So last weekend my mom came in to town, she lives in Virginia, to go wedding dress shopping with me! It was a long process because before she came I decided to do my homework. I, along with the few bridesmaids I tricked dragged invited, scoured every bridal salon/shop/boutique this side of North Texas.
Here are the ones I went to, and a brief summary of my thoughts on the place:
1. Mii’s Bridal Salon in Garland. First, don’t let the bars on the windows scare you – it’s a safe area!
Pros: large selection, good prices on silk/taffeta gowns, if you’re assertive enough you can push the sales people away and do your own thing (this is what me and my girl’s did!)
Cons: Small dressing room, you have to sneak taking photos because they aren’t allowed, crowded waiting area, sales people weren’t really objective and said everything looked nice, even the ones I was wearing and frowning at in the mirror – not too convincing!
2. Lulu’s Bridal Salon in Uptown Dallas. It’s in a cute little yellow Victorian home!
Pros: Good selection, reasonable prices, good selection for bridesmaids, and if you go on a weekday you can pretty much have the entire salon to yourself! (Note: I ended up going for the 3rd time on a Friday afternoon and after spending a couple hours there decided on my dress and bought it from them!)
Cons: They do NOT take appointments, parking is limited, Saturday’s are rushed and good luck trying to sneak a picture in! They only allow picture taking on the day you buy!
3. David’s Bridal in North Dallas/Plano. Parking kind of sucks, but it’s easy to find.
Pros: Located off a major road/easy to find, large selection with broad range of prices – most of them very cheap, lots of mirrors, large bridesmaids selection, they let you take photos
Cons: You have to have an appointment ahead of time, the dresses are mass produced, I didn’t like the selection/quality of the gowns – but at those prices that’s what I’d expect, if business is slow you may find several consultants at your dressing room door making you feel ganged-up on.
4. Alfred Angelo in Plano. A lot of hype, not a lot of hits.
Pros: Well known name, cute bridesmaids dresses & lots of colors for the bridesmaids
Cons: Almost all of the sample sizes were at least 4 sizes too big and I didn’t like their bridal selection at all. Not one dress I tried on caught my eye in any way – guess it just was not my style!
5. Stardust Celebrations in Plano. Big store, bigger prices!
Pros: Large selection of bridesmaids dresses, large boutique, nice sales people, good assortment of bridal gowns, they let you take photos
Cons: Dresses start at $1400/1500 and can range upward of $10,000. This wasn’t posted anywhere online and came as a bit of a shock when I realized. I ended up finding several in my price point, but they all were a little steep for what I felt right about paying. (Note: Lulu’s is a sister-store of Stardust and offers some of the same designers’ lower price point designs.)
My advice:
Bride to bride (or to reader) I suggest doing your homework before you go out for the final sale. I spent about 3 weekends scouring the stores (and even online boutiques – I recommend HalfBridal.com because they were super friendly, offered me 2 discounts and seemed very reputable) until I narrowed it down to the final 3 dresses. Conveniently for me they were all featured at one place, Lulu’s Bridal Salon, and so we didn’t have to travel all over DFW looking for bridal gowns.
Another option is to check in to resale shops and stores that do bridal gown rentals. I was open to both of these ideas, but my mom was buying my bridal gown as a gift to me and insisted I buy a new one – to which I obliged her!
I also recommend taking photos (when you can – even if you have to get sneaky, but not so sneaky you get in trouble!) because later on when you are home you can take a look at them and let the images sit in your mind. Revisit the photos every week or so to see if the dress still WOW’s you. Decide which dress stays in your mind or the one you can’t stop thinking about. If it’s the most expensive one you’ve tried on and you are falling for it I recommend two things:
- If you can afford it and have a clear conscience about spending all that money on a wedding gown – go for it!
- If you can’t afford it, or feel guilty spending that much on the gown, you can try to find it cheaper somewhere else, try buying a used version of it, or figure out what elements of the dress you love so much and look for those in a cheaper version.
Finally I can’t stress enough how important it is to have friends/family there to support you. Every time I went to try on dresses I had at least one of my bridesmaids with me. She is the tell-it-like-it-is kind of friend, which for me is exactly what I needed for this decision! I mean you’re trying on the most beautiful gowns, it’s not like they are UGLY and easy to rule out! Find a trusted friend/adviser, make lots of appointments/do your homework, take photos, think about it and good luck!
