Terms & conditions
We have tried to write these the way we would explain them to you in person: clearly, so nothing catches you out. If anything here is unclear, please just ask before you book.
1. Booking and payment
Paying for your hire
Your dates are held once the hire fee is paid in full. Until then, the dress stays available to everyone else, so we recommend booking as soon as you know your date.
Card on file, instead of a bond
For standard bookings we do not ask for a cash bond up front. Instead, when you book you authorise us to hold your card details securely on file. We will only ever charge that card if a dress comes back late, badly stained, damaged or not at all — and if that happens, we will talk to you first.
Cash and bank transfer
If you are picking up locally and paying by cash or bank transfer, we ask for a refundable bond of $50 per dress instead. It goes back to you within 48 hours of us checking the dress.
If your plans change
- Seven or more days before your event: we issue a full store credit, valid for six months.
- Within seven days, or once the dress has left with you: bookings can no longer be refunded or credited. That includes a change of mind or a fit that isn’t right, which is exactly why we encourage a try-on or a measurements chat first.
2. Try-on appointments
Try-ons are private and by appointment, and cost $20 per session. That $20 comes straight off your hire if you book a dress within seven days of your appointment. Otherwise the fee is not refundable, as the time is held just for you.
Coming prepared
So the dresses stay beautiful for the next person, please arrive without fake tan, heavy makeup, perfume, or jewellery that could snag. If a garment is stained or damaged during a try-on, the cleaning or repair is charged at cost.
3. Shipping across New Zealand
We ship to street addresses anywhere in New Zealand using NZ Post Express Courier. Orders are dispatched early, aiming to reach you one to two working days before your event.
Rural delivery
Rural addresses need an extra two to three business days. Please select Rural Delivery at checkout and book at least five days ahead. If a rural address isn’t flagged at checkout, we are not able to take responsibility for the delay that follows.
If the courier runs late
We dispatch every postal order on time, but once a parcel is scanned into the NZ Post network it is in their hands rather than ours. If an unexpected courier delay means your dress does not arrive in time, return it unworn in its prepaid satchel on the next business day. Once it is back with us unworn, we issue a store credit, less postage. We are not able to offer cash refunds for third-party courier delays.
4. Your hire period and returns
A standard hire is four days — for example, pick up on Friday and return by 12:00pm on Monday.
Local pickups and returns
Collect and drop off at our Waverley address by the time we have agreed.
Postal returns
Every posted hire includes a prepaid NZ Post satchel. Please hand the parcel over the counter at an NZ Post branch by 3:00pm on the next working day after your event.
Please don’t use a street post box. Parcels dropped in one skip the tracking scan, which slows the return down and leaves it without cover if anything goes missing.
Late returns
A late return holds up the next person waiting for that dress, so overdue returns are charged at $25 per day. If a late return means we have to cancel someone else’s booking, the value of that lost hire is also charged.
5. Cleaning and care
Please leave the cleaning to us
Do not wash, dry-clean, spot-clean, iron, alter or repair the dress. Please return it unwashed — we will take care of the cleaning. Professional dry cleaning is already included in your hire fee, and our cleaners know these fabrics.
Tell us early
Please let us know immediately if the dress is stained or damaged. A message on the night is far better than a surprise on return: most things can be treated easily if we know about them quickly.
Stains
Normal light wear is completely expected and covered. Severe staining that needs specialist treatment — fake tan transfer, red wine, heavy oil — is charged to the card on file or taken from your cash bond.
6. Damage, loss and replacement
Small repairs
Things like a broken zip or a split seam happen. Tailoring is charged at what it actually costs us, nothing more.
If a dress can’t be saved
If a dress is lost, stolen, altered, or damaged beyond repair, the full retail replacement value is charged. That covers replacing the piece and the bookings it can no longer fulfil.
We would much rather never be here. If something has gone wrong, talk to us early and we will work through it with you. Accounts left unpaid and unanswered are eventually passed to a debt collection agency, but that is genuinely a last resort.
7. Getting in touch
Questions about any of this are always welcome, before or during your hire.
- Text or call: +64 21 072 7071
- Email: Silkandblossomnz@gmail.com
- Visit by appointment: 3 Gala Street, Waverley, Dunedin 9013