Experiences with Bridal Boutiques - Particularly in terms of communication

missdelilah

This post is a little belated, seeing as I purchased my dress last week, but now that we've all had the discussion about whether we loved or hated dress shopping, I thought I'd see what everyone's experiences with boutiques was like.

I contacted about seven of them by email, as suggested on their website, generally because I was looking at dresses on Sundays, when these shops aren't open.  I did expect to hear back from them on Tuesday when they reopened, but only received a response from one.  I was very specific about the dresses I was looking to try on, and I'm wondering if they just didn't have any of them in stock and their response to that was to ignore the original message.  Is this normal?  I can't see why so many business are turning away customers by not getting back to them.  Wouldn't the normal response be, "I don't have those in stock, but I have similar styles if you'd like to try them on"?  I could have called on a weekday, but I figured that not responding to emails was probably a bad sign, and I shouldn't work such a company.

The ones I ended up visiting were the one that responded to my email (and the owner actually responded pretty immediately on her day off) and the three that I called, because I hadn't emailed them yet.  

I was a little worried about the store that I ordered the dress from because the internet reviews said that their customer service declined sharply after the sale had been made.  I was promised that I'd receive an email on Saturday with an ETA for the dress (the sales associate knew that I was worried about it because I'm on a tight time frame now) and ended up having to email them this afternoon.  They responded pretty quickly.  I guess she just forgot.  I'll let this one slide, and not worry too much about anything except following up from them if I don't hear back close to the time that the dress is scheduled to arrive. 

I'm just curious to know what experiences other members of the community have had during the dress finding process.  Do I just live in an area where bridal salons have particularly bad customer service?   

beachyone15

I actually purchased my dress at a store with a BSC manager. When I first met her I found her very overbearing and demanding. However, I had already been working with the consultant who helped me find my dress (she was soooo sweet!). So I was happy with my consultant. After seeing overwhelmingly negative reviews online about the manager, it confirmed my decision to take the dress elsewhere for alterations. I was still happy I bought it there though because I wanted my consultant to get my commission.

missdelilah

I wanted my consultant to get the commission too, which I've been told by other parties with absolutely no interest in the size of commissions, is not huge. I'm still not sure whether I'll do alterations through their lady or not. She has her own separate business in the same building as the salon, so I won't have to worry about anyone but her once the dress arrives.

hyechica81

i to did the email route and many ignored me as well a handful got back to me asking me to make apointments but they would not answer my most important question that was do you carry larger size gowns to try on i need to try on gowns in the 20-28 size range do you have anything that i could try on. the salon i got my dress from was amazing got back to me so fast said i have lots of plus a few other places said i have plus 14s 16s two 18s when can you come in ( sorry those wont fit on me). another popular salon near me told me i have one dress in a 20 come in we have other styles you can put the dress to your body and see how it looks if you like we can order it for you. i told her if you can get me some of those samples on loan in larger sizes ill make an apt her response was most samples come in smaller sizes and the larger sizes are few and hard to find i said to her really because i found a place 15 minuets closer to me that carries a large selection of plus sizes and there are salons all over the usa that only carry plus she said oh well they sell designers that have lines that are only for plus sizes and i said no they don't so i hung up the phone on them . where i got my gown she carries gowns for all body shapes from 0-32 she has a wide range of gowns in all kinds of sizes i was able to try on 15+ gowns

missdelilah

hyechica81 said:

i to did the email route and many ignored me as well a handful got back to me asking me to make apointments but they would not answer my most important question that was do you carry larger size gowns to try on i need to try on gowns in the 20-28 size range do you have anything that i could try on. the salon i got my dress from was amazing got back to me so fast said i have lots of plus a few other places said i have plus 14s 16s two 18s when can you come in ( sorry those wont fit on me). another popular salon near me told me i have one dress in a 20 come in we have other styles you can put the dress to your body and see how it looks if you like we can order it for you. i told her if you can get me some of those samples on loan in larger sizes ill make an apt her response was most samples come in smaller sizes and the larger sizes are few and hard to find i said to her really because i found a place 15 minuets closer to me that carries a large selection of plus sizes and there are salons all over the usa that only carry plus she said oh well they sell designers that have lines that are only for plus sizes and i said no they don't so i hung up the phone on them . where i got my gown she carries gowns for all body shapes from 0-32 she has a wide range of gowns in all kinds of sizes i was able to try on 15+ gowns

I had the opposite experience.  The salons I visited all had really huge samples.  It was hard to get a good idea of what they would look like is they actually fitted.  I ended up going with something that I think will work based on previous dresses I've owned and designer photos.

sarawifenow

I got very lucky with my dress buying experience. I went to one bridal boutique and tried on a total of 5 dresses. The dress I purchased was the 3rd I tried on.

