POLL: Wedding Dress Shops

Lindze75 · July 2009

What wedding dress shops have you visited and how would you rate them (poor, fair, good, very good, excellent) on the following:Selection:Service:Price:Overall Experience:

roselyn81 · July 2009

I'll probably be going to Trudy's on Sunday or in a few weeks so I'll let you know. Went to David's Bridal and actually was surprised to find one I liked. Of course it was the most expensive one in the store... I hear Bridal Image in SF is great..going to check them out too. Also, I hear good things about Marina Morrison. Also on my list to check out. Will let you know. Obviously I'm in the early stages of planning. We just booked our venue and now I'm going to start dress shopping

roselyn81 · July 2009

Oh, and there's a place by my office in SF at the Embarcadero called Bridal Galleria. I'm not sure how good they are but I have an apptmt with them next Friday. Will keep you posted!

jynettemaree · August 2009

Where is group USA?

roselyn81 · August 2009

I went to Trudy's this weekend. I have to say I was disappointed with the service. But I won't bash them here. Maybe I'll yelp them.

mlignell · August 2009

Kay's Bridal in Castro ValleySelection: I Would say good, they had a bunch up front, but then they also had a sale room.Service:Excellent. I worked with Nicole and she was so good. She knew exactly what I wanted and brought it to me. I also had an hour appt, but we went a little over. Also my BM's and mom were able to help pull dresses they thought I would like for me. They also let you take pictures.Price: I'm not sure on overall price range, but I gave them my price range and she stuck to it, plus they were having a sale on my dress at the time and I saved $200 on my dress.Overall Experience: Excellent. I ended up buying my dress there and with my wedding only a couple months away I am going in for my first fitting next weekend. They have an in-house alterations lady so they don't send the dress to someone who didn't do all the pinning.

Lindze75 · August 2009

jynettemaree - Sorry I haven't checked back here in so long and I swear I didn't get email notifications on these posts! Anyway, Group USA is in the Great Mall in Milpitas. I tried to go back recently to try on the one dress I really liked but they still don't have it in my size and they can't tell me when or if they'll be getting more. They had some cute party dresses I considered buying for a wedding I'm going to but I feel like although the bridal dresses are great prices the other clothes aren't. The dresses I was looking at were $59.99 which I know isn't bad but I found others at F21 and H&M. Laurennjoel - I really want to go to Nicolette's. I wanted to make appointments for tomorrow at a few places in the Pleasanton/Livermore area but only one of the places called me back. So I'm thinking of trying the Castro Valley one that is mention in this post...we'll see and I'll report back

Oh I can also add another place to my list: Bella Mia Bridal (it's in the back of the Westgate Shopping center in San Jose/Saratoga)Selection: Fair to GoodService: Great, my consultant was really sweet and had lots of great ideas to modify gowns.Price: totally ranges from like $800-3000++ but I gave my budget and she was totally mindful of it. My eyes kept floating over to the gowns out of my price range though

...and I went back to Trudy's to try on the dress I almost got at Gabrielle's that Gabrielle's no longer carries since they moved....the consultant was super sweet but NOT mindful of my budget. She kept pulling things that were up to $1600 over my budget! WTF! This place has a great selection but I can't help feeling like they are all about the bottom line which makes it hard to feel comfortable there.

Lindze75 · August 2009

mlignell - I don't mean to pry about your budget but could you give me an idea of the prices of the dresses you encountered there? I'm trying to decide if I want to make an appt for tomorrow.Thanks!!

mlignell · September 2009

No problem, sorry it took so long to see this post, but my budget was $1000. I was able to try on at least 10 dresses within that price range and the shop didn't seem to have a problem when I told them my budget. The dress I actually ended up with was $1100, but it was on sale so I got it for $900. Not sure what your budget is but I'm sure you could go in and they could work with it. HTH!

