The Briar Patch - Children's Special Event Blog

Flower girl dresses in prints or solids

2011-12-16T16:04:17Z

When it comes to planning a wedding, the bride’s preference is the most important factor. What bothers one bride is another’s dream and what some brides find lovely, others don’t approve. Each bride has her own taste and style preference, including when it comes to choosing from the many options available in flower girl dresses.

Length and type of fabric aren’t the only things to consider when choosing a flower girl dress. Many flower girl dresses are made of solid colors, but there are also several lovely print options, as well. When choosing between prints or solids for a flower girl dress, the bride’s preference and the setting of the wedding should both be factors in the decision-making process.

Traditionally, prints haven’t been considered as formal as solid colors for bridesmaid and flower girl dresses. With trends constantly changing, however, and more brides having their weddings fit their personality and style preference, tradition doesn’t always factor in when choosing dresses.

Flower girl dresses in printed material generally work well in more relaxed wedding settings. This especially holds true with dresses made in a more relaxed fabric, such as linen or cotton. A beach wedding, for example, is a perfect venue for a printed flower girl dress, or even printed bridesmaid dresses. Garden party-type weddings are also a good venue for dresses in this style.

If bridesmaids are wearing a printed material, a printed flower girl dress in the same pattern or in colors and patterns that don’t clash would certainly work well. In this case, however, if a flower girl dress can’t be found that complements the printed bridesmaid dresses, a solid flowergirl dress that complements the bride’s dress may be the best option.

A printed flower girl dress will also work in this more relaxed wedding venue even if the bridesmaids are wearing solid dresses. In this case, the flower girl dress should be printed with colors that match or complement the bridesmaids and the wedding accent colors, and is in a pattern that doesn’t clash.

Sometimes the bride chooses printed materials for her bridesmaids and/or flower girl even in a formal venue. There are some beautiful printed flower girl dresses in more formal styles. The type of fabric and length of dress may be given more consideration in this case, but as long as the colors and patterns go well together and complement the bride and wedding accent colors, anything goes.

Ultimately, all decisions come down to the bride’s choice and what will make her happy.

Who pays for that flower girl dress?

2011-12-05T21:58:57Z

In the excitement of wedding planning and asking attendants to be part of the special day, little – but important – details can sometimes be left out. Who pays for the flower girl dress and ring bearer suit may be one of those little details.

In today’s weddings, many times the parents or guardians of these young attendants pay for the flower girl dress and ring bearer suits or tuxedos, just as bridesmaids, groomsmen and other attendants are usually expected to pay for their wedding attire. Often parents are honored when their child is asked to be part of the wedding and they are willing to pay for the dress or suit. The bride typically either chooses the flower girl dress or instructs the parents on what she’d like to see her flower girl wearing – specifying color and style.

Expense should always be considered when the bride is choosing a flower girl dress, especially if the parents are expected to pay for it. Considering a dress that can be worn for another event is also thoughtful in this case. Giving parents the option of choosing the dress in a specific style or color lets them have freedom in shopping around for the best price to match the style.

Sometimes the bride prefers to purchase the flower girl dress and ring bearer suit herself. In this case, the bride often considers the dress her “thank you” gift to the flower girl and her parents. This is especially useful if the bride has her heart set on a flower girl dress that is on the expensive side and she is hesitant to ask the parents to pay that much.

In order to prevent misunderstandings, it’s important for the bride to discuss who will pay for the flower girl dress or ring bearer suit at the time she asks the parents about their child’s participation. An open discussion on projected costs, or what can be afforded, may also be useful at this time if the bride plans on choosing the dress herself.

If the bride wishes parents to choose the flower girl dress, color and style may be discussed now or at a later time, but deciding a date to have the dress chosen by is a good idea. This will give the parents ample time to show the bride what they have chosen before making a purchase, and will allow time for changes if necessary.

In today’s world of online shopping across land and sea, there is no end to finding flower girl dresses – and suits for boys – to match the style and color you need as well as keeping within the budget you have. If you prefer to shop in person, “window” shop around online first to get an idea of what’s available so you’ll know whether you’re getting a good buy at the stores you visit.

