Q. How long is a telephone consultation?

A.   I allocate 15  minutes for telephone consultation.

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Q. How long is a personal style consultation?

A.  Normally 1 hour is sufficient to cover most of the points we will share.

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Q. Do you charge for consultations?

A.   No, your 1 hour consultations is FREE of charge, if a second or follow up is considered necessary, then a charge of £60 will be required. 

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Q. Are consultations private?

A.   Absolutely. You will have my undivided attention only for yourself.

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Q. I am the Bride.How many people can I bring to the appointment?

A.   Please bring your most trusted advisers to help you. From experience I find too many opinions can get a bit confusing, so maybe just your Mum or Maid of Honour. The decision  is yours.

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Q. What do I need to bring and wear for a consultation/fittings?

A.    My advise is to wear the underwear, shoes and any other accessories you intend to wear with the garment to ensure the correct fit.

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Q. Cancellation or rescheduling of consultation/fittings?

A.   Please give 48 hours notice for cancellation or rescheduling of your consultation/fitting. Should you need to cancel a fitting appointment you must inform me as soon as possible. A new fitting will be        arranged, but any delay in the completion of the order due to a cancelled/postponed appointment by you is not the fault of Couture Tailoring of Downton and Downton Brides Couture Bridalwear,            though every effort will be made to complete the order by the agreed deadline. You can cancel the order, free of charge, at any time during the consultation process. Once the order is confirmed and        the deposit paid, the order can be cancelled before construction has started, but will incur an administration fee for the time lost and any toile materials already purchased. You have no rights to a full          refund if you simply change your mind as per 'Sale of Goods Act 1979'. If the customer decides to cancel the project at the toile fitting the cost of materials and labour for this will be deducted from          the deposit paid. If the customer wishes to cancel the project after the toile fitting she or he will incur the charge for the full cost of the project. 

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Q. What if I can't attend the fittings?

A.   If you are struggling to attend fittings I can travel to you by arrangement. The additional cost of £60 per hour for travel and time will be added to the final invoice.

       Should the client be unable to attend fittings, measurements must be agreed in writing and I will make the garments to the measurements provided.

       Couture Tailoring of Downton and Downton Brides Couture Bridalwear, takes no responsibility if the garments do not fit when based on the measurements provided by the clients.

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Q. How long do wedding dresses take to make?

A.   I usually ask for 5-6 months notice on dress order and especially if the wedding is between May and August.

       This is to guarantee I can fit it into my work schedule and get all materials on time.

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Q. Why do wedding dresses and garments take so long?

A.   The process of making a garment starts with design, sourcing the fabrics and trimmings, pattern making, making a toile which involves about 4 fittings and finally cutting the real fabric.

       Some garments like wedding gowns are hand finished. Hand finishing is very much part of the couture look, for example, a house couture finish will result in all layers being finished by hand, not

       machine. Expert hand finishing takes longer and looks very different to a machine finish.

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Q. What if my weight changes?

A.   I will never encourage anyone to lose weight to get into a dress or outfit, but if you were planning on losing weight then I can take your order and leave taking your measurements until nearer the time

       3-4 months before the wedding or event you are going to. No responsibility is taken for garments that do not fit correctly if you have gained or lost weight between the final fitting and collection, or

       any other reason beyond Couture Tailoring of Downton and Downton Brides Couture Bridalwear control.

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Q. Can I change the design?

A.   You can make major alterations to the design up to, and including, the toile fitting. Once I have started working with the final fabric I cannot alter the main design without the customer incurring

       additional costs for extra fabric and time. At each fitting you will sign agreement to any choices or changes made to the design, fabrics and trimmings. Upon collection you will try on the garment

       to ensure it fits correctly. Any requests for minor alterations must be made known as soon as possible, as once the garment and final payment have been exchanged, any further work will come at an

       additional cost and be completed only when and if possible.

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Q. Can I change the fabric?

A.  The cost of materials is approximate and is dependent on the choices made by you and the availability of materials. The choice of materials will be made at the toile fitting and agreed in writing.

      Every effort will be made to source and obtain the fabrics and trims required by you. Should the exact fabric required be unavailable a suitable alternative will be sourced, on the agreement of the

      client. When the materials are bought should you wish to change it the additional cost of the new materials will be added to the final invoice. Changes cannot be made once the fabric has been cut.

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Q. Budget?

A.  If your budget is slender but your ideas are extravagant or ambitious there are various ways of paring down the cost - from simplifying a design on finding cheaper fabric options to improving an  

      inexpensive ready - made rather than starting from scratch. Be clear about what you can spend and I can see of there is something I can work out for you.

