dress shop

scottie_mommy · July 2010

Hi ladies,
Im new to this board. I am planning a destination wedding in Maui, but live in San Antonio. I am setting appointments with different dress shops here in town. Does anyone have a good (or bad) experience with a shop that you are willing to share?
Not sure what to look for or expect from a shop. I know the style of dress I am looking for. I have used search engines to find dress shops, but it seems that every single shop, except one, has only bad reviews! I do realize that an unhappy customer is more likely to write a review than a happy one, so could someone please share experiences, tips and/or advice for me?

Thanks in advance!

scottie_mommy · July 2010

I called the bridal connection and the woman on the phone was extremely helpful, she also told me about a special they have for this month and about the time frame for ordering a dress. But all of their online reviews are awful!!
I'm torn. Should I give them a try, or will I end up disappointed in the long run?

rumbler92 · July 2010

I strongly encourage you to go to Mayfair Bridal. They were wonderful to me after a horrible experience at the Ingram David's Bridal. My bridesmaids are buying their dresses there as well.

slharbi1 · July 2010

Do not under any circumstances go to Bella Notte on 1604. Dresses are not coming in on time and they are having to go buy other dresses because they do not come through.

scottie_mommy · July 2010

thanks ladies. I hadn't even heard of Bella Notte.
I have an appointment at Mayfair on the 26th. That will be my first time trying on a dress.
Any other shops I should try (or steer clear of)?

jsgpenguin · July 2010

I liked Mayfair, and also the Alfred Angelo on 410 by northstar mall. Debi's Bridal by San Pedro was also good. I ended up buying my dress at David's Bridal by Northstar even though I was totally against it initially. My salesperson there has been really helpful and she has been there every time I've gone. Also my dress came in 2 weeks and was on sale so I came in WAY under budget (at least for the dress...nothing else has worked that way)! I hated Bridal Salon! The salesperson there told me she hates her job and hates wedding dresses. Also they have very limited sizes so if you are a perfect size 10 it'll be okay but if you're too small or too big, you will be out of luck. I was not comfortable ordering (and paying for) a dress without having a decent feel as to how it would look on, and that was their expectation at Bridal Salon.

Ang2925 · July 2010

I can vouch for the Bridal Connection, after my first dress disaster which I bought from the Alfred Angelo on IH_10 I was immediately impressed with the professionalism of the folks at Bridal Connection. I bought my second dress in March and it came in at the end of June which was the time frame they gave me, their seamstress is also very good. She doesn't communicate very well in English but got her point across and regardless of the language difficulties her experience was obvious, I had my second fitting last week and it went great. My mom and sister bought their dresses from two different shops and will be using her to do their alterations as well.

Oh and I went to Mayfair to look at bridesmaids dresses and I called in advance to make an appointment and I was told for that you didn't need one. When I showed up with all my girls to look I was asked if I had an appointment. I told the sales person that I called and was told that it wasn't necessary. They were neither helpful or rude, just there so my experience with them was so so. But I think it all depends on who you work with wherever you go.

Good luck finding the dress of your dreams!!

mva1013 · July 2010

I liked both Alfred Angelos that are here in SA. Julian Gold was amazing! I would avoid Bridal Galleria and Davids Bridal.

bmcoronado · July 2010

Loved Mayfair! In fact, my dress just came in so I need to go try it on. :-)

egonzalez1986 · July 2010

I currently have an appointment at the David's Bridal on Ingram. Now you have me wondering if I should cancel. Why was your experience so horrible?

amanda_steve12 · July 2010

I went to Bridal Connection and had a great experience with Amber and Bailey. They were overly sweet. They helped me search through several catalogues and helped me try on about 15 dresses. I just wasn't wowed with the selection of gowns.

David's Bridal was the worst place I went to. The sales associate tried pushing a dress on me and kept saying if I left w/o placing a deposit that it was the last one in stock and I would never be able to order it again. Then she kept urging me to schedule a second fitting with her three days later and I just wasn't ready to commit to anything. Too pushy!

I had tried Alfred Angelo on a Friday afternoon one day and was very disgusted in the treatment I received. They were not busy and the women who was supposed to be helping me wouldn't let me try on any dresses. The most she did was to take a dress out of the bag so I could take a picture of it. This was the Alfred Angelo by North Star Mall.

