Eva's, White Carriage, Wolsfelts??? Any experiences??

nicoleann87

Has anyone bought their dress from Eva's of Oak Lawn, Wolsfelts Victorian Bridal or White Carriage Bridal?? I am looking at making appointments at these places, but wanted to get feedback on anyone's experiences there!  Or if you have any other suggestions! Thank you in advance  

Love is Bald

I'm hoping to purchase my dress from Eva's in Oak Lawn.

I bought a bridesmaid dress there and my cousin bought her bridal gown there and we both had excellent experiences there -- i'd recommend them!

Michelle_G

I bought my gown at White Carriage.  Last night was my final fitting.   (you can see my AW post on the Aug10 board - PIP)   I bought all my prom dresses from there in HS, but it's under new ownership now.  The ladies there are absolutely wonderful.  The prices are great, too.  I took about 7 pics with me to show what I was looking for and they hooked me up!!   This was the only place I shopped at.  I bought my dress after 1.5hrs and about 7 dresses. 

I also helped a friend pick out her gown, and do all her fittings at Woldfeldt's.  They have an awesome shop there, but I feel like White Carriage is a personal experience (just my opinion, though).

Good luck!  I think those 3 are great shops to check out.

Ainslie325

I didn't go to Eva's of Oak Lawn, but did buy my gown through Eva's of Orland.  Different ownership entirely, but, if you're interested, there is a review in my Married Bio.

Believeinlove817

I just bought my gown at A Joyful Occasion in Naperville. It's a small shop but they have a ton of dresses and a bunch on sale. I was there 45 minutes before the owner Freyda found my dress. It was the 5 th dres I tried on. It was a discontinued dress that was originally $1600...my price $699. I had a really good experience there. It was the only place I went. Just a suggestion! Good luck in your dress shopping.

JennaJim

I got my wedding dress from Wolsfelts, absolutely amazing experience!  I will be picking up my dress in two weeks and I love it.  They have great service and affordable prices.  When I got my dress they offered a 10% discount if it was your first time there.  I ended up getting my bridesmaid dresses and tuxes there as well.  They have excellent customer service.  Ask for Andrea if you go!

morgie44

I looked for dresses at all three stores...I got my dress at Wolsfelts. 
White Carriage:  They didn't really carry many dresses in the style I was looking for.  They had a lot of dresses that were super princessy and just not what I wanted, and I felt they had a pretty small selection overall.  They do carry Casablanca and Maggie Sottero, so if you are interested in some of their dresses, this would be a good place to go.

Eva's HUGE selection of dresses in a really wide range of prices.  The store was kind of dumpy though.  THey are very secretive about who makes the dresses there and the sales girl I worked with was really pushy, I went in to see one particular dress, and she kept bringing me dress after dress just trying to make a sale. 

Wolsfelt:
I enjoyed my experience there overall, but they flat out lied to me about the designer of my dress.  I was told that it was by"a local designer"  when actually it was a Spanish dress designer.  I knew deep down they weren't being truthful, but in the end I loved my dress and I searched high and low to find it online to find the designer name and couldn't (until the seamstress later told me)  Turns out it was a designer that they were the only store in IL that carried this designer, so I would have had to buy it from them anyway, so why the lies??? That really peeved me, but some people don't care aboout the designer names ( the only reason I did was to know if the price I was paying was reasonable or not... didn't want to be paying for a Mercedes and getting a Kia sort of thing) So if that isn't a big deal to you, then I would definitely recommend them over the other two stores.  Their salepeople were great as were the seamstresses, it's just the management has less than ethical business practices at times. 

kgrunow

Just as an FYI I got a letter in the mail about Eva's saying that they are in debt and many brides are not getting their dresses. Also that it might go bankrupt. The letter was anonymous so I do not know how accurate it is. Just something to thing about.

Ainslie325

kgrunow:

House of Brides is behind those letters.  They are absolutely false, and, IMO, a disgusting attempt to drive folks away from their largest competitors because they're not able to offer the kind of experience to brides that results in come-backs and referrals.  Usually, folks who receive those letters remember having typed their personal information into the computer log-in system at HOB.  I know for a fact that they sent the letter to me because I deliberately misspelled my name in order to track who's misusing/selling my personal information.

Additionally, I had an awful experience at HOB and wouldn't recommend them to my worst enemy.

anglgrl718

I rarely post here but felt I had to with this. I got my dress from Eva's of Oak Lawn and would never want anyone to experience what I did. Now part of this was my fault i'll admit but the way I was treated was uncalled for. First off I had to call to find out that my dress was in in the first place. Once I got there for my first fitting I was thrown in a room with my dress and told that I couldn't even look at it in the big mirror again as that was saved for brides trying to pick a dress. Since they had already made the sale with me I didn't count anymore. I sat in my room for 45 minutes waiting for someone to come back and when I went to find someone they just told me I was done and to leave the dress in the room and go, mymom had to help me out of it because no one came to help me!! They didn't even try to sell me any jewelry, veil, or shoes even though I said I was interested. And then I went through some personal things and had to have the wedding date changed, this is where my fault comes in. I didn't call until after the intended wedding date to let them know because of all the other things going on and they told me they would see if my dress was still there. I waited a weekend then called back and they told me again that they would look and call me back, no call. My mother finally called back and they told her that they purged their inventory of dresses that were not picked up and gave them away to Goodwill. My mom had to beg them to just check, and thank the Lord they found it. I picked it up right away. I thought I was going to go insane through the whole process!! I do not recommend them AT ALL!!!