Lindze75 · September 2009

Thanks mlignell! I ended up going to Dana's in Livermore and J'aime's in Pleasanton. I think I found "the one" and J'aime's! They're in downtown Pleasanton and I would rate them well on everything. I went during a Maggie Sottero trunk show and they were so attentive, they let us look through the stock and I was able to try on as many as I wanted. My consultant Amanda was amazing but she was only there for a day helping with the trunk show. The owner is great though too! They are also really well priced. The Marisa that I tried on at Trudy's and Bay Area Bridal was there for $400+ less!Selection: Very Good (but it was a trunk show day so there was probably more in the store because of that)Service: ExcellentPrice: Excellent Dana's pulled dresses and didn't really let us pull but Dana was really sweet working to find something I liked. I did find one but it was out of budget. Selection: GoodService: Very GoodPrice: Fair I didn't make it to Kay's but am thinking of going there and Unique Bride in Burlingame. I feel like I have to try on more to be sure that I compare everything to the dress I found at J'aime to be sure before I place my order!I went to Trudy's one last time since they have such a large inventory and when I told them that I wanted a dress with alecon lace applique and that my budget was $2000 tops they pretty much told me that they had nothing for me. I tried on one Pronovias dress that she left me in forever while she looked for other dresses in my price range then she came back and told me that there was nothing. The consultant was nice don't get me wrong but how can that be a good experience ya know?

mlignell · September 2009

I didn't go to Dana's for my dress, but we got our FG dresses there and I liked the shop pretty well. Of course we were allowed to do our own searching for the dresses but it's a little different. I only went to Trudy's once and that was to find BM dresses for my friends wedding. She got her dress there, but I'm not sure how her experience was. All I know about Trudy's is what I have read on Yelp and a lot of people said that the attitude towards budgets was really bad, like you said. I think you should try some more on. After I found my dress at Kay's I went to another shop, but every dress I tried on I compared to the Maggie dress at Kay's (it's Maggie Sottero 'Coco'), and since it was the last day of the sale, I went back and made the order. I would say if you try on more dresses and find yourself comparing and continually thinking about the previous then you have probably found "the one". One last note, even if I had found my dress elsewhere, a lot of where I bought had to do with the service I got at the shop. I really liked the service at Kay's, so that helped part of my decision. Just remember that wherever you buy, you will probably be dealing with that shop for the rest of your enagagement, so service is important. I liked the fact that Kay's had their own in house alterations and would hold my dress for me until a couple days for the wedding, so that I didn't have to store it until the fittings or the wedding. HTH!

roselyn81 · October 2009

Lind, I was disappointed in Trudy's too. I got my dress at Marina Morrison in San Francisco. Excellent service! Got my dress at a trunk show two weeks ago. But now I'm having dress envy and second thoughts

Lindze75 · October 2009

mlignell - you're date is almost here! Are you ready

roselyn - I looked up marina morrison they have gorgeous dresses, but I think they may be a bit out of my price range. I'm trying to stay close to $2000. I visited Rin's bridal in San Carlos and they were really nice. My consultant (i think Nicole

) was great and I found lots of gorgeous Jim Hjelms but alas they were over $3000 and out of my price range. I know they price match but I haven't found anything less. They were busyy but worked with me and let me browse dresses and pick as many as I wanted to try. I also went to Unique Bride in Burlingame for thier sample sale. They had sooo many gorgeous gowns for outrageously great prices...BUT! when I didn't buy my consultant was just plain rude. She ignored me and my MOH had to help me out of the dress and she was with another bride when we left and didn't even say goodbye. I tried on lots of dresses and she was opinionated but honest at first. I really liked a dropped waist Judd Waddell that she told me wasn't made for me because I was short. When I fell in love with an Alvina Valenta I was so excited that I'd found the one. My MOH took a pic to send my mom since she couldn't make the appt and I wanted her to see it before I bought it. (I had to buy then since it was a sample sale.) In the pic the dress was soooo not flattering. I swear my tummy was just highlighted even though in person it wasn't that way. I think it's just AV dresses because this happened with another one of her dresses. Maybe it's the cut and the fabric on my body. Needless to say I didn't feel comfortable buying it knowing that it looked horrible on me in pics (and we took tons with different angles hoping that it was a fluke). When I shared my concerns with the consultant she snapped in my face "that's why we don't allow photos!" But there were no signs, the other consultant was with us when we were taking pics and my BMs other friend who is getting married went there and they took tons of pics and she didn't buy and didn't get yelled at. I was also bummed because I even asked about coming in to see thier regular inventory and she still snubbed me! I won't go back!I also went to Nouvelle bride in palo alto.Selection is goodservice was excellent. Mother and daughter and mother is the seamstress with great ideas!Price: very good. The dresses I tried on were between 800 and 2000.I'm freaking because I'm getting shopped out but I haven't found the one. The one in Pleasanton is the one if I do some modifications but I'm nervous about major alterations so that's why I keep looking.

