Best place to shop for wedding dresses

Chrissya03

My MOH and I are going wedding dress shopping soon and I need ides on where to go! I am from Dayton, but thought about checking out the bridal district in Cincy....your thoughts?

muldoomi

Cincinnati Bride is awesome! They treat you really well and you actually have your own dressing room. They have a good selection and will help pick out others that you may like as well. Plus, I ordered my dress and it's going to be in super early!

caseyandlizzie

I found my dress at Madison Ave Bridal in Covington. They don't have a huge selction, but their prices are great. There's also Fabulous Bridal which carries more high-end dresses. This store is also on Madison Ave. in Covington. You may want to check out the bridal district in Reading as well.

tldh

I got mine at Cincinnati Bride and picked it up today.  What I realy liked, in addition to everything muldoomi said, they have seamstresses across the greater Cincinnati area.  I dropped my dress off today (Friday) with the one in Bridgetown who promised to have it back to me by Sunday morning so I can take it back with me to Philadelphia.

ungraceful13

I second Madison Avenue Bridal. I got my dress there and just love that place.

Michele45419

I know everyone has mixed thoughts about Bridal & Formal but I loved it!  I knew to expect the open dressing rooms and the weekend crowds....so I took an afternoon during the week and went to try on dresses.  They have a HUGE selection and were reasonable in price.  Bobbi helped me out and was GREAT at helping me narrow selections.  I never felt pressured to buy and came back about 3 weeks later to purchase a dress.  My wedding dress was to come in late December 2009 and by the end of October, I received a call stating my dress was ready for pickup. 

Again, I liked the variety and knew to expect the open dressing rooms.  I didn't care about receiving a glass of champagne or sparkling water, so that's why my experience at Bridal & Formal was at the top my my list. HTH.  Good luck!

megzies7777

Bridal and Formal has the best selection hands down (2nd or 3rd in the country I believe). Customer service is hit and miss, but for me, selection was way more important. Ask for Teri, she was a great help, absolutely loved her.

campbejk

European Bridal was amazing.  I went on a weeknight and was the only person there.  She listened to what I was looking for and that was a first.  I had already been to Wendy's, Cincinnati Bride, David's Bridal, and Bridal and Formal.  European Bridal was the first place that heard me when I said no flowers anywhere.  She let me pick the first few dresses and then figured me out.  She ended up picking out my dress.  I loved two dresses and had to sleep on it... amazing experience.

TMarieInOH

I visited Fabulous, Cincinnati Bride, Wendy's, Bridal and Formal and David's Bridal.

I had the worst experience at Cincinnati Bride. The consultant was extremely pushy and barely allowed me to look. We had an appointment, but it was clear that she didn't want to spend time with us. I came in knowing exactly what I wanted, but this woman hassled me the entire time I was there- bringing me dresses from all over the store, after my mom and I told her repetitively that we wanted to look through the racks ourselves. She basically just wanted me to pick five dresses so she could shove me in a dressing room. Once we got five (two I picked and three she forced on me) she told me to give my purse to my mom and strip down. I told her I wanted to keep my purse with me (i had a large sum of cash in it) and she told me they prefer if clients dont take personal items into the dressing rooms. She was really rough with me while trying on dresses- so much so that after the first dress I was ready to go. But, since my mom was with me, and we were hoping to have a nice afternoon I held my tongue. The samples were too small to fit my frame, so the consultant got frustrated with me and said "Well, you just have to accept that your body isn't going to look good in this style- you are going to have to go with an A-line". Her comments went on the entire time we tried on dresses, and after we took off the fifth dress, she all but kicked me out of the store while telling my mom that I was "too picky" and "vain".

We went straight from Cincinnati Bride to Bridal and Formal and had a wonderful experience there with Ruth. Even though I went in swearing I wouldn't buy a dress, I ended up buying my dress there. I highly recommend Bridal and Formal- their selection is amazing! And, they will price match!

I didn't care for the service at Wendy's Bridal in Kenwood. We looked at bridesmaids dresses and mother of the bride dresses on two seperate occasions and wasn't impressed with their attitude. For one, they were pretty hands off with the bridesmaids. Everytime I had a question, or needed something I had to hunt for an associate to help us, and then, she would say, I will get back to you- and never do so! When we went there to find my mom's dress, we were disgusted by how high the prices were for the mother of the bride dresses- some topping over $500. When I asked if they price matched (I found the same dress for half as much elsewhere) she was pretty pissed. She said she would give me 10% off- which was about $50 bucks. I told her that at that price, the MOB dress would be close to the cost of the wedding dress, after alterations. At that point, she really didn't want to talk to me, and told my mom to stop back by during the week. She told her if she didn't order in the next week, she would need to place a rush order. Needless to say, Mom ended up buying her dress elsewhere- Bridal and Formal- where they pricematched the price quote I got from Pearl's Place- no questions asked! AND, she ordered the dress atleast two weeks later, and no rush fees!

David's Bridal is probably the most hands off of all the stores. I love that they have their dresses organized by size, and have lots of different styles to try on, but didn't like that since women could buy off the rack, it could be possible to find different dresses in different sizes that aren't available to try on in your size. Their prices are the most affordable and you can buy any of their dresses off the rack. Their bridesmaids dresses were the easiest to deal with. I loved that all my bridesmaids could try on their dress in their size. None of them need alterations, and their shipping was super quick!

Fabulous was the first store I visited and I bought a great dress off the rack during their black Friday sale. Since it was such a steep discount, I bought the dress based mostly on price. I mean, ALL wedding dresses are pretty and you feel like a bride in all of them, but this wasn't "the dress" for me. I bought the dress with the idea of LOTS of alterations. Several months of mulling over it, and losing weight, I decided this wasn't the dress for me- not only would I pay a fortune in alterations, it wasn't the style I wanted- it was an A-line and I wanted a trumpet- (HELLO, I lost 40lbs...I wanna show it off!) However, I do have lots of positive to say about Fabulous- first of all the place is gorgeous and it's a great salon experience. They have personal dressing rooms and you have a personal consultant. April and Angelina were amazing. Fabulous offers champagne with their showings, so it's a more comfortable experience for your guests. When we went, we were the only ones on the entire floor. My girls lounged on huge couches and the room had lots of natural light. The negatives- Some of their dresses are obnoxiously expensive! I was trying on dresses less than $1000- and some of the dresses in the room I was trying on were more than 10X more! Crazy!!

Anyway, sorry for such a long review, but those types of reviews helped me when I was trying to decide on vendors!

Have fun shopping and be sure to try on LOTS of dresses!

clearheavens

TMarieInOH, very useful review!

muamanda18

Go to Lillian's in Centerville. They are a smaller boutique but have a great selection of amazing dresses. You will get great service and will not be disappointed. I went here because my sisters best friend bought her dress there and recommended. I'm so glad I did because that is where I got my dress!

Chrissya03

Wow, thanks everyone for all the helpful info. Now I have a list of stores to check out :-) Has anyone had any experiences at other Dayton dress shops?

Nunner2Be

I found my dress at Bridal N Tux in Dayton. http://www.bridalntux.com/ they just opened the store in January. They started out as the wedding dress website Romanticgowns.com. It was kind of hard to find someone to help me around the store, but I also did not have an appointment. I would recommend them because they have a HUGE selection and great prices for a budget-conscious bride!

Chrissya03

I actually went to Bridal N Tux already. I found a dress there that was very nice but since its the only place I have been, I didnt want to buy it without looking at other dresses first. But I would highly recommend it to other brides - the place is HUGE and the prices CANT BE BEAT. The dress I liked best was only $499. I had no trouble getting help from someone either.