Cocoa Couture

HappyMillerGirl · July 2010

I have an appointment for this Saturday at Cocoa Couture. I'd appreciate advice or info. Thanks!

emilyandjon2011 · July 2010

Sorry to say but I was just there 2 weeks ago and I was not impressed. The guy that waited on me couldn't have cared less. He was rude not only to me but to the 2 other girls waiting for their appointment. The owner was pretty busy gossiping about one of her current clients - which completely turned me off.

My mom and looked at each other and left. Probably as bad as the Cinderella Shop! Just my 2 cents.

rumer1017 · July 2010

I didn't have a great experience there either. I also had a Saturday appointment and it was rushed; their appointments are only one hour, so keep that in mind. They weren't overall very nice. Though if you have an unlimited or large budget, you may have entirely different experience. I spoke to a guy on the phone there more than once and he was beyond rude. I will say that my mom did end up buying her dress there and while they weren't really friendly, they weren't as rude as the first time around. Though, it's not like they remember who you are unless you're one of "their" brides. Good luck!

leigord · July 2010

I did not have a great experience there either. They seem disorganized and kind of rush you through. My FI's cousin got her dress from there...it was beautiful but she had tons of problems with it. Their service is not good.

amatadei · July 2010

I disagree.... My cousin and I both got our dresses there and were beyond thrilled with the service. We had different consultants and they were both so knowledgable and helpful. They were able to read between the lines and discern what it was we were both looking for when we ourselves didn't know. Sure, there were some duds among the dresses at first, but each of these ladies were friendly and supportive and were able to find us our dream gowns.

The guy that works there is not exactly "fabulous" but that's because he's not "fabulous" if you get my drift. If you want a man who is going to give you the Randy Fenoli treatment (from Say Yes to the Dress), you are going to have to go Kleinfeld's. Cocoa Couture does not have the Kleinfeld's selection, but they do have a decent number of gowns in most people's budgets (if you want something under $1000, you are going to want to go to a David's Bridal).

All in all, though, the ladies there are wonderful, and I have been in there with several brides, including my cousin. I'm sorry that you ladies did not have a good experience but all of mine have been lovely and I will give CC nothing but glowing reviews!

keithandkristi · July 2010

I got my gown at CC. My initial appointment too was on a Saturday. RUSHED, and I wasn't even with a real consultant. They had me with one of the seamstress's. Which wasn't the best experience, because customer service really isn't their forte if you know what I mean. Josh (the guy who answers the phone) I believe is a family member i.e. son in law, son...something like that. He was very hot and cold with me...sometimes really nice, sometimes awful. I eventually found a gown there that was what I was looking for and fell in love with, plus it was a sample so I got it for under $1000, even though it was originally over. Sometimes if you are lucky you can get a gown for under, but like PP said...over is most likely what they have. I was really upset with them for my first visit too, because they have a designer who they contract with. Which is great, however my budget was not in line with his work. They basically pushed him onto me, he did this sketch, showed me fabrics. I was quite honestly embarrassed to tell them what my "real" budget was because of how over the top this guy was. When I told him I would like to look at the samples on the racks...you could tell he was miffed.

Once I bought my gown. I was told that only half was needed for a deposit, then the rest should be paid in full by the time alterations begin. FINE. Sounds great! I get a call one month later stating that I didn't make my payment for that month. Here...they never explained (the owner is the one who did the paper work with me) that you need to make payments every month after putting a deposit on a dress. After that was solved...they seemed to be nice. Not the best service, however I have had two friends go in there and have AWESOME consultants. I felt like being plus size was something that set me a part and that maybe they looked at me differently...but more than likely that was in my head. I had some issues getting my veil in. I had to harrass them...they would say they would call me back after they checked and never would. After being told "No, your stuff isn't here on Wednesday...I get told Friday when I called, that it had been there a WHOLE week. Just laziness. Which pi$$ed me off. Overall...loved my dress...and the seamstress who did my alterations. They have really pretty stuff. If I could make any suggestions it would be to assert yourself...and if you don't get a good feeling, don't continue with the consultation. Good luck!