Ideas to calm an anxious flower girl

2011-11-28T18:06:13Z

Some little girls eat up the attention they’ll get as a flower girl in a wedding – and may even entertain the guests for a moment – while others may become very nervous as they realize the task before them, and might even try to back out of walking down that aisle. Others are complacent and walk down just fine in their pretty flower girl dress, scattering petals from their basket or carrying flowers and smiling.

All of these situations are normal in any given wedding, and while we encourage you to look at both the entertaining and the anxious flower girls with fondness and even humor – it is, after all, not the end of the world and adding another memory to your special day – there are some things you can try to ease those nerves and inspire confidence in the anxious one who would rather cling to a leg than start walking.

To get an idea of how your flower girl may react to her role, discuss it honestly with her parents or guardians well in advance of the wedding and ask if they have ideas for easing her nerves.

One thing you’ll need to decide before your wedding is whether your flower girl will stand with the rest of the attendants during the entire ceremony, or if she’ll walk down the aisle and then sit with her parents or guardians. If your flower girl is anxious, choosing the latter should help ease her fears a little knowing that she will only have to walk to her parents and sit with them. It will also ensure that guests will pay attention to your ceremony rather than the precious – and perhaps precocious and entertaining – little attendant in an adorable flower girl dress.

If she’ll be sitting after walking down the aisle, find out if she has a favorite doll that goes places with her. If so, she may enjoy having her doll wear a dress similar to her flower girl dress and knowing that her doll is waiting for her to sit down. (Fancy doll dresses like this can be found online or in stores of specialty doll shops, ebay and even the AmericanGirl doll store.) The parents may even want to tell her that the doll will be walking down the aisle first, and will be waiting for her so they can sit together in their dresses and watch the wedding.

Along this same line, offering her a special treat after her performance is over may sweeten the deal. This will depend on her age and whether she understands that she won't get the gift until after she walks the aisle, but showing her a little gift she can get excited about, wrapped or not, or even a box of raisins or something sweet to eat (that won't stain her flower girl dress) might give her extra incentive to walk.

A flower girl who is very happy about her pretty flower girl dress will be more likely to want to show her dress off, so consider letting her take part in choosing the dress or flower girl accessories. Tell her how excited everyone is to see her pretty flower girl dress.

Practicing her walk down the aisle over a period of time and preparing her for what it will be like may also help. Parents or guardians should begin by walking down the “aisle” with her at home, or even in other locations, then start encouraging her to walk it herself while others pretend to be guests. She can even wear her flower girl dress a few times during these practice sessions. The rehearsal will also be a good place to practice, and you may consider letting her practice a few times down the aisle before many of the attendants arrive.

The parents or guardians will know best how their flower girl will react to seeing the bride and her attendants prepping themselves for the wedding, but if they think it might ease her fears to take a little part in prepping with them, consider letting the flower girl participate. Having her hair fixed, and possibly makeup or a little lip gloss depending on her age, along with the bride and other attendants may help her feel how important her role is in the wedding. If she is allowed to wear a little makeup, make sure not to apply it until after her flower girl dress is on. Also be sure to have her wear a button-down shirt while she has her hair fixed.

If all else fails, having your flower girl walk down the aisle with someone else is one of the best ways to ease her anxiety. If you will have a ring bearer, they can walk together. If not, consider letting her walk down the aisle with the maid or matron of honor – especially if this is a relative or someone she knows well. It’s also not inappropriate for the mother or guardian to walk with her if necessary and she doesn’t know other attendants. If she has someone to walk with or even hold hands with, she may still be shy as she walks down, but she will most likely at least make the walk and show off her pretty flower girl dress.

Popular Winter 2011 and Spring 2012 accent and flower girl dress colors for your wedding

2011-11-18T16:48:59Z

Styles for nearly every clothing item and accessory seem to change from year to year, season to season, and colors for wedding accents and flower girl dresses are no exception.

You can always do what you want and pick your colors based purely on what you enjoy surrounding yourself with based on the season. If, however, you are needing some inspiration, there are people out there who follow color trends and can provide you with ideas.

Some of the most popular colors for this Winter 2011, according to WeddingColors.net, are saturated shades that lend an antique feel to them. Some of these colors include dark crimson, olive green, chocolate brown, marigold, plum, fuchsia, burnt orange and navy. Combining two or more of these colors to complement each other in a palette that is pleasing to your eye is a great way to take care of all of your wedding accents.