I tried the Bridal Galleria and had the most wonderful experience with Mary. Both Mary and my friend helped me select dresses to try on, and one of them ended up being my dream dress. I returned to the store one week later to take my grandmother, to see the dress I selected and Mary was as delightful as ever. I have so many good things to about the Bridal Connection!!

scottie_mommy · July 2010

I called several shops looking for 3 particular dresses. Turns out they are part of a new collection and noone has them yet.

However, Maria at Bridal Connection gave me the design numbers of a few other dresses that are similar that they have. She told me about a sale and the expected wait time for a dress to come in (without me even asking) if they are this helpful on the phone, I hope they are just as helpful in person. I think I will try them and Mayfair, so far they seem to be the best bets.

Thanks for everyone's input...keep it coming!

p.s. I will let you guys know how it goes next Monday after my appt.

abcdcowboys8183 · July 2010

I went to the Bridal Connection in Rolling Oaks Mall and it was wonderful!!! I can't say enough good things about them! Bailey was the one who helped me out and she just kinda asked what I liked and didn't like and all the dresses she picked for me were AMAZING!!! The prices were excellent and I was so happy!!! I'm pretty sure I found THE dress there!!! I HIGHLY recommend Bridal Connection.

schook1975 · July 2010

I went to Mayfair Bridal this weekend and had a horrible experience. The girl that was helping me had not knowledge of the inventory and didn't seem interested at all in helping me find a dress. We left there and went to Alfred Angelo on 410 and the staff there was wonderful. I had heard so many glowing reviews of Mayfair and was extremely disappointed with the lack of customer service.

scottie_mommy · July 2010

Ok ladies, here's the verdict....
I went to Mayfair Bridal for my appointment. I have the sales girl 7 pictures of gowns that I liked. She and the other girl oohed and ahhed over the pics and told me how pretty the dresses were. Then she took me over to the rack where "destination gowns" are located and let me and my bridesmaids look through the rack.
I was kind of surprised. I thought she would look through the racks, since she knows the inventory and I don't. So my MOH and I pulled a few dresses and then the sales girl came back with a suggestion, which I added to the pile.
Long story short I tried on over 20 gowns in an hour and a half. There were two maybes, but nothing wowed me. I was surprised at how little interaction we got from the sales consutant. My mom and bridesmaids started to pull dresses and veils while the sales girl sat at the counter.
I quickly realized that the dresses in the pics I borught in did not flatter me at all. So I told her what I wanted and how I wanted it to fit and she agreed, but didn't suggest anything else. So we moved on to bridesmaid dresses. I guess at that point she knew we werent going to buy that day. So she gave me her card and we left.

As we were getting in the car, my mom, future MIL, grandma, 2 sisters and my MOH all said, okay where to next? They knew I hadn't found the one. So I called Bridal Connection at Rolling Oaks Mall and asked if we could come in 30 minutes since I hadnt made an appt, Maria said to come on in.
At both places we had the shop mostly to oursleves, except for a few people stopping in to make payments, appts, etc. But at both places I was the only bride trying on dresses.
When we walked into Bridal Connection, my MOH and I headed for the register where Maria and another girl were sorting paperwork. I didn't even get to pull out my pics, I described to her what I wanted and she said, "don't worry, I'm an expert and I will find you your dress" Just then my sister comes over and said "mom and MIL are calling u" I told her to wait while I spoke to Maria, and Maria said, go ahead I am going to finish writing up this order from earlier and I will be right there. SO I went to see what the fuss was about, and there was a gorgeous gown on a manneuin. I said, "oh my God, I have to try that" And Maria was right behind me, so she pulled the gown off the mannequin and asked me about my price range. This gown was $129 over my price range, but she assured me that if this was the one, she could find a coupon somewhere and gave me a wink. The minute I put it on I grinned from ear to ear. That was exactly what I wanted the fit to be like. I tried a few more since it was the first one at that shop, and every dress Maria had pulled for me looked great. But they didn't compare to the first one. So I ordered my dress!!! It should be in late November.
She was kind of bossy, especially towards my bridesmaids. But she definately knows what she's doing.
So if you want to run the shop and browse the racks yourself go to Mayfair. If you know what u want, and want someone to find you exactly what you want then go to Bridal Connection.

