Be very careful.
About the wedding dress. Was it a dress that has to be ordered in or was it one already in store?
Often these days, the dress is ordered in and may take a few months to arrive, then be altered etc.
The timeline is usually about 4 months.
In your situation, I would ask the shop owners directly. They may not tell you all the truth, but then again they may be able to ease your mind. Maybe they are in the middle of a changeover of some sort. I don't know. Ask.
If your dress is already in store though and you are worried or suspect trouble, pay the balance and take that dress home, even if alterations have not been made. You can always get dressmakers.
If the dress is being ordered in, then pay no more money until it arrives. And check that timeline carefully.
Be concerned if the arrival is delayed past the expected dates and they make excuses.
A few years ago, I had 2 daughters who married in the same year. With both girls, the dresses were ordered in, the timeline was clear, the dresses arrived about the time we were told (which was several months before the wedding). There was an air of order and competence about the business. One store was a large franchise, the other a small family business with several employees, but in both, that air of order was there.
But with the second girl, the bridesmaids' frocks were ordered at a different bridal store. It was not a large business, seemed to have one woman owner, friendly enough but I was startled by something she said when the girls ordered their frocks and were measured up. The dresses were advertised as made to measure and on the receipt, it mentioned timeline to arrival was 4-5 months. I commented that they should come in in about July/Aug then and that should be in plenty of time for a December wedding. The woman said that even if they came in the day before the wedding, that would still be 'in time'.
In hindsight, that attitude was a warning to how the whole business was run. I wasn't impressed at the time.
The dresses did not come in in 4-5 months. or 6, or 7, or 8. Each time we rang, we were fobbed off with 'don't know'.
They arrived in Dec and one of my daughters picked her frock up, unfinished, the day before the wedding. Thank goodness I have a friend who is handy with a needle.
I had paid extra for alterations for her frock but our main aim by then was just to get the dress.
We were lucky. Several months later that woman was on TV. Other clients were complaining as their frocks (wedding frocks) never came in on time at all or came so late the clients bought elsewhere. She closed down her business. She was not bankrupt or anything but the lease ran out on that store and she did not renew it.
But she is out there I am sure, under another name no doubt.
To be fair, the business where you ordered your frock might be fine. I'm not trying to frighten you, just warning you to be cautious and if it is a small business, keep an eye out, pay no more money till you can see the dress and create merry hell if the dress doesn't come in on schedule. Good luck. There's enough stress with a wedding, you need to feel confident that at least the dress is under control.
