Bridal shoppe opinions?

Pretty Parula

My two cousins are coming into town to go dress shopping with me next weekend - yay! I've already scheduled an appointment with Solutions and will schedule one with Collection (even though I think they're above my budget - let's hear it for Pearl's Place), but what about others? I'm considering going to Something Blue, Carolyn Allen, and Priscilla of Boston. What's your take on each of these? I tend to be a non-traditional kinda gal, no poofy ball gowns, no lace, maybe sort of edgy and sophisticated, definitely still HOTT. Given that intend to order my gown through Pearl's I don't want to spend more than $1000 but am telling the shoppes that my budget is around $1700-$2k. Are Priscilla and Collection going to be too high end for me? Thanks a mill for the help!!

SarahSmile23

I bought my dress at Solutions Bridal and my experience there was priceless. Please consider purchasing your gown from the ladies who spend their time and energy helping you find your dream gown. If everybody undercuts them by ordering their gowns online, we won't have any local brick-and-mortar stores left. I could have bought mine online for $400 cheaper but I chose to buy mine from the ladies who helped me find it. Yes, $400 is a lot to me, too. But it was worth it. Good luck.

Pretty Parula

Sure, I'll consider buying a gown direct - if it's what I want and within my budget. I'm not a sentimental gal, so this is a business transaction to me and I need to find the right choice so my fiance won't kill me before we ever get married. A boutique that has a great deal on a dress? Yes please. Far less hassle would of course be nice. So... any thoughts on Something Blue, Carolyn Allen, or Priscilla of Boston? That's what I really wanted to know about in this post. Thanks for your perspective.

BentleyBaby

I looked at The Collection, Solutions, Something Blue, Butterflies and Lily's. Here are my "cliffs notes" summaries... haha. The Collection: great designers. dirty, nice but not very professional. Solutions: best showroom in the area. SUPER sweet. Beautiful dresses. Something Blue: very helpful. Nice selection. Butterflies: tiny shop but affordable. Clean. Picky saleslady (when I went). Lily's: looks much better than storefront. Good designers. Helpful girls. In the end, I got my dress from Lily's. I didn't have anything bad to say about them- but the girls at Solutions ARE amazingly sweet and helpful. HTH! Let me know if you have any specific questions.

Pretty Parula

Thanks for the tips, Bentley. Great Cliff's notes! I'd never even heard of Butterflies, so I'll look for that one. I wasn't planning to go to Lily's because I thought that they were primarily a Maggie Sottero place and I haven't really seen any Maggie gowns I like, but it sounds like I better check into them some more. Much appreciated!

adarlingzta

It has been a while since I have been on this board but being a MOH and BM in upcoming weddings has brought me back. I am big on supporting local businesses but only when they offer competitive products and prices. I bought my own gown from Pearls Place b/c no one in the area carried the designer. (Solutions opened about a month after I ordered and were very helpful letting me try on their sample so I could choose jewelry and whatnot) What if you find your dress locally, get a quote from Pearls and go back to the local store and see what they can do? Sure, it is asking them to lose a little profit but it is still giving them the sale. I have learned that dress mark up is nearly 200% so even them cutting some is still a pretty profit. At least this way it is giving them the chance to say no. You don't get what you don't ask for. IDK, just an idea. As for shops, Collection is the only one I have been in recently. The service was not so hot and the dresses were in rough shape (looked like some of them were ones I tried on 5 yrs ago). I think they have a long way to go to compete with Solutions. GL

Pretty Parula

Hey, that's a pretty good idea. Thanks! And thanks for the info about Collection and Solutions. I've made appointments at Solutions, Something Blue, and Carolyn Allen. I still kinda want to go to Priscilla of Boston just to see what it's all about, but four shoppes might be too much for one day. Thanks again.

BentleyBaby

I agree with the other posts also. I was happy to support the local bridal shop. I really wanted to get my dress from Solutions because they were so nice, but I ended up falling in love with another dress they did not carry. I think it's a great suggestion to try asking them about price matching/discounts. They might not be able to beat an online price, but you get the advantage of customer service and you KNOW what dress you're getting.

Pretty Parula

I got to thinking, some folks might not be familiar with Pearl's Place - it IS a brick and mortar bridal boutique, but it's in Louisiana and they carry a ton of designers for lower prices than your average boutique. (Can't remember their deal/why they're able to.) And they happen to ship gowns as well. I'm from Louisiana originally. I *could* fly back to NO and go buy my gown there directly, or I could save the cost of the flight and just ship it. So it's not an online discount warehouse with knock-off gowns. I will actually know which gown I'm getting. I called and spoke to the owner a few weeks ago about a gown I'd tried on in St. Petersburg, and she gave me the style number for the designer and all the details about the dress. It was $1700 in the boutique - her price was $1000. Too big of a difference for me to ignore them, especially since we're paying for this thing entirely on our own. (Not that I'd go spend more money just because my parents offered to pay for the gown or something... you know what I mean though.) And if a local shoppe can match that kind of a difference, even better. Anyway, that might help someone else out there, too.

SarahSmile23

I am familiar with Pearl's Place. It's still a place you are ordering from online instead of the salon that is actually helping you find your dream gown. We paid for our own wedding. We each worked a full time job and a part time job to pay for it. I still paid the extra money to reward the shop that actually helped me find my gown. Maybe I'd feel differently if I had found THE dress online, knew i was going to order it, and then just went someplace local to see what it looks like on me. But I think it's wrong to go into these stores and use their gowns and hours of their staff's time if you already know you aren't going to give them your business. I'm obviously not going to change your mind, but I am still going to post my opinion on it to encourage other knotties to support their local salons to keep them open.

Pretty Parula

Hey, like I said, if I do find a great gown for a great deal at a local shoppe, I'm all for it, and I hope I do. We'll see!

SarahSmile23

Hey, like I said, if I do find a great gown for a great deal at a local shoppe, I'm all for it, and I hope I do. We'll see! Good luck! And don't give up on Maggie gowns. I didn't think I loved them either, but Lily's has some great ones. They have a few stunning limited edition ones.

Pretty Parula

Thanks! One or two other people have separately said the same thing about Maggie gowns, so I'll have to go check out Lily's on my next round of shopping, methinks.