Wedding Dress Shopping - Where to Start

Jax1980

I'm planning to go looking at dresses next month, so excited! But I have no idea where to start looking. I live in the city but I'm looking for dresses under $1,500 ($2K tops) and I feel like a lot of the salons here are more expensive than that..maybe I'm wrong though.Any recommendations would be appreciated - city or burbs. TIA!Sorry if there is another post on this somewhere but I can't figure out how to search and it looks like nothing was posted on here recently.

kellybill

White Chicago sells some great sample and "once worn" dresses, and has excellent service. I didn't buy a dress from there, but it was on of my favorite places to go. Good luck!

Sparkette19

You can surely find a gorgeous dress in that price range. I know there are some boutiques that many girls here really like and they're in the 'burbs. My two cents would be to stay away from House of Brides. This is going to sound ridiculous, but I bought my dress there. I didn't get terrible service (it wasn't great), my dress isn't late (yet)...however, a few days after I bought my dress I received this weird letter about some bridal salons going out of business. The letter had no return address on it. It was mailed in a blank envelope and it wasn't on letterhead. It's been deduced on this board that it's from HOB totally bashing the competition. This really didn't sit well with me. So, I refused to get the BM dresses there. I just want my dress to come in and move on. I hate business tactics like that. Sorry, I'll get off my soapbox now.

SoonToBeB

I really liked Eva's on Harlem.The woman that helped me was a middle-aged woman, sweet as can be and she got along with mom and found me the perfect dress for under $1K!!

lrutko

The Crystal Bride in Geneva, Catherine Simms Bridal or A Joyful Occasion. All three are in the suburbs and were wonderful!

LexiMS

I got my dress at Aisle Style in Elmhurst--its Watters and Watters and was under $1500 (as are most from this line, and they are gorgeous dresses!)

tonyandstef

I 2nd A Joyful Occasion in Naperville.  Almost every dress I tried on was around $1500.  Plus, she's super nice.  I found my dress after the 6th one.  Good luck!

sgylling

I went to Shelly's in West Dundee, they don't carry anything over 2K. I ended up getting the 3rd dress I tried on! Although I did try on a bunch after that:) just to be sure. I have heard good things about Wedding Belles (never been) and A'Lamour in Barrington (also havent been) Have fun and good luck!

deedeedor

My dress was also Watters & Watters ($1400) and I got it at Macy's. When we sat down with the host at Macy's, he said their dresses started at $1800, but if you know what you're looking for (they carry Watters dresses, and like PP said, I believe they're all under $2K), there are less expensive options there. Just watch out for alterations- they're a complete racket there. Try White Chicago and Weddings 826 as well.

whitelilies86

I second Shelley's in West Dundee! I just had an appointment there on Saturday and the staff was awesome. Like pp said, they don't have anything over $2k.

shakymcgoogle

If you want to go somewhere in the city, I know Dimitra's has many dresses between $1k and $2k (most of the ones I tried on were between $1200 and $1800).

mocandy555

Even though I still haven't decided on a dress yet, I've looked at a ton of places (also trying to stay at $1,000-$1,500). I really liked: Bridal Boutique of Naperville A Joyful Occasion in Naperville - both had really unique dresses Wedding Belles in Barrington A'Lamour in Barrington White Chicago in Chicago A Crystal Bride in Geneva Even though some are far away, I really found it to be worth the drive. Good Luck!