North Carolina-Raleigh-Durham

Where to find a dress?

Hi All,

Ready to start looking for dresses but I have no clue where to go!  I'm on a budget and was thinking of hitting up Bridal Mart and David's Bridal, but my mother is going to try to come in town and she wants the whole boutique experience (which I'm pretty sure I can't afford).  Are there any boutiques in the area that have dresses under $1000?  Where are some good places to look?

Thx!
Lisa

Re: Where to find a dress?

  • AMC516AMC516 member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    I would try Lana Addison's in Cary.  Their gowns range from $1200 to $3500, so a little above your  price range but you will definitely get the experience your mom is looking for.  I purchased my dress there even though I wasn't on a strict budget and I am really happy with them so far.  The girls are so helpful and not pushy at all. 

    http://www.lanaaddison.com/index.php
  • ChadAngelaChadAngela member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    I just went by Bridal Mart yesterday, and was very disappointed.  I had tried on a dress by Allure at a boutique in Charlotte that was absolutely dreamy--with light organza along the bottom 1/3 of the dress.  It was way out of my price range.  So I found the same dress at Bridal Mart (Allure's website says BM is one of their registered sellers), and I am SURE it was a Chinese knock-off.  The dress looked identical, but the organza at the bottom wasn't organza AT ALL!  It was some horrible, thick stiff material that LOOKED identical, but didn't feel the same at all.  I thought that was very strange.  Then, I tried on 6 other dresses--I felt fat in all of them (and I'm not--am a size 6-8 wedding dress, size 4-6 street), and they all fit terribly.  I'd tried on a Maggie Sottero elsewhere, which fit like a dream, so trying on a succession of ill-fitting dresses was not pleasant.  I walked out after only 1 hour. 

    I think Bridal Mart may be ripping people off.  Plus, their prices really weren't that cheap.  Most dresses were 800-900.  The ones on sale were 300-700.  I went to New York Bride and Groom in Charlotte and they were having a sample sale at the same prices. 

    I'm going to look into more boutiques and look for sample sales to get my dress for cheap. 
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  • edited December 2011
    Try Bridal Gallery in MacGregor Village (Cary) and Bridal Boutique on Hillsborough St. in Raleigh.
  • edited December 2011
    i found THE dress at Enchanting Moments in Fuquay Varina.  Everyone there is great to work with except for Lisa, she was pretty rude at my first official dress fitting when it came in. 
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  • edited December 2011
    I second Bridal gallery in McGregor. Although that is not where I purchased my dress. I actually drove to a very cute boutique in downtown new bern for my limited edition maggie dress :)
  • Amber598Amber598 member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Its a bit of a drive but Bridal Mart in Burlington is the place to go!  They let you free roam around the store and they have a huge selection, with prices ranging from a couple hundred and up. 
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  • edited December 2011
    I actually had a different experience from ChadAngela. I definitely agree with her that dressed are more in the 700-900 range, though they do have dresses for cheaper than that. I will say that the only place I had tried on dresses before hand was davids bridal. I was very impressed with the dresses at Bridal Mart (vs davids) and how they fit me (I am a little thicker than she is, I'm normally an 8-10 and I was fitting in the 12-14 in bridal) and I didn't feel wide at all in the dresses that I tried on. It's probably not exactly the boutique experience your mom is looking forward but when you do ask a consult for some help (only thing we asked for help on before we ordered was to find us veils and clips) they were helpful. It's definitely worth at least giving it a shot, in my opinion.
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