My Experience with KTR Collection + An Elegant Summer Brunch

This summer I turned 30 years old! It’s still unbelievable when I say it because when I was younger I always thought 30 was soooo old, but look at me now 🙂 Some people say, “we’re getting old”, but I say you’re as old as you feel. This year it seems like my friends and I have been celebrating someone’s birthday every month because majority of us turned 30 this year. For my birthday I initially wanted a throwback 80s/90s party, but due to time and money I wouldn’t have been able to pull it off the way I wanted so I decided to go for a fancy and elegant celebration and decided on a brunch because it was different from the parties we were having.

The Location

I wanted to find the perfect location to host my elegant summer brunch birthday celebration and found Cotton Row Restaurant in Downtown Huntsville. I had never been to Cotton Row, but heard great things about their food, the dining experience and their private dining. From the moment I walked into the restaurant to check it out, I knew that space was just for me and my elegant summer brunch! The upstairs loft was so perfect! It is so rustic and chic, it overlooks the downtown area, it was warm and cozy, just perfect!

The Dress

In addition to the perfect location, I needed a perfect dress. I knew I wanted something floral and flared and thought long and hard about where I could find a dress that matched my vision. That’s when I thought about KTR! She’s short like me, I absolutely love her style, the flared and skater dresses look so cute on her AND she designs and makes many of her outfits herself. I remembered a recent blog post she did about a floral flared midi dress she made and went searching for it on her website KTR Collection. That’s when I found it! My birthday dress!!!

Based on my experience in the past with ordering from Asian designers or brands, I’ve always had to order a size bigger than my normal size in order for it to properly fit. I assumed that would be the case with ordering from KTR, but not so much. I’m a size medium for the most part, but ordered a size large thinking it would fit just fine. Well her sizing and measurements on her site are true to size. When I got the dress it was too big for me and did not fit well at all. I ordered the dress about two weeks before my party to give me enough time to send back if needed and it was needed smh. I ordered the dress on a Friday, received it on a Monday (fast shipping) and sent it back (2-day shipping) for it to arrive on a Thursday. I checked the tracking and it arrived that Thursday. I didn’t hear anything back from the KTR team on Friday or Monday so I decided to reach out that Monday (the Monday before my party which was just a few days away). I was told by her team that they would check the PO box to see if it was there and then send out the new size, size medium, on Tuesday. Well two days had passed and on Thursday was when I finally got a tracking notification. I checked it thinking it would be delivered that day. Well, the tracking showed that the dress wouldn’t be delivered until Monday, the day after my party. I remained calm and tried not to panic. I emailed the KTR team to follow up regarding the tracking, told them I needed the dress by Sunday for my party and inquire about the actual day it was shipped. I was told that although the package was dropped off on Tuesday, it wasn’t processed until the next day and the tracking info wasn’t updated until Thursday. They were very apologetic and suggested that I order another dress and they would overnight it, but considering the price tag of the dress and how our account was set up at the time, that wasn’t going to work. I was very nice and thanked them, but declined that suggestion. I decided I would just take the “L” and wear the backup floral dress I had – come through back up dress!

On Saturday, the day before my party, I was already prepared to wear my backup dress and had accepted that my super cute floral dress wouldn’t arrive in time and I would just have to find another time to wear it. Well, to my surprise my dress came! It came!!! The tracking info was either incorrect or God interceded on my behalf and got that dress to me on time. I’m going with the latter 🙂 Needless to say I was so excited and I emailed the KTR team letting them know I got the dress and thanking them for their customer service. I’m just thankful that my attitude towards it not arriving on time was positive and God honored that by sending me that dress on time! Won’t He do it!

Lace Me Up Full Dress in Floral

Price: $108

Size: Medium (fits true to size)

I absolutely LOVED this dress and it fit me so well. It was so classy and elegant and perfect from my elegant summer brunch. I paired it with my nude studded BCBG strappy pumps, did an updo with my locs and wore simple yet classic pearl studs.

Overall, I had a pretty good experience with KTR Collection. I think because I was crunched for time, my experience could have been better but I really didn’t put that on them because I should have verbalized how quickly I needed the dress exchanged. If I didn’t need it in such a timely fashion, then it would have been completely fine. I paid for the return shipping, but the shipping back to me was free, so that was good! The material and quality of the dress is impeccable. I can see why she charges what she does because she hand makes these items and they aren’t sloppy work at all. I would definitely order from KTR Collection again.

The Celebration

Brunch in the Loft at Cotton Row was a three-course meal. I was able to select the items for the menu and I had my menu customized by the CR staff. I even had a special mocktail drink called the “Mellow Rello”. We had our own waitstaff, personal restrooms and private entrance. It was true elegance.

I had the sea salted french fries for my appetizer and granola crusted french toast for my entree. We were served the most delicious, mouth-watering buttery, non vegan biscuits I’ve ever tasted. They were so good and I was so glad to indulge 🙂

Take a look at some pics from my brunch…

Dress: KTR Collection

Shoes: BCBG

Hair + Accessories: Me

I had a great birthday and I’m so thankful for my sisters who came in town and my friends who came out to celebrate with me. Year 30 is going to be awesome and I can’t wait to see what God has in store!

“If we don’t change, we don’t grow. If we don’t grow, we aren’t really living.”

Until next time…