I've been to 3 total bridal shops so far for gown appointments and Effie's has my favorites. As…read moresoon as you walk in, you're asked to take your shoes off. They have pink slippers for you to use, or you can go barefoot. The entrance also has a nice little waiting area with comfy couches and a great view of all the dresses.
Once you check in, you're greeted by your stylist. I should say that before your appointment, Effie's sends you a survey that includes your budget, styles you love, and more about you, so your stylist should have a general idea of what you like and what you can afford. Our stylist asked those questions again and had some dresses pulled for me to try on. More on that later!
She lead us through the store and described each area of the store, including the 'off the rack' section, then gave me 5 tags to choose dresses I wanted to try on and let me and my group loose to find a gown. The off the rack section is sorted by size and is exactly how it sounds - you take the dress off the rack (normally at a discounted price) and go home with it that day.
After we'd gone through the dresses and picked 5, we went back to our corner by the dressing rooms. My stylist had hung the dresses up in the room for me and said she'd be there for zipping and closing the dress. This took me by surprise, because the gowns I'd tried on before were complicated and would have been a struggle to pull them on by myself. Because I didn't have assistance, I had to let one dress go because I couldn't get it on by myself. Having said this, I'm sure there are some people who will really appreciate the privacy aspect because not everyone wants to be basically naked in a room with a stranger. For me, it would have helped to have assistance.
As I tried on dresses and came out, my group was allowed to take photos, videos, and whatever we wanted. I even had one of my girls FaceTime my maid of honor because she lives in Pennsylvania - great connection! The lighting was natural and pretty and let us see the dresses at true color, which isn't always the case with bridal shops.
I tried the dresses on that my stylist had pulled for me and LOVED them, but to my surprise, both of them were over my budget that I'd specified twice. One was about $1000 over and the other was about $300 over. This was disappointing to me, because I loved both of them. She did totally nail my style and picked beautiful gowns. As a counterpoint to this, she also talked to the finance part of the store when I tried the one on that was just over budget. If I bought it off the rack, it would be JUST in budget, so that was nice to know.
Our stylist was patient with us, answered all our questions, and never made us feel rushed - even on a Saturday! Overall, I do recommend Effie's Bridal Trunk and will be purchasing a gown from them soon.