Bridal Salons to avoid?

Annekite

I'm starting my dress search next week, and am wondering where a good place to start is, and where to absolutely avoid.  I have an idea of what kind of dress I want to wear, but also want to feel comfortable enough to try on a ton of different styles.

OFF

I liked Hitched in Georgetown and Priscilla of Boston in Tyson's Corner.  I got my dress, MOB and MOG dresses at Priscilla's.  I didn't like Ellie's in Alexandria I had horrible service and felt ignored and rushed.  

CaraDonna

I second - Ellies was terrible!  Wayyy too pushy.  I went to Le Star in Old Town, but you MUST have an appointment.  Also try White Swan in Vienna, Rizik's in DC, and Hannelore's.  There is another good shop in Vienna, but I can't remember the name.  I've heard good things about Hitched too.

armlb81

I liked all the salons I actually went to...Rosalin's in Falls Church, Leesburg Bridal, and Bobbie's Bridal in Fairfax. I had a bad experience over the phone with Katherine's in Alexandria. I called to ask about maybe 5 different style names for a Maggie Sottero dress. The lady was soooooooo annoyed about it, acted like I was totally putting her out, said she didn't have time to look, but would take the names and call me back. She yelled at me to spell every name, repeat myself 10 times, then said she'd call me back and pretty much hung up on me before I could respond. She never called me back...obviously didn't want my business.

calatt

I went to a bunch of places and liked most of them.  The ones I liked:
- Maria's in Fairfax - was super busy there but the girl that helped me was so wonderful even though she had a bunch of other people to help too (someone called in sick so they were short staffed that day).  The dresses were on mannequins so that's nice.
- Leesburg Bridal - very helpful, nice shop, dresses in good shape.  Dresses were hanging in bags so that was a bit difficult for me as I'm not a real "shopper" (aka I see an outfit on display, I buy it, I'm not a "digger".)  I did find a few dresses there that were in the running.  I utlimately purchased a dress by the same designer that I was trying on there.
- Blush Bridal - nice shop, not necessarily the styles I liked.  The girl had a bit of an attitude when I was first there because she had 2 brides she was helping but I had an appointment so on we went!
- Distinctive Designs - nice shop, beautiful dresses, had one dress that was in my top 3.

My absolute favorite shop:  Terri Lynn Bridal!!  It's where I ultimately purchased my dress from and I had a fabulous experience there.  It's a smaller shop but the owner Terri is so amazing and helpful!  She's the sweetest person!  I actually have my dress already and totally love it still (have to admit I was a bit worried about that)!  I wish I could shop there every day!!

Not on my list of favs:
- White Swan in Vienna.  This was the first shop I went to.  First of all, one of the women was rude to one of my bridesmaids when she arrived, but I found out about it later.  The dresses were on mannequins which is nice but they were in bad shape!  All of the dresses I tried on had some type of tear in them.  I think it's because they don't help you in to or out of the dress.  One dress that I really liked had an asymmetrical hem line.  When I asked about it, they said it would be straight on the one I ordered.  There were a few tears on the left hand side of the dress that one of my BMs saw and pointed out.  Well after we left I went online to look at the dresses I tried on.  The one that I really liked had a bustle on the left hand side!  In the version I tried on the bustle had torn and fallen to the floor!  All I said to my Mother was - Thank God I didn't purchase that dress or I would have cried when it came in!  Also, I felt the owner was rather brash.

So that might be more info than anyone bargained for... sorry!!  Clearly I needed a distraction from work this morning.  GL dress shopping though!! It is a lot of fun!

SwizzleStiX

I didn't love White Swan, but it was okay.

HATED Katherine's. I went in and they kept arguing with me the whole time I was there, and left me and my mom just standing, staring at each other for like 15 minutes. The lady kept give me dresses that I had specifically said I didn't like, and then acted annoyed when I didn't like them. Finally, when I threated to just walk out, they changed our sales girl, to someone who was GREAT, but they had lost my business by then.

