I took my mom shopping for a gown this weekend and we visited a couple stores, so I figured I'd give a mini review of each one, in case anybody is thinking about visiting them.
Dream Dresses in Old Bridge:
My mom had called them ahead of time to ask what designers they carried, and they flat out told her to not come on a Saturday because it is too busy. We were really surpsied by that, and thought it was bad business.. don't they want our sale? If they are telling customers not to come to the store, how are they going to get business? She suggested we could make an appointment, but we had no idea what time we would be getting there because we were doing other things, and we cannot go there during the week because it is kind of far from where we live - my mom doesn't drive - so i'd have to drive her after work and it just wouldn't be possible.
So we just went without an appointment. As soon as we walked in, someone came over and asked what we were looking for. We told her MOB dresses.. she pointed us to where they were, and they made a comment that "someone will come to help you when they are free - we are very busy right now because it is prom season". We looked around and saw 2 people in line for the dressing room and nobody else walking around the store... oookk...
We then noticed that all of their gowns are in bags, like wedding gowns. There are signs posted everywhere that say no pictures and no cell phones, do not take gowns out of bags, ask for help, etc. Way too many rules in my opinion. So we picked out 5 dresses she wanted to try, and just at that time, someone came over to help. She brought all of the dresses into the dressing room, and my mom followed, with myself and my sister just behind her. We were in the doorway of the room because it was small and had been standing there no more than 2 seconds, when someone came over and yelled at us saying "if you aren't trying on dresses, get out of the way". So we moved out of the way.. the lady helping my mom was very very nice, but took forever putting the dresses on her. It took her almost an hour to try on 5 dresses, and each time she had one on, we had to peak into the room to see it on her, because she didn't feel comfortable parading out into the store with her bra and stuff hanging out some of the dresses that didn't fit.. She didn't end up finding anything she liked there, and we left. So overall, I really wouldn't recommend the place based on our experience there.
(P.S. - i think all they sell is prom dresses and MOB, I didn't see any bridesmaid gowns or bridal gowns).
Dresses & More - Matawan
This is not a bridal salon, it is basically just a regular store that sells MOB gowns, bridesmaid type gowns, and prom dresses.. it seemed like alot of the dresses there had been on the rack for 10 yrs, but they did have alot of sale and clearance dresses.. definitely more geared toward an older woman though. We didn't talk to any sales people there, so I can't really comment on this one much.
Cinderella Bridals - Matawan
We walked in to the store and went to the MOB rack and picked out 3 dresses we wanted to try. Nobody came over to ask if we needed help, so we just went into a dressing room (they had a ton of them). The place seemed nice though, and nobody yelled at us, so that was a plus! Mom didn't find a dress there though.
Bridal Fantasy - Avenel
My mom had talked to Lucy ahead of time and she is VERY nice and friendly. We walked in and found 3 dresses she had seen and liked at other locations, along with two more she wanted to try. The lady working with us was very nice and very helpful. She ended up pulling a dress that we never would've thought my mom would like, but it ended up being the dress!! Overall, it was a very good experience there.. My mom hasn't ordered the dress yet.. she wants to see how much it is from Hollywood, because that's where I got my dress and BM dresses and we'd like to get them all at one place if the price is right. (P.S. - Bridal Fantasy does free alterations).
Hope this info is helpful to someone, good luck!!
Siggy Challenge: Bridesmaid Dresses
