Bride furious after friend refuses to make her £2,400 wedding dress for free

20 December 2021, 12:27

A seamstress has asked whether she's being unreasonable
A seamstress has asked whether she's being unreasonable. Picture: Alamy
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A woman has asked for advice after her friend asked her to make her wedding dress for free.

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A woman has asked for advice after she fell out with a friend over her wedding plans.

Taking to Reddit, the anonymous user explained that she works as a seamstress and was asked by her friend to create her bridal dress for the big day.

After being sent a design idea by her friend, the woman offered to do the job for £600, which is a quarter of the price she would charge others.

Would you make your friend's dress for free?
Would you make your friend's dress for free? Picture: Alamy

But the bride - who is also pregnant - was furious at this, and said she thinks it should be done for free as a wedding gift.

The woman wrote: “My pregnant friend recently reached out to me and asked me if I could make her wedding dress and sent me pictures of the idea she had in mind, it isn't exactly a simple dress but also not the most complex i've ever done either.

“I told her I could for sure do that for her and it'd cost £600, she was shocked at this and told me she thought i'd do it for free and she'd just pay for materials.

“I pointed out how many hours this would take me to do and all the hand embroidery needed, then I explained I was doing this for a quarter of the price i'd charge other people because she's my friend.”

A woman has asked for advice
A woman has asked for advice. Picture: Alamy

Unfortunately, the bride-to-be then got ‘very upset’, with the post continuing: “She told me I have no idea how much stress she's under with the wedding and the fact she's pregnant and how money is tight and how this should be my wedding gift to her and how great it'd look in my portfolio.”

She finally added: “I don’t think I’m being unreasonable to want some money for this...but other friends are telling me it’s horrible how I’m wanting to charge her for this and it’s not like I’m a high end bridal shop...am I being unreasonable?”

It’s fair to say other Reddit users had a lot to say, with one writing: “Discounts should not be expected, this is how you earn a living and friends shouldn’t take advantage of your skills like that. It was kind of you to offer her a discount in the first place.”

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Someone else fumed: “Friend is not a real friend. A real friend uses and pays for their friend’s professional services to support their friend. And tells everyone who made you your fabulous dress, etc. A real friend does NOT dictate what your “gift” to them is and further, decide you are gifting them an expensive time consuming product for free.”

While a third suggested: “Already charging a discount? Good. Maybe ask her what her budget is? Propose something that's not as expensive to make or take as many hours?

"Part of doing this line of work is knowing how to factor your customer's financial situation and proposing cheaper alternatives.”

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