Choosing a flower girl dress in one of your colors and adding a sash, flowers and/or headpiece in a coordinating color is a great way to dress your flower girl. Her dress doesn’t have to be the same color as the bridesmaids’ dresses, as long as it complements the rest of your wedding accents. You can also choose a white or ivory dress and coordinate it with accessories the same as you would if you chose a colorful flower girl dress as described above.

Spring 2012 is right around the corner, and Pantone has the colors picked according to top designers and those influential in the fashion world. If you are having a spring wedding and like to stay on top of the trend scene, here are the colors for you: Tangerine Tango (a vibrant orange), Solar Power (a sunny yellow), Bellflower (“ornamental purple”), Cabaret (a rosy red), Sodalite Blue (think deep blue sea), Cockatoo (blue-green), Margarita (yellow-green), Sweet Lilac (soft pink lilac), Driftwood (dark beige and gray) and Starfish (neutral soft brownish color).

Many of these colors are great for flower girl dresses and accessories. Don’t forget her shoes! If you’re having a spring wedding in a warmer month, sandals in a coordinating color, or a pair of ballet-style shoes worn with bare feet, are great shoes to pair with flower girl dresses.

If you’re still undecided on your colors and need inspiration that doesn’t necessarily follow a trend, Better Homes and Gardens offers a color guide with colors that not only look great in several seasons, but are timeless as well. Martha Stewart also offers several suggestions for color combinations that will work throughout the year.

No matter what colors you choose, finding a flower girl dress and accessories to match should be one of the simpler tasks in your wedding planning. You can even delegate the task to the child’s parents or guardians, giving them the colors and style choices you prefer. Have fun!

Finding the perfect gift for your littlest wedding attendants

2011-11-08T16:48:16Z

Your wedding day is approaching and the dresses – even the flower girl dress or dresses – have been chosen, fitted and are patiently hanging in closets waiting to be worn on your big day. Have you remembered the gifts for your attendants, even the littlest ones?

Most little girls love to accessorize their clothing, so why not choose something that matches her flower girl dress? Necklaces, bracelets and earrings (if her ears are pierced – be sure to check if you don’t know!) to match the dress are great accessories that she can continue to wear with other outfits long after the big day.

If your flower girl is one who loves to play dress up, accessories such as gloves may be a fun and different gift that she will cherish each time she digs into her dress up trunk when she’s feeling playful. Along that line, if your wedding will be during one of the cooler months, a shrug, sweater or wrap to match her dress will provide your flower girl with a little warmth as well as something to play dress up in.

Are your little attendants going to stand with the wedding party during the entire service, or will they be joining their parents to sit after walking up the aisle? This may also help determine what an appropriate gift will be. If they will be sitting and are on the younger side, perhaps a pretty activity bag that matches their flower girl dresses would be fun for them and would help prevent restlessness.

If your flower girl will be carrying a basket of petals, try placing a surprise under the petals that she can play with as she sits with her parents, and won’t see until she’s already emptied the basket of petals.

Something that won’t get her flower girl dress dirty would be best, such as the clear markers that will only color on special paper and perhaps a small, quiet snack such as a miniature box of raisins. You’ll want to avoid anything in noisy plastic wrappers. If your attendant is too young to read, a small picture book tucked into the bag might also provide a few minutes of quiet entertainment.

An activity bag can also be made for a ring bearer if he will be sitting with his parents. Although there aren’t too many accessories made to match tuxedos for boys and boys’ suits, a little backpack or satchel with activities could be given to his parents and waiting for him when he sits down.

While a little noise might be made as they move paper, it’s much less distracting for the guests – and you – than a squirming child who might start talking or crying because he or she is trying to sit patiently but have a short attention span due to their age.

If you aren’t sure what your flower girl, or ring bearer, might like, don’t hesitate to ask parents for ideas. You want your youngest attendants to feel as special as they truly are on your big day.

Why Shop With a Small Online Business?

2011-10-14T14:00:22Z

When you are looking for the perfect Easter suit for your little boy, a flowery christening dress for your infant, or a party dress for your next event, there is nothing more American that cultivating a relationship with the owners of your favorite store. Unfortunately, this is a more and more uncommon experience in our modern busy society. However, with the advent of the Internet and online shopping, you can enjoy all the same advantages of a less hectic time by shopping regularly at a small online business.