I saw a couple of dresses on the rack that I looked at and Maria, said that's pretty but not on you. Which is the honesty I was looking for. I didn't want someone to "yes" me. I wanted honesty, and that's what I got at Bridal Connection.

BabyBlueNTexas · July 2010

Mayfair Bridal is the bomb. I always get the best service there, and they hold the dress till your wedding. Not many places will do that for you.

abcdcowboys8183 · July 2010

Scottie_Mommy which dress did you get from Bridal Connection? That is where I am getting mine and the one I am getting was on the mannequin also! Who helped you besides Maria?

scottie_mommy · July 2010

Hey abcdcowboys,
I ordered Adorae from Sottero & Midgley. Which dress did you get?
Billie was on the mannequin in the window and my MOH fell in love with that one. She said she is going back to Bridal Connection for that dress when her time comes.

There was a younger blonde girl working at the same time as Maria, but she was helping other people. Maria was the only one to help me.

http://www.sotteroandmidgley.com/dress.aspx?style=JSM1307

That's my dress!!!!

abcdcowboys8183 · July 2010

Hey scottie_mommy! Your dress is so beautiful!!! Mine is Mori Lee. http://www.morilee.com/Bridals/Blu/dressint.php?idves=4701&idcat=1&idscat=3&npic=0&npag=1&bsel= That should take you to my dress.

scottie_mommy · July 2010

we seem to have similar tastes abcdcowboy. That dress is gorgeous!
Corset back and balloon hemline on both of our dresses...which I love!

I didn't see that one when we went in.
When is your wedding? And where?

We are going to Maui and will be getting married on the beach, I was looking for a Destination dress when I went in, but none of them were form fitting and I wanted something a little sexy. So I am going to have the top petticoat removed from this dress to lighten it a little.

abcdcowboys8183 · July 2010

My dress was also on a mannequin in the front window I believe. At least, it was when I went in to retry the dress on.

I am getting married May 21, 2011 at Castle Avalon which is off of 3009 and Highway 46.

Wow, Maui! I bet that is going to be beautiful!!! When are you getting married?

scottie_mommy · July 2010

June 8, 2011.

We got engaged in Oahu and loved Hawaii (it was our first trip) and we promised ourselves that we would go back someday to a different island.
When our guest list started to spiral out of control (with names of people we haven't seen since we were children) we stopped and decided to get married in Hawaii and only invite our closest friends and family.
It will actually work out the same financially, except we won't be forced to stand in a recieving line for hours! lol

aricherry · September 2010

Hi, I need to but in.... I am from Houston, and I really want to go to Bridal Connection also and maybe even Mayfair to try to find the dress. We have many stores in Houston, however their are no stores with large selections of the designers I want to view. I want to make sure that
A)Mayfair and Bridal Connection have large selections

Both places have reasonable pricing. My budget is under 1000.00. as a matter of fact the lower the better so I would even buy a dress in the 700.00 range. Do you know if either of these places have dresses in my price range? Thanks so much!

krquesada · September 2010

I am not sure about Mayfair Bridal, I have never been there. But i know for sure David's Bridal will have something in the 700-1000 range. Plus they are always having bridal gown sales that give an extra 99-300 off.

I can't promise they give great customer service, because when I have gone in before, on multiple occassions, they were rude! But if you can find an amazing dress in your price range, then screw it!

Best of luck.

scottie_mommy · September 2010

Mayfair has a good amount of dresses to choose from and the dresses were mostly under $1000. I actually tried on 2 that were around $300 or 400, which was surprising to me.

I haven't been to Bridal Connection.

I find it hard to believe that you can't find a shop in Houston. For a while I was thinking I might go to Houston to look for my dress becuase the selections seemed so much bigger at the stores there. When I went to several different dress designer's websites they listed stores in Houston as authorized retailers, but not stores in San Antonio.

Either way, best of luck. I'm sure you can find a dress in your price range. And don't be afraid to ask for a discount. I got $300 off of my dress at Bridal Galleria. If it wouldn't have been for the discount I might still be looking.

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