Beauty by Design — Local services in Minneapolis

I went to Beauty by Design after I knew I wanted my wedding dress to be customized for my wedding to my Indian born fiancé. I had tried going to a couple other bespoke designers both locally and nationally and none of them could not offer me the design detail or color and fabric selection like Beauty by Design had – all within a reasonable price point. My wedding and dress were an Indo-American fusion. My dress was not a dress at all, but it was two skirts, a top, and a dupatta. My overall wedding look was whimsical and royal and that I knew I wanted it to pay homage to my Catholic American upbringing and my fiance’s Sikh and Indian roots. When I first met with Deborah I only had a multiple ideas and pictures I had saved from Pinterest. To say that I was all over the place was an understatement, but Deborah had a way of reassuring me that she saw my vision and she was prepared to make it come alive. The next couple visits she worked side by side with me. First by showing me her sketched design for each part of my dress and look. Next, she walked me though the fabric selections, all the while answering every single one of my questions and emails about how my selections would bring my dress to life. She was so easy to work with and catered to all of my needs and even anticipated needs I didn’t know I would have (like how much fullness did I want for each skirt, or how I wanted my sleeves to be slightly capped, but not actually capped or sleeveless) Then came the fun! She began to build each piece of my wedding skirts, my top, and my dupatta. Each new visit another part began to come together with the overall vision and by the end I was in tears – tears of joy, of course! What Deborah had created was better than anything I had brought along for inspiration on my very first appointment. She used them as a guide, but she put my spin on it. She had successfully managed to get inside my head and see what I saw through my eyes. I honestly don’t know how she did it, but she did and for that I have no words other than THANK YOU!

She also created a beautiful alteration for my mom’s dress. My mom and I had found a dress at Macy’s, but it was in the juniors section. It was a long spaghetti strap and was something a 16 or 17 year old might wear to homecoming or prom. However my mom is in her early 70s and the look was too young and too long. So I brought my mom to see Deborah and the two of them talked about how she wanted it shortened to between her ankle and knee and she wanted a sleeve, something that would flatter her arms, but would also keep her cool during the August wedding. Deborah took that idea and put together a design that not only went above and beyond my mom’s expectations by nailing all of her requests, so the look was right and flattering, but also made my mom FEEL beautiful! My mom is plus-sized, so she is very self-conscious about her mid-sections, arms, and her legs. Deborah helped my mom see herself like I see her. I see my mom’s mid-section as the place where she carried me and my siblings to term – healthy and happy. I see her arms as the first place I want to run to when something good or bad happens. I see her legs as the anchors to our family – they never wavered in any storm. Again, there are no words, but THANK YOU!

If you have the chance for Deborah to make your dress or alter it – hands down she is the best in Minneapolis! She doesn’t just make a recreation of a dress (unless that’s your strict instruction), but she takes a journey with you to get to know you, your style, and all the pieces in between to create a one of kind look that everyone won’t be able to stop talking about...

I am highly disappointed in this company. At my second appointment, I had consulted Deborah (the head seamstress) about my second dress in which a different tailor was having a hard time designing appropriately. While my girls were pre-paying for their dresses, at the end of the appointment, I had left to consult my sister in law on the phone (of whom was paying for the second dress) before leaving the appointment. It wasn't until after we had left that my bridesmaid had informed me that Deborah had given a long sigh and said "uh, why can't she do that after we are done?" Then, at my third appointment, I had met with Deborah's assistant (Natalie). At this appointment my dress was incomplete. Natalie was very nice and had excellent customer servive skills. She had made notes of what I would like to have done to my complicated lace (I had to have it hemmed), even though I had already told Deborah at the first AND second appointment what I would like to have done. Finally, the morning of my final fitting (which happened to be 3 days before my wedding), I had received a call from Natalie that Deborah was sick and is asking to reschedule. Knowing that my wedding was in 3 days I had said "well, it should be done by now, you have had it for months. Can't I just meet with you (Natalie)?" Natalie had said my dress wasn't done and that they do their alterations THE MORNING OF their appointment with the customer. I was shocked and angry. I then scheduled for the next morning (of which I had to move around other wedding-related activities for). Then I receive a TEXT (not a call) from Deborah (which is highly unprofessional) begging me to move the time further into the day for the appointment so she could have more time. I declined as it should have been done already. Then, I arrive with my sister and mother for the final fitting and Deborah had greeted us and said "hi! it isn't done yet" and hurried back to work on my dress. 30 minutes later she came out with my dress to have me try it on, it fit just fine BUT it still wasn't done, the applique was not attached and she had some other things that needed to be fixed. After trying on my dress we had waited 25 more minutes for her to complete it. Not once did she apologize. Then, on the day of my wedding, I had noticed that the "fix" she did to the bottom of my dress looked like she had haphazardly cut a piece of fabric out and sewed it beneath the lace bottom. Luckily you couldn't tell unless you got right up to my dress to look at it. Also, on the day of, one of my bustles had displaced and my dress was still dragging on the floor for our first dance. I am very disappointed in this company and do not recommend them for any alteration or custom...

I needed a few technical alterations completed on my very simple wedding jumpsuit in addition to one more artistic change. She agreed to take me on and charged me after our initial appointment. Two months later, nothing was completed and she insisted on scheduling our final fitting two weeks prior to my wedding day (two more months in the future), urging me that it would be okay despite my worries. On the night before our THIRD appointment, I received a voicemail from Deborah requesting we push back our appointment by a week. I refused and arrived the next day to an incomplete wedding outfit - she had even taken out all of our pins we had put in two months prior to mark the alterations needed. Extremely flustered, she remeasured me and haphazardly completed the alterations. I ultimately took the jumpsuit to a different tailor since the alterations she completed were uneven and done incorrectly so the garment puckered oddly. She never offered to refund me and made me feel like an extremely low priority by putting my outfit off so much. If you need a reliable and respectful tailor, she is not...