When you shop small and online you will experience several advantages over those who shop at large department stores or who order from companies who mass produce flower girls' dresses and christening suits. Customer service is personable and far more accessible when you are working with a small online business. Your money returns immediately to the local economy, and this is something that is desperately needed during this time of great recession. Eighty percent of the US economy is spurred on and kept going by small business. So, not only are you developing a relationship with your store, you are developing a relationship with the community in which it does business. When you think small, you are receiving the kind of attention and customizable experience every consumer dreams of when they spend their money on those items that can truly enhance their lives.

So when contemplating your flower girl's dress or your little one's First Holy Communion suit, consider the Briar Patch and the advantage you will have over stores that emphasize "big" production, but fail on creating the best product.

Overnight Expectations & Immediate Disappointments

2011-10-12T23:58:02Z

We know it is a fast and competitive retail climate online, but we have chosen to keep our distance from the madness. It is understood our method of doing business is not convenient to everyone's lifestyle and we respect this in all sincerity.

The Briar Patch has become an online presence in a somewhat backward manner from most other online retailers, and certainly from all of our competitors selling dresses for girls online (and suits for boys!). Our business is first a true storefront retailer of special ocassion clothing. As such, we operate by procedures tried and true for almost all serious vendors of flower girl dresses and wedding attire. Our competitors decided first to sell online and none have an established storefront business from which their operations evolved. Several competitors chose to sell online and then secured wharehouse space close to the sewing houses of designers, their plan being to ship very quickly by restocking very quickly. It is a smart plan, but not an option available to The Briar Patch. Our building already existed in Texas and our founders wished to keep a storefront presence in our community.

Therefore, our processing and shipping times are longer than other online retailers. The Briar Patch tries to add convenience in ways other than rushed processing and shipping; we do offer FREE Priority Mail shipping which generally takes 2 to 3 days less transit time between states than UPS Ground. We also offer free shipping on most dresses for girls and suits for boys. Flower girl dresses and boys' suits can be returned for exchange, absolutely free. We will pay the shipping back to us for any dress or suit requiring exchange, we also pay the shipping back to you. There are no restock fees and a very liberal time allowance for returns and exchanges (30 days , changed from 14 days in 2011). Our prices are also as low as business sense can allow.

We ask our customers to allow us 10 to 14 working days for processing, shipping, and delivery of an order. This is especially true for orders of mulitples in the same color and style flower girl dresses or ring bearer suits. Dye lots, material lots, and even accent lots can vary greatly between production runs. For this reason we order, by person and especially for our customers, their multiple orders for any style flower girl dress or ring bearer suit. This takes more time as we must receive your order here from the designer, then inspect, steam, and pack it for shipment.

The Briar Patch also chooses to maintain as fresh an inventory as possible, we do not overstock our styles, but depend on planned weekly restock shipments so that dye, material, and accent lots are fresh and current. We stock shallow, but restock often. This inventory cycle can also cause a longer processing time than a stockpiled wharehouse operation can provide.

So, please, we ask you to consider our business process for flower girl dress orders and compare it with our competitors. If time is of the essence and you have little care for cautious and proper handling of an order, we may not be the correct retailer to meet your needs. If you have planned your event carefully and time allows you to place a pleasantly early order, we are confident our stellar customer service and unmatched selection of dresses for girls and suits for boys will be well suited (or dressed) for your special event needs.

Dress pictured above is Pale Pastel with Lace Fancy Dress for girls.

Why is There a Time Limit to Return Girls' Dresses & Boys' Suits?

2010-04-24T01:01:00Z

This policy causes real heartache every now and then.  Enforcement makes our own associates upset at times, so we know it can make a customer upset, too. Which makes us even more upset...

How miserable. WHY is there, then, a time limit to return girls dresses and boys suits to The Briar Patch? Why is this policy so important that our friendly and obliging associates must flat out tell a customer, "No, you cannot have a refund, this flower girl dress was out of our care more than 30 days. We can ship it back at your expense, we can donate the item to charity, but we cannot sell it again as new."?   Wow, that is harsh.

