One of the worst experiences I've ever had!
Having found a dress online, I did a search & luckily, the dress was available at David's Bridal. I had no idea I had to schedule an appointment (with my 1st visit), so I just showed up. The dress just happened to be displayed in the front, so there was little we needed to do 'search' it out. However, I did have to wait about 20 minutes to be helped.
No problem. I understood.
On the 2nd (& subsequent 3rd & 4th visits), I scheduled appointments. My wait time, strangely, began to increase, from 30 minutes to 1 hour!
So that's one thing: long wait times, even with an appointment.
Going back to the 1st visit - although I wasn't looking for bridesmaids dresses at the time, I happened to find a very lovely gown for my bridesmaids. I wasn't absolutely sure on it, & I wanted time for my bridesmaids to give some input (they are, after all, going to be in this thing for half a day). I stated as much to my 'helper', who subsequently told me that the dress is no longer *available. If I was planning on this particular dress I needed to decide TODAY. (Ok, no excuse, but I'm a first time bride & I have no idea how this works, so I have to trust the people who are in the business).
Luckily (?), I had one bridesmaid with me who said that she felt the dress would be perfect & that it should work. So.......I reserved the dress & notified all my bridesmaids that they needed to rush out & place their orders at their respective David's Bridals.
They did just that.
As I said, on visits 2, 3, & 4, I had increasingly long wait times, even with an appointment, but my issues with David's Bridal don't stop there. Beginning on visit #2, they asked when I would be coming in for my "slip fitting". "Slip fitting"? My wedding is in the summer. Why do I need a slip?
I was assured that ALL brides wear slips. "Slip-less" isn't done.
And I needed a strapless bra. The one's that are sold in department stores (which I already owned, by the way) are not "bridal" bras.
Okaaaaaayyyyy......
Then I was told that I "needed" a head piece. I wasn't planning on wearing one. I had already planned to use swarovski hair pins as my hair accessory.
Ok. Maybe I'm just a dumb bride.
And now we hit the veil. I told my helper I wasn't sure I was going to wear one.
I was told, "but this is the one that goes with the dress".
Really? I'm beginning to feel *really* stupid. I had no idea there were so many bridal attire rules.
So now......I'm thinking I found this really nice wedding gown for a VERY decent price ($300), but I find that I'm in the hole a total of $1600!!!!!!! (veil, head piece, slip, bra, & shoes all totaled $1300!)
What turned out to be my final visit was what really prompted me to write this review: When my bridesmaid came with me for a fitting (which, by the way, only includes hemming), she left her dress for the appropriate work to be done. Told that it would be a few weeks, we waited. No call. We called & were told it would take a bit longer. Several weeks later, we called again & were told the same thing. We called a 3rd time & were given a specific day to come in; it would be ready.
We went in......waited, of course.....& were finally told that the dress was "lost".
"Lost"?????? Really???????
And the kicker on this: WE WERE TOLD THEY COULD NOT OFFER A REFUND!
Seriously. My bridesmaid DID NOT GET A REFUND ON A DRESS THAT DAVID'S BRIDAL LOST!
So now I have a bridesmaid with no dress (yes, there are worse things in the world, but this is a review & I'll stick to the relevant issue).
Anyway, I called one of my other bridesmaids & had her read the tag (for make, model #, etc.) in the hopes of finding a used dress, or something......& found out that the dress is not only *available (see 1st visit), but the style is made by several different manufacturers! (The gown was easily replaced from an online vender).
I finally ended up getting an absolutely beautiful gown at another local bridal shop (David's Bridal insists on the 'industry standard' - HA! - of no returns outside of 30 days. I tried to return my on day 34, which was in their possession from day 20).
My 2nd gown - the one I ultimately ended up wearing - was of a higher quality, & although more expensive as a single gown ($1200), it ended up being a much less overall expense than if I had just purchased it alone (which is what I wanted & expected to do).
Bottom line: they really take advantage of brides. Most brides are caught up in the excitement of their day & the task of picking out a gown that truly expresses who they are, & most don't understand that 'bridal protocol' is what the BRIDE decides, & not something that is dictated by some kind of bridal convention. read more