Yes, I know they get a lot of bad reviews. But I live right in Manchester, so I went there anyway. Here's my experience if anyone wants a recent review of the place.
CN: Frustrating is how I would describe my overall experience there. They did, eventually, get everything right, but their customer service, to concur with a previous poster regarding them, is abysmal. Go to a boutique vs an Alfred Angelo or David's Bridal. I went to Montage in Niantic looking for my mom's dress and the experience there versus AA & DB was like night and day! The owner there made the point that at a boutique, you deal with somebody who has a career in bridal, not a career in retail. A boutique will be more than happy to work with your budget and out of town BMs, with the bonus that they actually know what they are doing.
Long story: I ordered my gown (
http://www.alfredangelo.com/collections/styles/850) but I wanted it with the shrug that is on their belle gown (
http://www.alfredangelo.com/collections/styles/206) The shrug is actually just a detachable piece of fabric, because you can get the belle gown with or without it.
Well, at the time of ordering, they told me I couldn't just order the shrug from belle with another gown. Annoying, but OK whatever. So instead they ordered an extra piece of fabric, which could then be made into an identical shrug. Also, SN, they told me at that point in time that alterations would probably cost me around $400, thanks to my big booty being two sizes larger than my chest and waist.
10 weeks pass, I get my gown. Luckily it fits perfectly and I only need a hem, a bustle and to attach my shrug. But the fabric they ordered for the shrug didn't come with my gown. I would have expected it takes less time to cut a piece of fabric than sew a wedding gown, but they explained that it comes from a different factory. Fine, whatever.
I spent the following month calling or stopping in a couple times a week to check on the status and kept getting the same response "It hasn't shipped yet so we don't have a tracking number but it should get here soon." After a month of that, I put my b!tch pants on, and told them to cancel my order and that I'd just use a piece of tulle from the bolt I have at home since the ivory is close enough to my gown anyway, and I'm tired of getting the same BS answer. I also mentioned my annoyance that all I wanted in the first place was the shrug from the Belle gown, and I think it's ridiculous that they have this whole marketing display behind their cash registers talking about customizing your gown when that is obviously not the case.
The manager looks into it further since I'm kind of being a total B in front of a few other customers, and finds out that the merchandising department asked the store three months prior to specify further what fabric I wanted. And then she found out that she actually CAN just order the shrug from the belle gown /face palm.
I just picked up the shrug today, so that only took six weeks longer than my gown. I'm not sure if they put a rush on it since I was given the run around, and they also didn't charge me the $8 difference between the shrug and the fabric price. (after an argument about whether I paid for the fabric to begin with - which luckily I had the receipt, and they were able to verify.)
So now on to alterations - which by the way, I won't be going back there. They don't need any more of my business after all that. But seriously - I would like to been able to get the same end result by just being my normally pleasant self.