We purchased my daughter's wedding dress from Mimi's Bridal in September 2011. The dress had to be ordered and arrived in December 2011. As per the owners suggestion, we waiting until the month of the wedding to come in for a fitting with her recommended seamstress. When my daughter met with the seamstress she was told the dress would just not work and did not fit. Melissa suggested that we trade my daughter's brand new dress for the sample dress of the same size that she had in the store. For some reason, the sample dress (in the same size) fit fine. Keep in mind, sample dresses have been in the store for quite some time and are used as examples for brides to try on before ordering their own dress. They have been tried on over and over and show some stains from makeup and other things. Melissa said she would "spot clean" the sample for no charge. (I would hope there would be no charge!) The owner, Melissa, then left my daughter in tears in the dressing room and left the store. My daughter was alone with the seamstress (who Melissa recommended) with a sample dress and the store now had her brand new dress . 25 days before her wedding! When she regained her composure my daughter then made her way to the front of the store in hopes of speaking to another employee. None would speak with her, not even to take a message for the owner to call her. She ended up with the seamstress writing a message and leaving it on the counter in hopes the owner would call.
When we did not receive a call that day we called the owner the next day and said that after thinking about the situation we would like a full refund and the owner, of course, could keep both dresses. She then proceeded to tell my daughter that a refund was not possible and that "you have three weeks until the wedding, just lose more weight and the dress will fit". This was a horrible thing to say to a bride just before her big day. My daughter had not gained weight, the dress, we were told, was just not made the same as the sample and therefore wasn't going to work. Melissa offered a deal "she had never done before", and said my daughter could come into the store and try to find a brand new dress that would fit, something we thought might work because it was so last minute. We were willing to try.
When we made our way into the store, Melissa had my daughter try on HER dress once more so she could see just how much it wouldn't fit, because she never bothered to check the day before. Lo and behold, the dress ended up fitting my daughter perfectly. The seamstress was terribly mistaken and caused my daughter to have a complete emotional breakdown 25 days before her wedding for nothing. Melissa only added insult to injury by being completely rude and unprofessional on the phone, both to my daughter and I, while trying to come up with a solution (going so far as to tell me my daughter was being unreasonable). Had Melissa bothered to step into the dressing room the day before while my daughter was trying on her dress, to make sure that the seamstress was lacing it up correctly (or even trying to make it work), this whole fiasco would have been avoided.
Although ultimately the dress situation has been remedied, the way my daughter and I were treated by Melissa, owner of Mimi's Bridal, was horrid. We had wanted to keep our money local and chose a small, local shop in order to do that. We had thought that choosing a local bridal boutique that had been in business 25 years would ensure a smooth, enjoyable experience. We were mistaken in choosing Mimi's and not one of the other local shops.
In short, we cannot recommend anyone wanting a joyful wedding dress experience handled with professionalism and courtesy, shop at Mimi's Bridal. There are quite a few other boutiques in Kalispell or Bigfork that offer excellent service. Unfortunately we didn't hear ot the other horror stories coming out of Mimi's Bridal until we shared our experience with other people. We will know in the future to read reviews and ask around instead of assuming.
Avoid the headache and shop somewhere else. read more
