A great bridal salon with the most gorgeous dresses. Unfortunately, taking 1 star off for the…read morenegative experience with alterations (see below). I got my dream dress that was truly the most beautiful dress, but the alterations mishaps damaged what otherwise would have been a wonderful experience.
The salon:
The dresses at Laurel are incredibly beautiful. The quality of the beading, lace, and designs is great. I tried on quite a few dresses at other stores, some from famous designers that were much more expensive, and they just didn't compare to those at Laurel. This is the only store where I felt truly wowed when trying on dresses, despite trying on beautiful gowns in other stores. Prices were mostly reasonable for the dresses of this quality.
It's also nice that there is some flexibility with the design. Since the store owner is in contact with the company that sews the dresses, she is able to request some changes in design such as a different sleeve, modified neckline, etc.
Both Beata and Inna were very nice and provided a great experience trying on the dresses. There was no pressure and just a lightheaded, supportive, joyful approach. I also appreciated the ability to look at the catalogues online first, this made the process much more seamless.
I said yes to the dress and was beyond happy. However, the alterations process was a mess.
The seamstress for alterations:
There were so many issues with the seamstress, Tatiana, from the beginning to the end. Note that the alterations seamstresses are not employees of the salon but do partner with the salon and meet with you in the salon. I can only speak to the quality of one of the seamstresses.
- Buyers beware: I was quoted an approximate price for the alterations which ended up being DOUBLE. When I brought this up, it was denied that there was even an original quote. I should have gotten that part in writing and asked how much every single change would cost, but the lack of transparency was disappointing.
- The double in price partially came from quite a few recommendations to add more "functional" changes to the dress, which ended up being unnecessary and not useful as I found out on my wedding day. This was an upsell and I didn't realize how much it would increase the price, since this wasn't communicated at all. However, I also ended up paying for the re-dos of things that weren't done correctly in the first place, which is unacceptable.
- The quality of the work of the seamstress was poor. The seams were crooked and messy on the inside of the dress, the alterations to get the fit right had to be redone several times, with argument from the seamstress that it looked ok when it was even obvious to the staff that it did not fit right.
- There were issues with the seamstress forgetting certain things we talked about, resulting in extra cycles. Sometimes when I would arrive for what I thought would be a final fitting, some of the things we discussed were not done. I ended up returning to the store (quite a drive for me) more than 5 times because of all the alterations issues.
- Miscommunication on appointment times and lack of proper coordination was also an issue. And finally, with all of this, there was no proper accountability.
The alterations added so much extra stress unfortunately. Therefore while I highly recommend Laurel for the dresses, I would not recommend Tatiana for alterations.