I found my dress in that store, and ended up buying it at Ann's Boutique in Burke, because I got a trunk show discount (two weeks after the trunk show ended).

msmoodyr

The Bridal Shop in  Columbia was worth a ride ..

Marys in Annapolis is a waste of time .. She is very pushy of her own line and has few designers in her store .. Some gowns were nice but very pricey

snydera

Avoid Ellie's in Old Town.  Dirty dresses and bad customer service

Katherine's was okay if you don't mind them picking out the dresses for you and not really listening to what you are actually looking for. 

When I visited Ann's Boutique in Burke, VA, I was helped by the owner I believe and she seemed to already have her mind made up that I wasn't going to buy a dress from her based on what I had told her I liked so far so she wasn't very helpful.  She also told me that some of the dresses I tried on did not look good on me and were too tight, which I found to be rude!

I had positive experiences at POB, Hannelore's, Betsy Robinson's, Hitched and Carine's.  Carine's marks up the prices though!

The one negative I will say about almost all of them, except Hitched and Hannelore's (where I purchased my dress) was the lack of follow-up by the sales associates that assisted me.  I left many of the stores when the impression, based on them telling me, that they would email or call me regarding information on the dresses I tried on (style number, prices) and find answers to questions I asked about certain dresses (custom changes, etc.).  I never heard from any of them!

SwizzleStiX

I agree with snydera on Ann's - even though I bought my dress there. I didn't love the store and the owner wasn't that overwhelmingly helpful.

That being said - I'd still give them a call if they carry the line of dresses that you're looking at when you do decide. I found that they were the MOST willing to negotiate a little and had the best prices, by a few hundos. :-)

katemvirginia

i LOVE TLC bridal in historic Frederick MD. My dress came in ONE MONTH?! It was so affordable too. Such sweet ladies work there. Penny helped me & the owner Terri is a doll

razdazzle

Love Terri Lynn Bridal - bought my dress and BM dresses there.  Callat - I second everything you said about Terri!

I had a good experience at Distinctive Design in Rockville, but I went during the week.  A good friend of mine had a bad experience when she went on the weekend.

kjane12

About a month ago I would've told you to try Rosalin's Bridal.  The shopping experience was good there, until I ordered from them.  I ordered my dress early October and the estimated delivery date was the first week of February (approx. 4 months).  Being anxious, I waited to called the store only the second week of February to find out the status of the dress.  The guy says "it's on its way".  So I call back today, and the same guy answers saying "oh, you're the one who called earlier, your dress should be here by May"
May?? That's an additional 4 months after the time I ordred the dress.  Could he have overlooked the initial order, and when I called to check on the dress the first time, put the order in?
He had an excuse that it was a petite dress, and that China has two weeks off for their Chinese New Year.  So shouldn't it only be a 2-week delay, if any?

Avoid Rosalin's Bridal. 

martha_ellen

I had a different experience, my dress from Rosalin's came in almost a month early. I was happy with them, but you can probably get a better deal on alterations than what they charge.

Also, it is a tiny, tiny store, so if you go there don't bring more than 2-3 people.

emisi

I had a fairly good experience with White Swan, and the cost for alterations is included (although not bustle or is you want to change to a corset back).  Distinctive Designs was awesome, and the prices for the dresses I looked at were reasonable, and cheaper than the stores I called to price check.

mshrader15

I had a horrible experience at Ellie's Bridal in Alexandria.  I had actually already found my dress in Columbus, Ohio and just wanted to show my mom the dress.  I called asking them if they carried that style, but arrived finding they had the brand and not the style of my dress.  We decided to stay anyways for fun, but the dresses were in horrible shape.  The lady basically ignored us not helping me in and out of any of my dresses, not clipping me, etc.  I left so upset and flustered because of the horrible experience.

On a side note, your experience will have a lot to do with how the sales lady is helping you.  I actually did not like the way my dress fit me when I first tried it on because of how the lady was clipping it.  I went to another bridal store in Columbus, and the sales lady was fantasic and when I tried the dress on again I knew it was the one.  I ended up ordering my dress from them even though I live in D.C. 

