Carolyn Allen

[alissa2008]

I've heard great things. Any stories you want to share? Anyone ship to her to have it ready when they got there? I can't decide if I want to carry on or not... anyone know her fees?

...speak to me oh all knowing disboard...

 

[Lynn5700]

Hi!! U shipped ny dress down..it only cost me like $50 to ship,my dress was 14 lbs lol......the stocking fee is $15 and $7 for any extras.........ummm I think all together with the steamaing and everything was like 150..not sure..Here is the website..email them they are very nice or just call. Keith will answer if you call and if you email you will talk with Kathleen..either way they get back to you quickly...Keith is the sweetest man, he was so funny when him and Sue came to do the guy's tux fitting. They are great people!!

Oh the website is carolynallens.com

 

[myprincessgirlisa]

i ued them in 1997 & they were awesome then...so that says alot about how great they are!!!!

 

[lurkyloo]

I used them and the dress storage/shipping thing works really well!

I sent my dress FedEx for only $25. They returned it UPS for $35. Steaming was about $80 (it depends on the style and fabric of yoru dress), and there was the $15 storage fee.

SO painless, and I didn't have to lug that sucker all over the airport or stress about fitting it in the overhead bin. I didn't even have to think about it!

 

[scottish/canadian]

Hi! I didn't ship my dress to them or anything like that. I actually had trouble getting all my alterations done at home in time and went to them for some last minute assistance. I took my dress in on the Thursday prior to my Monday wedding to have it bustled and have bra cups put it. Sue looked at the length and was even able to take it up a little more. She kept it to do the alterations and some pre-steaming and dropped it at my hotel room on Sunday morning. She then finished the steaming of it and three bridesmaids dresses. Everything looked great and they were a huge lifesaver!!

 

[Swmhc]

Ditto what everyone else said. Shipped all the gowns down, ordered the tuxes from Carolyn Allens and they took care of everything beautifully for us !! Highly recommended......stress free....gotta love that for a wedding element !!!

 

[alissa2008]

Thank you EVERYONE!!!

Lurky -- how much time did you give the dress to get down there... I mean, how far in advance did you send it? I feel like I'd want to give it a couple extra days, if not a week, incase it gets lost or worse.

but I LOVE the idea of not having to lug it around the airport!

 

[alissa2008]

i ued them in 1997 & they were awesome then...so that says alot about how great they are!!!!

where is that pier in your siggie? I LOVE THAT SHOT!!

 

[lurkyloo]

Carolyn Allen won't take it more than 2 weeks before the wedding, so I sent it exactly 2 weeks before. It took about 5 days going FedEx ground. HTH!

 

[alissa2008]

Did you insure it? I suppose that is a stupid question...

 

[lurkyloo]

No such thing as a stupid question...

I insured it for about $1,000 so that, if something happened, I could go buy another off the rack. Our total bill to FedEx was about 25 bucks, so that insurance seems pretty cheap!

 

[myprincessgirlisa]

where is that pier in your siggie? I LOVE THAT SHOT!!

why thank you

that was the pier over at the Yacht Club...i REALLY need to thank my mom for that pic...she was the lucky picture taker!!!lol

 

[DisneyBride41108]

I've heard great things. Any stories you want to share? Anyone ship to her to have it ready when they got there? I can't decide if I want to carry on or not... anyone know her fees?

...speak to me oh all knowing disboard...

Carolyn Allen was a great place!!!! they made my dress, my moms, and my bridesmaids look really well especially after bringing them on the plane. Kathleen is very organized and very responsive to all your questions. On my day a woman with short hair and glasses came to our hotel room she was very nice and did a good job

Lauren

 

[alissa2008]

No such thing as a stupid question...

I insured it for about $1,000 so that, if something happened, I could go buy another off the rack. Our total bill to FedEx was about 25 bucks, so that insurance seems pretty cheap!

That is pretty excellent! I was thinking it would cost hundreds of dollars to ensure, and my gown I got on sale at davids for 350! Thats not to say if something happened mid-transit that I could find another one for that price...

 

[jennifaerie]

So if I decide to bring my dress on my honeymoon to get some shots around the Polynesian or some such idea, would I be able to go to Carolyn Allen's and have her spruce up the dress (or I guess steam it) for me?

What's considered storage? If I only needed it steamed, would she want to hold it, or could I get it back the day it's steamed?

 

[alissa2008]

So if I decide to bring my dress on my honeymoon to get some shots around the Polynesian or some such idea, would I be able to go to Carolyn Allen's and have her spruce up the dress (or I guess steam it) for me?

What's considered storage? If I only needed it steamed, would she want to hold it, or could I get it back the day it's steamed?

Haha, I should have just nudged you in the PM. lol. I think the storage fee is if you have it shipped and she has to actually "store" it for you until your wedding or whenever your trip starts. I think taking your dress on your disneymoon is a GREAT idea!! And she would definitely steam it out for you, as if you were actually getting married there. I wonder if you could get a magic kingdom shoot or something if you're not doing a DFTW.... might be worth looking into if you're interested... I would be.

 

[jennifaerie]

Oh, great! Thanks!

Rob and I talked about the Magic Kingdom shoot, but we're both opposed because of the cost.

If we were doing a Wishes wedding and knew it could be part of the cost of our wedding already, we'd probably have done it. But I'd honestly rather have someone outside take pictures of us in other places around WDW.

 

[alissa2008]

Careful though, with the new photographer rule, you can only have your outside photographer (the roots, i think you said you wanted?) take pics of you at resorts or other off park property places...

Plus, you're not allowed in the park in wedding attire... man, i hate that rule.

 

[jennifaerie]

Yep! On all counts.

We originally weren't going to wear wedding attire, and we're still not really sure we want the additional stress of bringing it with us. So we may not.

And I thought that the new photography rules were for anything after October? We're going in September. But any rate, we'd really like them done at the Polynesian, where we're staying anyway, since it's so beautiful there.

We haven't decided anything yet (even about doing the photography at all). It's more a pipe dream right now. We'll see!