Missouri-St Louis

wedding dress...

Does anyone have any positive or negative experiences to share about where to shop for my wedding dress in the St. Louis/St. Charles area?

Re: wedding dress...

  • Bridal Connections in Florissant is amazing.  It is a pretty small shop, but they are great to work with and if they don't have something you love, they can get it.

    Prices are great too!  If you are the right size to get one off the rack, you can save a bundle!  
  • I used Simply Elegant downtown and had a great experience.  They also were a pleasure to work with for my long distance bridesmaids- they ordered the dresses in the same lot and mailed them to them when they came in so they could be altered.  

    I'm in a wedding soon and we're using The Bridal Shoppe in Festus and they won't ship my bm dress to me (I live in the DC area now).  No feedback on lot/color and quality yet because the dresses aren't in.
    White Knot
    Stand up for something you believe in. White Knot
  • Simply Elegant Downtown is awesome!
  • If you can find someone who can do alterations then Elite Bridal in St. Charles is someplace to look. They're going out of business at the end of April so it's only what they have in store, but the prices are to die for. My dress was originally over $1000 but I got everything (dress, veil, headband, shoes, and shaw) for under $800. Most dresses are also really only in sizes 8 and up so it might not work if your super skinny. But defintely someplace to atleast look at. 
    PersonalMilestone Wedding Countdown Ticker
  • David's Bridal is a NIGHTMARE!!! I will NOT be choosing them for myself or my bridesmaids, obviously. I have been in A LOT of weddings and EVERY one of them that chose that place had nothing but problems! Not just one of us the bride, bridesmaids,flower girls.. The employees were just plain rude on top of it. Just thought I'd warn ya stay clear!
  • Loved Claries Bridal.  I was hesitant at first because it is about a 45 minute drive... but worth every minute of it! Katie is awesome!!!
    Wedding Countdown Ticker
  • I'm pretty sure Katie is the gal that waited on my bride there. I did like HER.

    Didn't like anything else about the place. We had to wait 20 minutes after the start of my bride's appointment while they worked on a couple of girls' prom dresses (seriously?).

    They're really dodgy if you try to make an evening appointment (like, they're open later on Thursday, but I could not get the gal on the phone to tell me HOW late. She kept saying, "we have an opening at 6." "Later is better. How late are you open?" "*silence*... we have an opening at 6")
    And this is because you have to make an appointment to pick up the bridesmaid dresses...
    When we showed up for this appointment (requiring my taking off of work early) we just waited around for 10 minutes before a gal randomly pointed in a single dressing room and said, "oh, your dresses are in there" to the three bridesmaids.
    Then it took them a long time to pull up our paperwork to sign (even though they knew we were coming)... and then the gal acted huffy when I wasn't signing right away because I was busy inspecting the dress.

    And I don't trust the gal that measured me AT ALL.

    She said, "I think you need a 20". I wear a 14-16 normally but I know that these things run small so I said fine.
    She did not mention that sizes 18 and over were plus sized and therefore $20 more. I found this out later after wondering what this random extra 20 was chicken scratched on my receipt.
    And now... I'm paying my tailor $170 to take the stupid thing in to a 16 because it was way, way too big. (she has to take the zipper off and redo the pleats in the back).
    I remember when I picked the thing up they asked, "would you like name of one of our recommended tailors?" No. No thank you.

    Soooo...
    I liked Katie when she was helping the bride.

    I like that the brides try on upstairs so it's a little more private (though there are usually 2-3 brides trying on things at once).


    But overall from what I experienced, there was a lot lacking.
  • I've checked out a few places now, so I wanted to share my experiences. 

    I, too, loved Simply Elegant and would love to buy my dress from them. Unfortunately I didn't find anything I loved, but if I find a dress from a designer they carry I might have them order it.

    Wedding Gallery out in St Charles is, unfortunately, sketchy. I really like thier selection, and they carry a designer that I'm interested in (I know because I went to a trunk show), but none of their sample dresses have labels. When you ask who the designer is they'll tell you it's a private/exclusive label... but won't assure you the dress doesn't come from a knock off factory in China. I really wanted to like them, but can't support those kind of ethics (removing labels is illegal). Owner was kinda pushy too.