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Q. How do I pay?

A.   Itemised quotation will be presented to you once the design and all details are finalised for your garment. For made to measure garments I require 50% non refundable deposit of your estimate in  

       order to begin patterning, payable after your personal consultation, another 25% before cutting the real fabric after the toile is finalised and the final 25% is due prior collecting  your completed     

       garment. For alterations services, full payment is payable on completion of service. I accept cash, cheque or bank transfer.

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Q. Can I get a refund?

A.   As all the items I make are bespoke and so cannot be resold no refunds are available on partially made or completed items.

       Refunds are not possible as final materials will have been purchased, time allocated to the project and construction started. 

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Q.  What is the lead time?

A.   Lead time starts from the date of receiving and clearing  50% deposit, normally 4-6 weeks.

       Acceptance of urgent work is at the discretion of Couture Tailoring of Downton and Downton Brides Couture Bridalwear, and will attract a premium charge of 25%.

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Q. Can I complaint?

 A.  If you are unhappy at any point, you are advised to contact me in writing to outline your grievances as soon as possible.

       I will endeavour to resolve any problems within the parameters of the terms and conditions.

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Q. Can I take photos?

A.  You are welcome to take photos for personal use during fittings but their use on social media sites must be agreed with me.

      I will ask your permission to use images taken during the construction process and photo of you wearing the garment taken upon collection, or provide a photo at a later date, for Couture Tailoring of         Downton and Downton Brides Couture Bridalwear records and use in the portfolio on the web site couturetailoringofdownton.co.uk. You can request for the images not to be used and published on          the website at any time.

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Q. Dressing Service?

A.  I aim to offer singular garments, designs like no other. With that, may come the challenge of dressing for the occasion. To put your mind at ease, I also offer a dressing service. No matter the event or

      location I can be booked to dress you for the event ensuring that all care is taken to ensure the final look for the garment. Quotation for the service and expenses will be presented before hand. 

 

Q. Can I be featured on your Social media?

A.   Featured content on social media, such as pinned posts, Instagram Highlights, or Facebook Featured sections, increases visibility, showcases key information, and tells my brand's story.

       Please, send your favourite photos to design@couturetailoringofdownton.co.uk or info@downtonbrides.co.uk and tag  @Downtonbrides_couture — I would love to share your moment.

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Q. Do you offer NDAs for VIP clients?
A.   Yes. Let me know when you book and I will arrange everything discreetly.

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Privacy Policy

As customers of Couture Tailoring of Downton and Downton Brides Couture Bridalwear, I may hold some information about you (your name, email address, your postal address and phone number).

This will tell you about how I collect, use and store this information. But if you still have any further questions after reading this, please contact me.

IMPORTANT NOTE: When I talk about “information”, I am only referring to your contact details. I never have access to your financial information when you make payments using bank transfer.

All financial information is held securely by the processing companies, and they never share this with me, or anyone else. I will include links to all the relevant companies I use for sales and website hosting below, should you wish to view their privacy policies individually.

How I collect information?
I do not have a mailing list, therefore I do not retain any of your email or name information following an email enquiry from you.
Whenever you place an order with me, either directly, via social media platforms such as Facebook or Instagram or through my website, you give me sufficient information about you to enable me to follow up the order.
I may ask for more detailed information to fulfil the order or arrange a consultation. This information will never be used for any other purpose, and once you are happy that your order has been completed to a satisfactory standard, I will destroy this information.

The website provider I use, 123Reg, has cookies enabled for this site to make sure your computer (or other device) is recognised when you visit here again. You can find out more about cookies in general here.

Who has access to your information?
As a sole trader, I am the only one who ever has access to your information, and I never pass this on to anyone else.

How I use your information?
If you have sent personal information regarding an order, you can expect to hear from me using the contact information you’ve provided.
In the unlikely event that Couture Tailoring of Downton and Downton Brides Couture Bridalwear business or product offerings change significantly, I will let you know so you can decide if you still want

to receive contact from me.

How I store information?
I keep an electronic copy of all invoices, and orders on a password protected computer, which is kept locked away at my place of business, and is not accessed by anyone else. These records are kept for up to 6 years for accounting purposes, and will then be destroyed securely.

Your rights
You can ask me at any time what information I hold about you, and I will give you full details free of charge. You also have the right to ask that your details be deleted, amended or transferred.

If you ever change your mind about what information, if any, you want me to hold on your behalf, just contact me.

What is GDPR?
If you’re confused about the new privacy legislation, or just want a bit more information, there’s a helpful article you can read on the Which? website.

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