2dBride

Here are ours:

Pattrapon Bridal, Kensington, MD - Terrible.  We went there initially because they advertised last season's dresses at discount prices.  However, when we got there, they told us we could not see those dresses, because the only way to see them was to say we were interested in them at the time we made our appointment.  Umm, ok, but your ad just said you had those dresses, without mentioning the need not only to make an appointment, but to mention which dresses we wanted to see.  And you did not ask us what dresses we wanted to see when we made the appointment.

However, at that point we were already there, so NotFroofy started trying on dresses.  However, the salesperson did not seem to be listening to her.  NotFroofy would say, "I don't want this dress, because I don't like feature X on it."  And the salesperson would bring out five more dresses, each of which had feature X.

I Do, I Do, Gaithersburg, MD - This store had a good selection of new and consignment dresses.    We had kind of a mixed experience with them.  We wanted complementary dresses for the two of us, and that didn't really fit with their way of doing things.  They initially told us we would have to make separate appointments for the two of us.  That was not going to work if we wanted to make sure our gowns looked good together.  They then said we could have just one appointment for the two of us.  However, the one salesperson then spent all her time with NotFroofy, and pretty much just told me to go look for a dress I liked.  NotFroofy did find a dress there that she almost bought.  I suspect that the place would be fine if you wanted to be able to look at a lot of different dresses, and didn't have special needs.

La Bella Bridal, Occoquan - Awesome!  Even though we live in Maryland, it was definitely worth the trip!

When we made our appointment the owner, Ellalyne Brayman, asked us about our preferences and sizes, so she could have some items picked out for us before we even arrived. Our requirements were tough. I'm a plus size. I was 55, and NotFroofy was 40, so dresses designed for people in their 20s wouldn't work for us. Because there were two brides, we needed outfits that would complement each other. NotFroofy is 5'1", and I'm 5'9", so identical gowns were not going to happen for us. Our budget was low: no more than $500 per dress.

When we arrived, we were the only people in the store, and Ellalyne gave us her full attention. She listened carefully to our preferences, and had an eye for what would look good on us, so we weren't trying on a bunch of impossible gowns. LaBella has consignment gowns as well as new ones, which helped keep the price down. (And she didn't try to push us toward more expensive ones than we could afford.) Throughout the visit, she was warm and gracious. While it was clear that working with a lesbian couple was a new experience for her, she was clearly accepting of us. And unlike some salons, she worked to find something that would look good with our figures, instead of suggesting that we were the "wrong" size or shape.

Both of us found "the dress" there. In each case, it was a dress that we never would have given a second glance to on the rack. However, Ellalyne picked it out, and it turned out to be perfect, with clean, elegant lines that covered our problem figure areas and enhanced our good areas.

Ellalyne showed us veils on our first visit. There were a couple that we really liked, but we were still going through sticker shock on veil prices, and decided to look for something less expensive. However, she called us a few weeks later to let us know that veils would be 50% off that week. We went back and got two gorgeous veils (again different, but complementary) for under $100 each.

scolgary

My Mother recently called Terri Lynn Bridal to set-up an appointment.  From the beginning of the conversation the person who answered the phone was horrible to her.  The woman inquired what the date of the wedding was, upon hearing that it is the fall of 2011 she asked why we were looking a year an a half before the date.  Really?!? Why does it matter?  My Mother told her that I was visiting from out-of-state and wanted to get my wedding dress search started.  The miserable woman then asked if the wedding would be out-of-state.  Again, why does it matter?  There are so many circumstances that would lead someone to begin their dress search early.  Is this person not aware of all the military in the area?  Is she completely ignorant to the life circumstances that may lead a person to plan things early?  Get a clue!  Open your mind.  We were prepared to spend 8-10k, I guess this establishment doesn't need the business of us, our bridal party or our family.  Go to Mary's in Annapolis, they know how to treat a bride and her family with the respect they deserve.