Heykristip · July 2010

My first experience with Cocoa Couture was at a bridal show at the New Cumberland Holiday Inn. At that point I hadn't tried a dress on but had to visit their stand to be entered for the bridal show prizes. They did make me feel way behind that I hadn't looked at dresses yet (I'm getting married in December, so at this point it was a little under a year), so I tried a dress on there and it looked nice, but I wasn't going to buy the first thing I tried on. The lady that helped me (Theresa) is also the seamstress and she was nice, in fact she and another lady were discussing a sample dress they had in my size that they thought would look perfect on me. So, I decide to book an appointment and Theresa remembered me and ran right upstairs to get the sample she was telling me about and we found a few other dresses to try on. Well wouldn't you know the sample dress they had in mind for me, was my dress! I loved it and because it was a sample I ended up paying $750 for a $1400 dress! I did read on the receipt that you had to make payments monthly, but I didn't I just paid half when I bought it and half a few weeks ago. I spoke with Theresa and she's going to begin my alterations in September. So, so far so good with Cocoa Couture...and I hope it continues!

amatadei · July 2010

I will say this, after reading several of your posts... Don't go on Saturday! haha! Perhaps that is the issue, here, and why there is such a disparity between a few positive experiences and other experiences that are, well, less than that. Perhaps, HappyMillerGirl, you should find a different time to go. Looking back on my experiences with CC, I was only there one Saturday and it was a little overwhelming just how busy they were. That's the nature of the beast-- you are going to a private, family owned shop. They are smaller (not a Kleinfelds, who could do something like 12 appointments at once) and do not have the huge staff or space to accomodate crazy Satuday brides.

All of the other times I have gone there, we were not rushed at all. In fact, my cousin's initial appointment ran over by an hour and WE had to be the ones to finish the appointment because she had another one scheduled on the west shore-- the consultant was all about finding her the perfect dress.

In terms of service, our whole family has nothing but rave reviews for them! My cousin got engaged and married in a little under five months, which made most of the consultants she met with blanche and tell her that it was nearly impossible. CC accomodated her tight schedule and got her her dress in plenty of time. We got all our BM dresses there, too, and it was the same deal for that particularly rushed wedding... everything came in in plenty of time. The seamstress there was wonderful and created a corset for the bride's dress and made lovely sleeves for one of the more modest girls.

Lesson here-- reschedule your appointment for a weekday!

rumer1017 · July 2010

I would agree with amatadei about dress shopping on a Saturday. I think that could be said for most bridal shops though. I think shopping during a weekday or an off night is key. There are less distractions and people in the stores!

CC asked flat out what my budget was and when I told the woman she scoffed at me, made a face and said she didn't think she'd be able to help me at all. I gave her a baseline and before I could tell her the budget was flexible she made that comment. I did love a dress I tried on there but would have never bought from them because of the service. She told me she would give me $200 off the dress I liked only if when I came back that was the only dress I tried on. I ended up going over budget on a different dress at Tara's in Camp Hill.

Tara's is also a family owned, small shop. And they were much nicer than CC. I should also mention that woman who was my consultant at CC was also the owner.

Jessi16 · July 2010

I went to CC on a Friday for dress shopping last month and had a great experience there. I had Danielle as my consultant and she walked me through the dresses and helped me pick out ones that I liked. I wasn't forced into something that I didn't want to try on. If you know what you want and can say no, you shouldn't have any issues there. Unforunately for me, I wasn't impressed with their selection and left the store without finding the dress.

I will say, I have been to the big city stores, Pronovias and Kleinfeld's. Kleinfeld's was the worst experience I have had to date, it was nothing like you see on TV! I ended up buying my dress at Renaissance Bridal in York. Upon pulling up, my mother thought the store was going to be horrible. When we entered Jon, the owner, greeted us and I told him exactly what I was looking for. He actually listened and the first dress he put me in, was the dress. So I highly recommend them as well and the service was amazing, great selection, and so much more than I could ask for.

But good luck at CC on Saturday and hopefully you will find the dress!

ashleybombshell · July 2010

Jessi16 - I know it's irrelevant to the conversation, but I would love to hear about your experience at Kleinfeld's. I'm obsessed with SYTTD and everyone talks about how you get spoiled there, so I'd love to hear the other side of the coin!

HappyMillerGirl · July 2010

Thank you everyone! I am going to cancel my appointment on Saturday and try for a weekday. I just started looking so I know I have some time. This really is a wonderful board!

rumer1017 · July 2010

Let us know how it goes and if you find anything!

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