techavez1127 · October 2009

I just picked up my BEAUTIFUL dress from Trudy's today. I absolutely adore it. I think it was very decently priced for being so gorgeous. I also picked my veil and tiara from Trudy's and everything was just about $1500 which these days is a VERY good deal for all 3. My rating is below. BTW, I used to work for David's Bridal. Trudy's Selection: HUGE selection tried on all styles, materials, etc. I trusted my consultant to pull dresses for me. One thing you have to remember is to try and go when its not busy and go with printed out pictures of what you like. If you go on a weekend when they are booked you will be limited to your 1 hour appointment and only get through about 4 dresses. You are allowed to walk around with the constultant but usually they are very knowledgable and they know their selections. Service: I had 2 VERY good consultants in 2 seperate occasions. They were extremely helpful knew what I was talking about when I didnt even know. I did have one encounter with someone that was not too pleasent to work with kind of rushing me and a bit pushy but 2 out of 3 is good. Price: It depends on what you are looking for. I thought my just over $1,000 was a very very good price. When I went to Elegant lace and looked at the same dress it looked a lot different (you get what you pay for). Overall Experience: Wonderful and I LOVE my dress!!!!DAVID'S BRIDAL..... Yes if you are looking for a cheap dress this is the BEST place to go. Or if you need a dress off the rack...PERFECT. BUT, again you get what you pay for. I've seen the behind the scenes of this place and I will never buy a gown from this place. I used to work here and I couldnt even get good service. The place was empty and they said I needed an appointment to try on dresses. NOT TRUE!!! I used to work there. Email me if you want horror stories. Happy Dress Hunting!

Lindze75 · October 2009

techavez1127 - Congrats on finding THE ONE! That is soo exciting! I'm glad you had a great experience. I also found THE ONE!!!!!!!!! YAY! Everything I tried on I just kept comparing to the Watters dress at J'aime in Pleasanton. I went back last week to talk to the seamstress about taking out the pickups and tapering the skirt from an A line to a trumpet. They were AMAZING!! I can't say enought great things about them! The owner Jaime had the seamstress remove the pickups from the sample dress so that I could be sure that I loved it! I couldn't believe they would alter thier sample for me! The customer service has been above and beyond. They even stayed open late for me. They close at 6pm but coming from Santa Clara I couldn't make it there on a weeknight by then. They made me a 6:30 appointment and stayed with me until after 7pm. I love it and ordered it! They are also very flexible with deposit amounts and the sash I want is off of another dress but she threw it in no charge! My dress comes in at the end of Feb and I can't wait!Oh I did visit another shop before deciding. I went to Genisee's in Concord. Selection: ExcellentService: Very GoodPrice: Very Good (dresses in all price points)Overall Experience: great. She pulled dresses and gave me time to pull dresses. There was no limit on the dresses I tried on. No pictures were allowed but each area has it's own pedastool. Very intimate. I would recommend this dress shop.

techavez1127 · October 2009

CONGRATS Lindze75!!!!! How exciting. I am so happy you found your dream dress and had such a good experience. The customer service really does make all the difference.

SpiffyJIA · October 2009

I'm coming in kind of late on this one, but here goes:I went to 2 shops and was lucky enough to find the one at the first shop!Unique Bride in Burlingame.Selection: Great! Service: Mine has always been fantastic.Price: They have a really good range depending on your price point. A pp said they had a bad time there, and that makes me sad, because every time I've gone in they've been wonderful! My first appt was with Patty and I adore her. I had no idea what would look good on my body so she brought me a good array of different styles until we landed on one that looked great. Then she found a few more in that style so I had some great choices, and all within my budget. They have been fantastic to work with for accessories and fittings as well. When I went in for my first fitting, the shop wasn't busy, so ALL of the assistants were helping me pick out hair accessories, veils, etc. It was so much fun and they really made me feel special.Bay Area BridalSecond shop, though I didn't buy there, it was awesome.Selection: They seem to have everything.Service: Jessica is wonderful!!! So sweet, very knowledgeable, and wonderfully helpful.Price: Great range of prices!

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