Bridezillas Are Real, Meet Katherine

FYI: I joined the family bridal salon as an embryo...almost.  For 33 years I learned how to run and manage a business and how every bride is special. I am the Bridezilla Whisperer, except for Katherine. 

Katherine came in for her wedding dress shopping appointment with seven bridesmaids, two flowergirls, her mother, her stepmother and her dad's latest girlfriend.   You could feel the tension, it was uncomfortable for everyone.   Katherine was organized, her notebook was full of must haves and photos of what she liked and didn't like.  The first thing she said was "I thought I would have the shop all to myself."   I'm thinking: does Walmart close for you?  Macy's? Kleinfeld's? 

It was a busy Saturday.  Seems every bride brought a full posse with her. Our bridal salon was on two floors, but with the large groups, it was crowded.  Katherine (don't call me Kathy) kept announcing she had an appointment and had the balls to ask the other brides if they did....like they'd leave to accommodate her. 

Upstairs with my best consultant to try on dresses, while I and 3 other consultants were  dealing with the main floor,  the flower girls were running around unsupervised.  I could hear jumping. Then a huge thud. It was so hard and so loud that it knocked a light out of the track lighting in the ceiling on the main floor.  One of the little ones had been jumping off the pedestals where the bride stands during a fitting...and caught her foot in the flower girl dress she had on.  Not only did she take a nasty fall, she tore the dress down the front.  Katherine says...."Your dresses are junk, it shouldn't have torn."   The skirt was taffeta and tulle...tulle tears when you run your shoe through it. Duh!!  

The flower girls were sliding down the steps on their belly..  They were running around the racks...and as God is my witness....one of them blew their nose in one of the gowns on the rack.   Kid's mom laughed and laughed. The other customers were grossed out.  I didn't know whether to cry or scream.  Dress trashed equals money directly out of my pocket.  If you are counting that's two trashed dresses.  Yes, they managed to pull down a mannequin,  tore a veil and almost ran out into the street.  I was trying to stay calm and watch the kids, but its not my job to watch YOUR kids.

They weren't out of the store 5 minutes before I get a call from Katherine.  We were rude to her.  We SHOULD have all given her our undivided attention. I had no right asking the flower girls to stop jumping and playing on the steps.  Yada, yada.  I asked her if she wanted a refund, she said she wanted her dress. I prayed she'd back out of the sale.  She wouldn't.

She dropped in unannounced at least twice a week with a list of complaints.  I never saw her happy or smile.  I wished she'd never walked in my door. I began my litany of apologies, although unwarranted, anything to shut her up.

Next came the official "You are not paying attention to me" letter that I got in the mail outlining all her slights when she was in the shop.  I signed for a UPS delivery.  I greeted a customer with a hello. I answered a question from a staff member..  Geeze.   I got on the phone and asked her just exactly what did she expect from the salon and just what did she want from me.  She said she'd let me know. She never did.

An hour later, in walks her fiance.  He was a nice looking tall guy who looked like a fish out of water in a bridal salon. He was clearly uncomfortable telling me how I'd hurt her feelings, how I looked at her like she was fat, how I didn't think she was pretty enough to wear her dress.  Clearly she was mental.  I wanted to cry because I've never treated anyone badly or hurt anyone's feelings.I'd won customer service awards from TheKnot and had the highest customer service ratings from my customers. I beat out all my competitors. I told him I was sorry if she perceived she was treated badly, but that wasn't the case. Why would I look at her as being fat when I clearly outweighed her by 30 pounds?  He admitted she had a problem.  I didn't ask what it was.  I also didn't ask what a nice guy like him is doing with a crazy gal like her. I didn't tell him to buy a pair of running shoes and run like hell. (But I wanted to.....)

This went on for month.  Katherine decided she didn't want to pay for alterations on her dress, we should do them to her for free because of  the stress we caused her.  The seamstress pulled out all of the pins of her dress and said   "I do not work days and hours for free. I have kids to feed, Take it somewhere else. "   Katherine was livid.  I wanted to high five my seamstress.  Her mom came in and paid.

A week before the wedding, Katherine showed up in tears.  I thought the wedding was cancelled. No, it was the flower girls.  They created chaos at her wedding shower. Katherine was sure they would ruin her wedding.   The bridesmaids were all arguing and canceled her bachelorette party.  Her mom, step mom and dad's girlfriend didn't buy their dresses a week before the wedding and weren't speaking to each other.  She was sobbing.  I gave her a big hug and I consoled her.  At that moment, I really did feel sorry for her.

Photo from https://inspiringpretty.com

Katherine stopped in later on in the week, like the previous visit hadn't happened. She was her normal complaining, whiny, poor pitiful me self.  She checked to make sure each pearl and bead on her dress was in place. Her maid of honor was two hours late to learn how to bustle her gown, it was already nearly an hour past closing. I was hungry, exhausted and ticked off. I'd been on my feet for 10 hours and hadn't had time to eat lunch and it was past supper time.  Then she says "On Saturday, you need to be on call all night in case something happens to my dress.  I expect you to show up and fix it.  I found your home phone number and address online."  OMG. Seriously???  Me:Speechless.

On Saturday night, if my husband had answered the phone, he'd be single.  She didn't call.  

Katherine was the bride who got under my skin, the one bridezilla I couldn't diffuse.  She caused me sleepless nights, stomach pains and lots of tears. Nothing satisfied her or made her smile.  How can someone always be so miserable? 

Several months later, my husband and I were shopping in the mall and from out of nowhere, here comes Katherine with a group of  people.  "Here comes Rose, the sweet lady who made my wedding so awesome."  I kept walking, I just couldn't.....