Have you ever experienced something strange or incredible in your store? We asked a number of Nordic store owners about funny anecdotes and unique experiences they will never forget. Read the juiciest stories we have received from wedding stores in the Nordic countries.
As we want to protect the identity of customers and store owners, we have chosen to present the stories anonymously.
Photos: Adobestock
Change of plans
“Many years ago, when I was new to the industry, I was helping a young girl find a wedding dress. Throughout the entire fitting process, she seemed quite uninterested but still chose a dress that I placed an order for. A few days later, her mother called to cancel the dress because the wedding was off. Since I come from a small town, I eventually heard through the grapevine that the wedding had been called off because the bride had an affair with the groom’s brother! The funny thing is, she came to me again two years later when she was marrying the brother!”
The man dress
“Once, I had the pleasure of finding the dream dress for a transgender man. He had very specific requests and it wasn’t easy to find a dress in the right size since he was 196 cm tall. We finally succeeded, and after the wedding, I received a thank-you card with a picture of the bride and groom. The dress we chose fit him perfectly!”
The hopeless dress
“I’ve encountered several brides who bought dresses online and came to me asking if I could alter them because they were dissatisfied. But I especially remember a girl who came into the store completely panicked. She and her fiancé had chosen a wedding date that gave them very little planning time, and she had found a dress from China online that she ordered. The delivery from China arrived at the last minute, and when the bride came to me, the wedding was two days away. I can honestly say it was one of the ugliest dresses I had ever seen, not only was it of poor quality, but the fit was also completely wrong. The bride wanted me to alter it, but I was honest and said that I didn’t think we could do anything with the dress in such a short time. She ended up buying a dress from me, and she actually called me a couple of weeks later to thank me for helping her.”
A male incident
“Since I am a woman and sell men’s clothing, I had an experience once that still makes me blush to tell. I had scheduled a fitting with a groom-to-be, and we were in the middle of trying on clothes when I suggested we take in the pants a bit. I started pinning and was naturally near his crotch because I was also pinning the inseam when I realized he had quite an impressive bulge. When he realized I had noticed, I think we both found it equally embarrassing, and I pinned the rest of the pants at lightning speed…”
Oops, I said it
“I had a very difficult customer in the store and had spent almost two hours trying to find the right dress for her, but she left the store without buying anything. Or so I thought… When I thought she had left the store and no other customers were around, I felt the need to vent my frustration, so I turned to my colleague and said, ‘What a bitch! I hope she doesn’t come back!’ Then I heard a rustling in one of the dressing rooms and realized the difficult customer had left something behind and was still in the store. God, I was so embarrassed, but I couldn’t say a word. And I was right, she didn’t come back.”
The pregnant woman
“I had a heavily pregnant woman as a customer, and she came to me a week before the wedding to try on the dress to make sure it fit. All of a sudden, there was a splash, and it turned out her water had broken! The baby was born a month early, and the wedding had to be held three months later instead.”
The break-in
“We had a break-in at our store a few years ago, and when we arrived at the store in the morning, it turned out the criminals weren’t there to steal but just to have fun with our inventory. Our male and female mannequins were placed in all sorts of obscene positions, and the display window made it look like we were running an adult store. Even though it meant a lot of work for us and it cost to replace the window, we staff couldn’t help but laugh about it all!”
