unbelievable.
The point on Oprah's show, from the experts, is that there is much too much energy spent on the wedding itself and almost none on planning the (hopefully) long marriage to come--hence all the divorces. Couples will spend $50,000 on a wedding and not one cent or minute discussing the important questions, like money management and whether to have children, etc.
Ten years ago we had just finished getting our kids through private college and my husband was thinking of early retirement. All three of our kids wanted to get married. We told them we'd give each $5,000, either toward their expenses or to use if they didn't need it for the wedding itself. Two of them (the two who are healthier mentally) had wonnnnnderful garden weddings in their own or friends' homes, with JUST real friends, not social obligations--and the ceremonies were very meaningful. Each of these two had money left over for the down payment on a house.
The third child, our middle child (of course!) had a hissy fit, said she needed at least $10,000 to do it right. Her fiance calmed her down, and she set to work for a year finding bargains. She had a lovely church wedding, the whole nine yards with nice gown (on sale!), brass quintet, and nice reception at a clubhouse. AND they had a couple thousand left over for their honeymoon.
IF I had it to do over, I'd do that in a minute. I had the big affair and was so tense I kept bursting into tears. The whole day was a muddle for me. NOT worth it for one minute.
posted on April 28, 2003 12:07:18 PM new
In the late 80's a friend of mine spent $30,000 on her wedding. A month later she told me that she wanted a divorce. She was afraid to file the papers, because her parents spent so much money on the wedding.
posted on April 28, 2003 02:24:00 PM new
I have a lady who has emailed me 5 times about the dress I have listed.
she says she is disabled and would my friend take less than the reserve.
I told her to bid what she felt she could and at the end of the auction, who knows?
she then emailed and asked how much less she might take. I answered that we wouldn't answer that question until the sale ended, it still should reach the reserve.
then she emailed with a paltry amount and "would this be a figure for the question you won't answer". I told her to bid her maximum amount and we would let her know if it did not sell.
so she bid less than half the reserve (which is a fraction of the cost of the dress) and then asked if we would now close the auction and sell it to her!
I know of one wedding dress she definitely won't be wearing.
posted on April 28, 2003 07:45:45 PM newshe says she is disabled and would my friend take less than the reserve.
I get so many emails from people claiming to be "disabled", I am beginning to wonder if anyone in this country can work.
It drives me nuts, because I think most of them are fine and looking for sympathy so they can get a lower price.
I am disabled...My boobs are TOO BIG. I can't belly up to bars the way I want to. I think I wall start asking all of the places with bars like TGI Fridays, Chilis, Bennigans and the Outback to give me a discount.
posted on April 29, 2003 07:46:46 AM new
This thread has sure cheered up my morning!
last year I got email from a young lady who wanted a Magic Wand to go with her bridal gown. She sent me at least ten emails planning this darn wand- naturally I wasn't making anything untill she was finalized and had sent me some money. And naturally I was NOT surprised whenshe droppped the correspondance and was never heard from again.
On the other hand- One of the things that made DH and me think about getting married was the vintage 1920's cake topper I bought at some fleamarket somewhere. I had my dress made in the flapper style the cake-topper-girl wore. And I had a friend make it, it cost me just about $300.00. And i ended up making my bridesmaid's dresses myself! AND a hat for one of them.... It was fun, actually.
"And All Shall be Well, and All Shall be Well, and All Manner of Things Shall be Well"