    Kinda meh about Clarice's -- everyone was nice and friendly, but wasn't loving the selection... not as many newer styles as I had hoped. 

    Blossom's Bridal is small and on the inexpensive side, but very cozy and laid back. 

    The Ultimate Bride -- great, especially if you're looking for lace dresses. The Paloma Blancas are awesome too. Very nice, not pushy.

    Robin's Bridal Mart -- not sure if the woman who helped me was just having an off day or if she generally doesn't care about potential customers, but I was not impressed. It might have been because I started asking if they had gotten in any new 2012 dresses in (this was February-ish) and they didn't have many, but I was written off after that. They didn't have a large selection either.
     
  • Ah yeah. Didn't love Robin's Bridal Mart either. My bride had an appointment there too and the service was even worse. And it isn't private AT ALL. It felt like she was trying on dresses in a K-Mart or something.

    I had some things made at The Enchanted Bride on Olive.
    They don't have a huge selection, but they have really, really well made stuff. They can also do customs.
    It's very small and intimate there.

    I liked Ultimate Bride OK.
    They made me wait 15 minutes after the start of the appointment though. And I was with my mother and a friend and there was only one chair and they didn't ask us if we wanted extra chairs for 10 minutes in. And they set us next to the phone which kept ringing off the hook and they never answered it and it was pretty annoying...
    But the gal that helped me was really nice. There was also an upstairs area so it was pretty quiet, and there were some nice dresses for the price point.
  • Well after visiting SEVERAL stores, I ended up falling in love with one at Clarice's on Hampton. It was all of the dresses in which I kind of liked all into one.  It's gorgeous! I can say that I refuse to deal with Ultimate Bride because they are linked to SAVVI and I hate them and their pushyness so I skipped that place.  I can say that Wedding Gallery (there are two) the cheaper/normal one had a lot of dresses but they wouldn't let me look thru them... the owner just wanted to stick me in something and she made me feel like I was in a second hand shop.  I was not impressed by their selection of dresses but they had a lot of jewelry I may look into later.  I liked Brides by Demetrios, I felt like it was a very "good bridal experience" i had an amazing consultant and the store was nice, clean and new which I liked.  A lot of places seemed old, musty, and some were dirty.  If I'm buying a WHITE dress I expect the place to be nice.  One place I went to smelled of smoke.... not a fan.... Robyn's bridal had a small selection but the lady was nice.  At first I thought she wouldn't be much help because she was MUCH older than I, but she really knew her stuff, just not a ,lot of selection to choose from... I also agree with horrible experiences at David's Bridal.  Every time I have been a bridesmaid I have gotten treated horrible and the incorrect size of dress so I skipped them as well.  Went to a place in Florissant, nice people, lots of dresses, just didn't have MINE.  Went to a place out in Lake Saint Louis....they had round sale racks... 4 of them.... that's it... went to a place near dardine prarie... not a good selection at all.  nice, clean, friendly, but small selection of dresses!! Anyways, love my dress and its super unique.  We ordered a corset to add into it so it will be different from the dress they normally sell.  Also someone at work told me after purchasing my dress that she got her dress about 20 years ago from there and the place that they recommend for alterations (sandy's) is outstanding.  She said they sinched her butt in that gown so good that it looked as if they made the dress around her lol.  I had some of these other places on my list to search, however, I just didn't want to go anywhere else after finding THE DRESS lol It's so much more real after you find the dress!!  I also liked that Clarices allowed me to take pictures and think it over for a day... they weren't pushy and it was nice to take a picture and stare at it overnight lol.  Especially after I missed it when we left.  I look at the pictures at least once a day, I cant wait to get it in!  Good thing I ordered it when I did too because it won't be ready until December or January because most of it is hand made since its one of their Clarice's Catoure dresses.  Hope this helps anyone who is looking and reads this.

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