Bridesmaid dresses

katecrobertson

Does anyone have recs for where to shop for bridesmaid's dresses? I have three girls here in Austin and one from out of state, so a place that can work with all would be great and where the four of us in town could go together. Suggestions?

knsbride87

I went to alfred angelo (where i got my dress) and davids bridal with my maid of honor. We decided to go with david's bridal because they had a MUCH bigger selection. My 4 bridesmaids all came one weekend and I made an appointment at David's Bridal. The lady helping us was really helpful but also didn't get in the way of them trying stuff on. We amazingly found a dress that looked good on everyone.

kelseymw

David's Bridal is a popular pick as it's easily accessible for most people and has a wide variety of style depending on the look/formality of your wedding. J. Crew  and Ann Taylor also offer nice options for bridesmaids, but the downside is that you can't try them on in store... they're only available online.

http://www.jcrew.com/AST/Browse/WeddingParties/Wedding_Bridesmaid/dresses.jsp

http://www.anntaylor.com/catalog/category.jsp?N=1200030&pCategoryId=3942&categoryId=1739&Ns=CATEGORY_SEQ_1739&loc=TN

dapo2004

I wanted to give my bridesmaids the freedom to choose whatever dresses they wanted as long as they were all navy and knee-length. That being said, we checked out The Bridesmaid Store, Alfred Angelo, David's Bridal, and Belle Saison. 

Our experience at Alfred Angelo was okay. They had a lot of cute dresses, but my bridesmaids did not find anything that they LOVED. Nevertheless, their staff was pretty helpful- our assistant pulled at least thirty dresses for the bridesmaids to try on and did not pressure the bridesmaids into choosing something that they did not love. 

Our experience at David's Bridal was also okay. There were a few dresses that I looked at online and liked, but in person, they looked kind of cheap. I'm sure this is something that would not bother most people because they wouldn't notice, but all of my bridesmaids noticed some major issues with the dresses they liked- for example, the hem at the bottom of the dresses looked poorly done and the fabric looked kind of cheap- I believe it was the jersey satin. Ultimately, while we all liked the design of one of the dresses there, it did not seem worth it to spend $135 for a dress that looked really cheaply made (it looked like something you could buy at Kohl's in the Juniors department for under $75). Otherwise, their customer service was great. Their dresses just were not up to par for us.

I hope this does not offend other people that ordered their bridesmaids dresses from David's Bridal- the designs my bridesmaids liked just failed to impress us in terms of value, quality, and construction. This is not to say that ALL of their dresses are cheaply made. My bridesmaids and I are just really tough critics and we found something that truly blew us away in terms of quality and value at The Bridesmaid Store.

We loved The Bridesmaid Store. One of the things that really impressed us was the wide variety of designers, dresses, and price ranges. My bridesmaids tried on at least twenty different dresses and all fell in love with the same one (which was something I was not expecting at all). They offered us an amazing price for the dresses, too. The only problem was the fact that their swatches did not give us a good idea of the color we needed, and they didn't have any dresses with that color in stock. So, they sent us to Belle Saison, which had a dress with that color in stock. 

When we got to Belle Saison, they seemed really inconvenienced by our request to see their Mori Lee dresses. We eventually found the color we needed (and it looked REALLY dark), and we asked how much it would cost to order the dresses and they quoted us almost $30 more than The Bridesmaid Store. Needless to say, we ended up placing our order through The Bridesmaid Store.

Since one of my bridesmaids couldn't make it to our dress shopping excursion in Austin, she went to a place near her that carried the Mori Lee dress the other girls selected, tried it on, fell in love with it as well. Ordering through The Bridesmaid Store was relatively easy and all of my bridesmaids ordered from out of town a few weeks after our dress shopping excursion. They each faxed in their measurements and a 60% deposit, then The Bridesmaid Store placed our order. Our dresses will be delivered in early May. 

I would honestly and whole-heartedly recommend checking out The Bridesmaid Store. Their location is a little confusing, but the trip is worth it. They have soooo much to offer, and their customer service was exceptional.

katecrobertson

Thank you so much! I really appreciate all the thoughts. I have looked at the dessy website, and noticed that the Bridesmaid Store was their local outlet, so I wanted to try that. I'm glad to hear you had such a good experience!

dapo2004

They had a bunch of really cute Dessy dresses in stock when I was there. I really loved that they get weekly shipments from manufacturers. Crazily enough, the dress that my bridesmaids fell in love with was something that the owner received in a shipment that very day! She hadn't even finished unpacking the new shipment, but she let me sift through it to see some of the new Mori Lee dresses. Luckily we spotted the dress and my girls got to try it on!

Linds4241

My dessy dresses just came in last week and I got them from The Bridesmaid Store! They are super nice and the dresses came in about a month before I was expecting them too. The only problem (and I think it had a lot to do with the style of dress my girls picked out) - a lot of them came in too big and are going to have to have alterations. But, I would definitely recommend going through them!!!

jenn.atx

We just got ours from JCrew and I love them.  I just picked a color and they all picked their dress, so everyone was happy.  Lucky for them, I picked a color that was on sale, so they all got a silk dress for less than $100.  : ) Almost all of them ordered 2 dresses, so that they could pick between the two... and we still had "dress tryouts" so we got the together time, but at home.   When you sign up at jcrew.com, you'll get a 20% coupon and they usually have free shipping for orders more than $150 (we ordered all dresses together to get both deals).  You can take the dresses back to the JCrew Store in Barton Creek.

sassyredd2010

i did the same as a pp, i got my dress from alfred angelo but my BM dresses came from davids bridal.