 

That being said, I find that my boutique communicates better over the phone despite them saying they prefer email communication. I email mostly all of my vendors except for them because I have seen that the response time is just that much quicker if I leave a message. I guess it all comes down to learning what really works as far as communication with each vendor (dress shop included) and then going forward from there.

CMGragain

Our biggest issue was with stores who were willing to lie to us to get us to come through their door.  My daughter wanted to see a particular dress.  One store lied to us and said that they had it in stock for her to see.  They didn't.  We were told, "Oh, we have something just like it!" once we made the long drive.  We walked out in disgust.

missdelilah

@CMGragain I was really worried about that happening, but fortunately everyone I spoke with was honest about what they had in stock.  I was happy to see similar styles when they didn't have exactly what I loved available, but ended up going with the original anyway.  

@sarabridesoon I've noticed that some vendors just don't bother with emails either.  I've sent about three over the past few months to the florist that my venue recommends.  There's no reason for me to choose to work with them other than this recommendation, so I guess they don't want my business.  It's just a bit tough as I'm organizing this all from a different country, and I don't want too many of my friends knowing about it before I send out the STDs.  So not sure whether to go on internet reviews or not.  Unfortunately all of my friends back home who've been married have done so out of town, so they're not really able to be very helpful.  Everyone else has been really easy to deal with by email.  I've got the photographer booked, and am really close to booking a few other vendors.  

aggiespartan

I went to David's Bridal just to look around, 1 other boutique just to look around, and had a consultant appointment at 1 other boutique.  All experiences sucked.  No one was friendly at David's Bridal.  The first boutique was having a sample sale and they just told me it would cost the same as a new dress after alterations.  After looking around, they didn't have any new dresses I was interested in anyway.  

The appointment I went to was just as bad.  I didn't love any of the dresses and the consultant was pressuring me telling me that I HAD to order that weekend to get it in time.  I wasn't going to pay that much for a dress I thought was just ok, so I did not order from them.

missdelilah

@aggiespartan What did you end up doing then?  The "you have to order a dress this weekend to get it on time" spiel is absolute crap.  From my experience (admittedly limited) designers only take orders during business hours, Monday through Friday.  And a day or two isn't going to make a big difference.  I'm pleased to hear that you walked away from the pushy boutique that tried to force you in to something you didn't love.  

aggiespartan

I ended up finding a local designer that would custom make a dress for me for about the same price the boutiques were offering dresses for. I pretty much had had it by the time the consultant said to me "maybe you just don't want a mainstream dress." I showed her several pictures during the appointment and to the ones I loved the most she said "oh that's a beautiful dress....but we don't have anything like it."

missdelilah

Ahh... I thought about having a dress made, and yes, the prices would be similar here too, but I just thought the options would be way too overwhelming.  I hope your dress turns out beautiful.  I'd love to see a picture when it's done.

aggiespartan

My first fitting is scheduled for October.  How he can make a dress in two and a half months, and a boutique can't get one sooner than 5 months, I will never understand.  I should have a picture in October that is pretty close to finished. 

missdelilah

Perhaps because the designers are working on a much larger scale. It's great that you've found someone who can make what you want so quickly. I'm curious to know whether it's like tailoring, where the first fit is a pretty rough garment, or whether you'll be given a completed dress that needs tweaking. Sorry, curious about everything!

aggiespartan

The designer said it would be like a completed dress that needs tweaking, but because of the type of dress I picked, he is thinking we may still need 2 fittings.  He took about 15 measurements on Saturday, and he said that the purpose is to get it as close as possible.  That being said, it's going to be a pretty stylized dress, so it will be difficult to get it just right without trying on I think.  Plus I believe he wanted to leave room in case we decided to change anything.

missdelilah

That last bit sounds like a really sensible idea.