Le Caprice — Local services in Sunnyvale

Marina did a good job with my wedding gown. I purchased it previously-owned, and needed some pretty simple adjustments to make it fit just right: tighter in the waist, looser in the hips, and little bit of a hem for my height. luckily, the original bride had her seamstress keep the extra fabric instead of trimming it off, so letting out the hips was an option for me. Marina also gave me a new bustle.

the process with Marina was simple. she made the initial adjustments, I came back to try it on, and she made the final adjustments to get the hips just right and sent me on my way.

I went to Marina by myself each time (family and friends all live on the East Coast/in SoCal), so I didn't have a second set of eyes with me, which I think would have been helpful in the end. I say this because each try-on did feel a bit rushed (maybe it was self-imposed, I don't know). I think I would have appreciated a little more personalization - like asking me how I felt about the fit, if I see anything I'd like to change. instead, Marina kinda just did her thing and marked what she saw needed adjusting. *You can tell that she is very knowledgeable, and I kinda just trusted her eye.

At my try-on after the initial adjustments, I learned that they changed the bustle type from what the original bride had to a French Bustle. The French Bustle has 5 points, and they color coded each one so that it was easy to do. however, they never asked me what kind of bustle I wanted/never discussed any bustle options with me, they just did it... I would have liked a say in how my dress looked bustled up for my first dance. But at this point, the deed was done, so I didn't say anything - I just accepted it. it felt like such a minor thing, why get worked up over it?!

After the final adjustments (getting the hips just right), I didn't have another fitting to ensure a perfect fit. I was told it wasn't needed because the final adjustments to the hips was "easy."

After my final pickup (adjustments and steaming completed), I brought my dress home and immediately put it on. I'm so glad I insisted on trying it on one more time, because it wasn't quite perfect. The hook & eye closure at the top of the zipper was missing the eye (it had been there at all my other fittings). so I had to purchase some at Michael's and sew one on myself (easy enough, but annoying that I needed to do this in the first place). I also hated the way the low back didn't hug my body - from the bottom of the low back to the top of my booty, it was just kinda suspended over my body, so it didn't compliment the curvature of my body and was unflattering in my opinion. I'm not sure that this was necessarily something Marina could have adjusted perfectly to my liking, but I never really got a chance to look at it/address it with her. so again, I did some DIY makeshift adjustments using some snap-on buttons from Michael's and attaching them to the inside of the dress and to my Skims. it wasn't a perfect solution still, but it certainly looked much better than without. I considered calling Marina and discussing these imperfections, but I was just too nervous about the turn-around. my makeshift adjustments were sufficient for a dress I was going to change out of after first dances.

At Le Caprice, they recommend picking up your gown as close to your wedding day as possible (because they steam it for you). Another bride picked up her gown on Thursday for her Saturday wedding. I'm too Type-A to wait until 3 days before my wedding to get my gown (not to mention we were driving to our SoCal wedding the Monday before our Saturday wedding, so I HAD to pick mine up early). I picked mine up on Thursday a week before my wedding. Considering the 2 imperfections I mentioned, I'm that much more thankful I was able to put my dress on before my wedding day!

Overall, I DO recommend Le Caprice for bridal/formal gown tailoring. but I also recommend having a second set of eyes with you when you go and not being shy about asking...

This review is it a bit late, but I think it's important. I did a lot of research - reading a lot of reviews - before picking a tailor and drove a bit far to get here for alterations. I paid around $90 to get cups added and get the hem of my dress shortened. I asked for the hem to shorter than it's supposed to because I didn't want to trip. The tailor didn't want the dress to look bad, so even though I told her I would rather the dress be 'too short' than a tripping hazard, the dress still ended up being rather long. Before the wedding day one of the cups came undone, so I drove it back to get it re-sown. You would think that if one came undone they were reinforce the other too - but no, that one came undone DURING the wedding reception. I also almost fully tripped two or three times and had to catch myself from falling. I should have asked for a refund, but I was so embarrassed about everything I wanted to forget it all. It's important to find people who listen to what you actually want, especially if there is a risk of tripping or having a wardrobe malfunction in front of a lot of people. I hate leaving negative reviews but I also don't like feeling ripped off, especially for such...

I want to give a huge shout out to Marina, who helped tailor my etsy-bought dress to perfection. I ordered the dress a little over a month left to my wedding, if that tells you anything about how last minute everything was. I needed to get the shoulder/strap area shortened for my shorter torso, and subsequently get extra fabric taken care of at the bust. Marina was efficient and had extremely short turnaround time, even doing the bust area in two days (I came in for a second fitting on Friday, and the dress was ready by Monday - labor day holiday at that!). The cherry on top was that everything was very fairly priced especially given how expedited the work was. I cannot thank Le Caprice and Marina enough for a perfect fitting dress. I am now so excited to wear it on my wedding day, and would encourage all brides to frequent this...