There are real and serious reasons why we have a time limit to return dresses. We would like to start by stating, clearly, that we do not implement time restraints to limit the freedom of choice of our customers. This policy was never intended to make a hassle out of returning or exchanging any girls dress or boys suit purchased from The Briar Patch. The 30 day return/exchange limit became policy at The Briar Patch for reasons of quality control, business operation, and customer care. Really and truly.

When The Briar Patch first opened, we surveyed several families. One question we asked was "How long can a garment be removed from a retail shop, and be in a stranger's home, before it is considered "used" or "no longer new"? Most answers were about 48 hours. Very few felt a garment is new being left with a stranger for one week. Insurance companies feel about two weeks is the maximum time a garment should be away from retail care and still remain sellable as new upon return. As a children's business, we are required to maintain insurance for the safety of our investors, our employees, our business, and our customers. A business today cannot exist without insurance. Certainly not a children's retailer.   Statistics show that items out of our care more than two weeks are significantly more likely to suffer from sabotage, allergen contanimation (pet dander, dust, mold, cleaning fumes, etc.), and sun-fade or odor penetration. So, the two week time limit came to be to keep our inventory of high quality and to greatly reduce chances of harm coming to our customers who may receive a once returned girls dress or boys suit.

In terms of qualilty control, limits on returns must be implemented for several reasons. Special ocassion clothing, especially dresses, are often very complicated. Each flower girl dress has a dye lot, material lot, and accent lot. At The Briar Patch, we work to maintain our current inventory in the most recent lots available. So, flower girl dresses returning to us months after purchase, will likely not match anything in current stock of girls dresses.   Styles are also discontinued throughout the seasons, so a dress returned late may actually be a discontinued special occasion dress or boys suit not even sold at The Briar Patch presently.

Another time constraint on returns is related to wear date. The Briar Patch cannot accept back into stock any item that is returned after the stated event date. This is for the very obvious reason of ensuring our returned merchandise is, indeed, new and not worn. There are horror stories enough in the formal wear industry concerning the return of worn party dresses, flower girl dresses, and even bridal gowns. This measure of quality control is easily understood and seldom causes disputes.

Given these limits, then, how does one avoid conflict with the 30-day time limit? It is really so very easy. Please make sure you note the date on which you RECEIVE your flower girl dresses or boys suits from The Briar Patch. You now have 30 days, the first day being the day your package is delivered, to try on, examine, show to a seamstress your special ocassion dresses. Be sure to postmark any necessary return or exchange by the 30th day (yes, it can even be ON the 30th day). Returns will not be refunded if a package is postmarked beyond 30 days from receipt by the customer.

Concerning your event date or wear date, please do not enter a false date that is more immediate. This has happened before. We always ship as swiftly as possible, and it is easy to forget the false event date you put on your order. That is until you get an email explaining we have a problem with your return or exchange since your event has already passed. We have had customers send back flower girl dresses after their stated event date. When told of the tardiness in relation to this most important date, we are told "it was not a real date, we just wanted to speed up delivery."   But what happens is the date was made too soon for an adequate return and refunds cannot be granted to ensure quality control.

We hope this helps everyone understand the importance of time limits concerning returns and exchanges of girls dresses and boys suits from The Briar Patch. More importantly, we do hope it explains the positive reasons for having such policies in place, and that they are not arbitrary means by which we attempt to "keep" our customers hard earned cash. These policies are enforced for truly noble purposes as we attempt to keep our inventory in the best quality condition possible and our customers (who are, ultimately, children) safe and healthy.

Thank you for reading!

How the Heck Do I Measure for a Flower Girl Dress?

2010-04-23T20:57:00Z

We receive so many emails and phone calls concerning how to know the best size girls dress is purchased for a flower girl dress or special occasion dress. The answer is never a simple one. While we have a system here we use with our own dresses for girls, other professionals may measure children or garments differently.

Our approach is to keep it as simple as possible. Nowadays, not all moms and dads are familiar with measuring a wiggly child for a girls fancy dress. Families simply do not sew or alter clothing as we did in past generations.

First of all, almost all of the dresses at The Briar Patch should have a link to a measurement chart. Some new styles may be missing this link as we wait for programming to catch up with our over-eager marketing department. Marketing loves to post new flower girl dresses and fancy dresses as fast as our buyers can approve them for the dress collection. It is a compulsion.

