Pat’s Bridal Alterations & Custom Creations

I’m glad I never read her reviews before going to her for my wedding gown. My experience was far greater than the poor reviews on Unilocal.
I purchased my dress at Bridal and Formal off the rack for $ 399. It was a size 10 and I’m a size 6 – 8 so I knew there would be some big alterations to be done. I do wish I had shopped around a bit to see if her prices are reasonable — it ended up costing me about $ 415 to get it altered.
She had to change the size, create a bustle, change the length (I was going barefoot), sew in a bra that wouldn’t show in the back, and change the straight neckline into a sweetheart. Although they cost more than my actual dress, the alterations ended up making the dress into something special. She also seemed very willing to reach what I wanted and worked quickly. She also came up with the idea to sew my bra into the dress — in the end I avoided those messy moments where I would have had to constantly pull the dress back up over the bra.
I think my only regret was not pricing it out other people but I’m 100% happy with her alterations (and so was my husband) so I’m glad I went with her.
(Note: It also helped that I had my alterations done during her slow season … mid March I think it was.)

I’m sure Pat gets plenty of kickbacks from Bridal and Formal and vice versa, but FIND ANOTHER seamstress. Her rates are outrageous for what she does (or doesn’t do) and you can find someone to do the same thing, or likely better for a quarter of the price.
For example, she charged me $ 150 to bustle my dress — well guess what, every single button on the bustle popped within the first 10 minutes of my reception and I had to drag the dress with everyone stepping on it the entire night. Also she charged like $ 50 or $ 75 for a cheap bra sewn into the dress…
Big waste of money for work that isn’t quality. It might be convenient, go somewhere else ladies.

It is certainly tempting to take a wedding gown to Pat’s Alterations while you’re in the Bridal district, but BEWARE! This is the trap that I fell into.
Pat started on my wedding gown 9 months before I needed it. As the date drew closer she told me the gown would be ready for me to have my 1^st fitting one week before I was due to move out of state. When I asked her what I would do if it needed tweaking, she assured me it would be fixed in time.
When she was finished I tried the gown on, and could fit my 2 fists between my back and the material. (I had remained the same weight.) She told me she was going on vacation and could fix it and ship it to me. This means my gown would arrive 5 DAYS PRIOR TO WEDDING DATE! She didn’t care to negotiate with me at all to reach a solution.
Thankfully, Tony King came to the rescue and fixed my gown for me. He was wonderful! His pricing was much more reasonable and has 25+ years experience!
Pat’s alterations is extremely overpriced!