Here is an example:
Tiffany Blue Scrollwork Dress

If you click this link, after the item description, you will see a bright purple link reading "measurements"...click that link and you will go here:

Measurements

This is the measurement chart for either this dress in particular or all dresses made of a similar pattern cut from the same designer. The measurements given are of the flower girl dress and not of the child meant to wear the dress.   This is important to understand, as the child must fit INTO the special occasion dress. So, in the chest and waist, we suggest that the same measurements of your little girl be at least 1.5 to 2 inches smaller than the chest and waist measurements of the fancy dress given on the measurement chart.

Measure the chest directly under the arms and across the nipples (sorry to be so personal!).

Measure waist across the belly button or immediately below, all the way around. Do not pull tight to pucker flesh.

In toddler children, the waist may be larger than the chest.

Now, find the size on the chart that best corresponds to your girl's current dress size. We suggest starting at your child's current casual clothing size or dress size.

Dress sizes can come in an even size pattern scale or an extended size pattern scale. At  The Briar Patch we have several special occasion dresses in both pattern scales. An even size pattern scale is one that uses only even numbers: 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, through 16. An extended pattern scale with have 2T, 3T, 4T, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 12, 14 through 16 (we have seen some variations such as 5T and 6X). On an even size pattern scale, consider each even number size to include the odd size immediately prior, so a size 6 is actually a size 5-6. This can sometimes cause confusion.

Once you find the right size, check chest and waist measurements. Then, check the length. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT. Very seldom can you add length to a dress without the dress appearing altered. We measure dress length from shoulder top to the hemline of the dress. To compare the length to your girl's own measurement, hold the tape measure at the center top of one shoulder and let it drop, find the number on the tape measure that corresponds to the measurement chart length for the size you are investigating. Now, if this is a fluffy dress, pull that tape measure out about 20 to 30 degrees. The slope of the skirt as it flares from the body requires some of this length.   After all this, check where that tape measure is in comparison to her leg and the length of the dress.   A tea length dress should be mid calf (anywhere from one-half to three-quarters the distance from the bottom of the knee cap to the top of the ankle bone). An ankle length dress should be right at the ankle. Be sure you buy the size that accommodates her height, even if it means taking the dress in an inch or two in chest or waist.

Also, consider that many styles come with sashes, and often this can cinch in a flower girl dress prettily enough not to require professional alterations.

WHAT is a "Restock Fee"?

2010-04-23T19:37:00Z

When we first opened for business, it was as a brick and mortar storefront selling flower girl dresses, fancy dresses, handsome suits for boys, toys, gifts, and even books. This was nearly 10 years ago. After our first year of successful business, our founder decided an online catalog could be a great asset for our small town store. An online presence would allow us to preview more styles of dresses for girls and suits for boys through visibility to a large, more diverse audience. So, www.shopbriarpatch.com was born.

Being an online business offering special occasion girls dresses and boys suits creates a challenge in terms of shipping, return shipping, exchanges, and even inspection and restoration of returned items. There is a very real and costly expense of maintaining well trained and detail oriented associates to handle all these processes. After operating an online catalog several months, we found that our rates of exchange and return were small in relation to overall internet sales. By crunching numbers and visiting other quality online merchants of special occasion clothing for children, we discovered an option for a "restock fee" on returns.

This appealed to us as one of our major objectives is to provide girls dresses and boys suits of wonderful quality at wonderfully affordable prices. By removing the cost of returns from our pricing calculations, we are able to offer flower girl dresses, party dresses, boys suits and boys tuxedos at very fair prices. Since our rate of return is so low, most of our clients benefit from the restock fee policy. We were also careful to set the restock fee at a very reasonable amount, 10%, so that it was still a better option to spending time and money through a physical hunt for the perfect flower girl dress or boys suit. A 10% restock fee was agreed upon by our managing group as this percentage is less than restock fees we observed at other special occasion retailers. Through surveys and interviews, we found the 10% restock fee was in no way a deterrent to doing business at The Briar Patch given our wonderful selection and reasonable prices.

The 10% restock fee assessed to returned girls dresses, boys suits, and other merchandise purchased through our online catalog helps to offset the cost of employee time required to inspect, steam, primp, and make pretty items returned to us after initial purchase. Just one fairly fluffy dress will take 20 minutes of focused associate time to inspect, steam, and return the girls dress to immediate stock. A second function of the restock fee, and an important one, is to deter misuse of our girls dresses and boys suits by those who will plot to order, actually wear, and then return our merchandise back to The Briar Patch. It is an ugly scheme, but sadly, one we have witnessed several times. How inexpensive our world would be were everyone simply honest!

So, at The Briar Patch, the restock fee has very real and customer oriented origins. It is in no way a part of policy to unfairly retain a customer's money in the event of a return. We implement a restock fee as an ultimately better value for the majority of our customers.

Thank you for reading!

Why Is There No Swatch Program at The Briar Patch?

2009-07-09T00:41:00Z

A very frequent request we receive in customer service is for a swatch of material to match with special event theme colors, such as matching a flower girl dress to the other wedding attendants.

In the beginning, The Briar Patch was strictly a brick and mortal specialty shop. With the addition of the online catalog, many of our policies and procedures were modified to accomodate online retailing and customer service. We did work to create a swatch program at the initial success of the online shop, but the swatch program was not very helpful.

The first concern is from our designers, who worried the unknown demand of an endless online audience may deplete their own precious material resources more than could be afforded. So, we were limited on the amount of fabric available to us. Then, dye lots and material bolts would change between production runs and we began to notice that swatches were not a good representation of the actual color of the dress. There were some unhappy customers who laid their swatch on a newly received dress to show one or the other was a shade lighter (or darker) than expected. No matter the upfront discussions we made on dye and material lots, such disappointment was very difficult to manage.

Very lastly, as a full service storefront shop, we know the importance of proper fit and the attitude of a young person towards a special event garment. For a flower girl, it is extremely important the flower girl dress fits comfortably, fits well, and also makes the young girl happy to wear it. For all these reasons, there is no substitute for actually trying on the garment. Even if the color is the perfect shade of periwinkle, if it makes the flower girl miserable, it is not a good choice as a flower girl dress.

For all these reasons and the inescapable need to try on the dress or suit, we do not offer a swatch program at this time. Please email us anytime at brpatch@sbcglobal.net and we will happily discuss colors with you prior to placing an order should you need additional information on a particular shade of green, blue, pink or any other color of the rainbow.

Does the Flower Girl Dress Have to Match the Bride's Gown?

2009-07-09T00:23:00Z

Very often at The Briar Patch, we are asked to help match a flower girl dress to a bride's own gown. This is an exceptional challenge as the bride's own wedding gown will be manufactured by a very different designer than our flower girl dresses at The Briar Patch. To make things even more challenging, wedding designers often offer their beautiful dresses in many shades of white, such as "diamond white", "antique white", "pearl white", "candlelight" and many other captivating names. A bride will phone in and ask which dresses we carry in "diamond white", the reality is that shade of "diamond white" will be different for every designer, and really, for every dye lot and material bolt used by the design house. It is an impossible task to exactly match the flower girl dress to the bride's own wedding gown unless both garments are custom made and cut at the same time. Such a purchase would be a couture undertaking, and quite out of the affordable price range of our online flower girl dress collection.

The very good news is, the flower girl dress does not need to match the bridal gown exactly. By tradition, since Queen Victoria captured the romance of white in her own gown and that of her young attendants, both the bride and flower girls most often wore white. As the shades of bridal whites have evolved to a complicated spectrum, the flower girl may wear simply white no matter the shade of the bride's dress. As it is very often the desire of the bride to have the flower girl in ivory if her gown is a shade of ivory, attempt to select an ivory that is not darker in shade than the bridal gown, and perhaps even lighter in shade. Since the flower girl is tiny and demure, she will look stunning in photographs as the lightest in dress color.

Welcome to The Briar Patch Blog Site

2009-07-06T17:51:14Z

Welcome to The Briar Patch official blog site. This blog is created to share ideas, answer questions, offer advice and suggestions for the special events in which children participate. Most commonly, subjects will involve flower girls and flower girl dresses. We will also have wonderful tidbits to share concerning ring-bearers, children's special occasion wear in general, birthday party attire, and so much more!

Our first publication of entries will answer questions most frequently asked and expand on advice that is also commonly requested.

If you would like to share a comment or contribute to a subject, please email us a brpatch@sbcglobal.net or join this blog site and post a comment.

Thank You for Visiting!