Cheap Party Dresses

Is David's Bridal getting any better?

I got married 3 years ago next month. My dress, jewelry, veil, and BM's dresses came from David's Bridal. The reason we chose them was b/c I didn't feel very comfortable with any of the local wedding dress shops & 2 of my 3 BM's were in college out of state. I thought if we could all place our orders at our own store location it would be easier (and they use a computer to match the dyes now, so there are no dye lots anymore, or so I was told). Anyway, David's Bridal said walk-ins are welcome when I called to make an appointment. It was the first time my mom & I were looking at dresses. We got there & the saleswoman was completely rude to us. She wouldn't let me stay in one dress longer than 5 minutes. She gave me just enough time to do one twirl in front of the mirror and then wanted to rush me into another dress. We ended up leaving without anything, except the measurements she gave me (said I'd be a size 10 in all their dresses). When my dress came in, it was a size 10 and was WAY too big for me! I took it to the store for alterations & they said they needed to grab a smaller size (6). Since there was no time to order a new size, they gave me a sample dress from the sales floor. It had makeup, deodorant and sweat stains all over it. They didn't give me a discount on the dress or the alterations, but did clean it for me (it looked fine). The smallest size they could find was an 8, so it was still too big, even with alterations. I bought a bracelet & earrings for the wedding. The bracelet had rhinestones & faux pearls on it. The pearls fell off during the ceremony (and we weren't even dancing since it was in a baptist church). When I got home from the store with my veil, it was ripped. So I had to drive an hour back to the store & they wouldn't give me a discount for my trouble. A different DB in another state lost one of my BM's dresses & then when they found it, they cut it way too short in the alterations & refused to give her a new dress. Her dress was supposed to be tea-length but ended up being above her knees. A friend of mine ordered her BM's shoes to be dyed a rose-pink color to match their dresses. Three days before the wedding when the shoes came in, they were bright orange. ________________________________ Have you or a friend had a similar incident? Or are they getting better about these things? A friend just asked me where I got my dress & things and I don't want to refer her to a crappy store. Thanks! Yeah... we had bad experience at the one outside Nashville, TN, Glen Bernie, MD, Roanoke, VA, and Charlotte, NC

Public Comments

1. No, they have not gotten any better. My daughter had problems with her dress too, not to mention how RUDE they were to her. I would NEVER recommend Davids Bridal to ANYONE!
2. It depends on the location, I have had nothing but good experiences with David's bridal, but those were the locations in Albany, NY and Nashua, NH. It's like any chain store, you will get good service at one, and bad service at another, it all depends on how the individual store is managed.
3. Well, I didn't have as bad an experience as yours. I did get my dress from David's Bridal, and my shoes. I bought nothing else there, and my girls got their dresses at Deb (from the mall - they matched, were cheap, and were still elegant-looking). The shoes didn't last even the whole wedding, and we also had no dancing - they were way overpriced. I had the opposite problem from yours. Even though I decided on my dress pretty quickly, it was the cheapest dress they had at the time, and I think the salesgirl wanted a bigger commission. She kept having me try on dress after dress after dress, probably hoping I'd change my mind. After a total of four hours trying on dresses (two different trips) I still went with the original dress. It was too big, but I had alterations done privately by a professional seamstress, who also made my veil. Other than those two things, my experience was much better than yours. What you should do is refer your friend to DB to buy her dress, but nothing else. Dresses there are inexpensive (I saw identical dresses for up to four times the price as I was shopping around). Just make sure she buys everything else - and has alterations done - separately.
4. Davids bridal is horrible. Worst experience I've ever had and on top of that they made me feel like a cow. by ordering a size 16 plus size wedding dress, I need to add they ordered a size up than what fit when trying it on so "i could gain weight" that made me feel crappy first off. and then I dont even wear a size 9 in womens pants, I normally wear about a juniors 9/11. It was just a horrible experience and the sales lady ordered the bigger size saying i would gain weight just made it worse cuz i said i plan on loosing weight (and have already lost 20lbs). I need a smaller dress and they wont even accomodate. I tell everyone how horrible they are.
5. My experience with them was just fine. I didn't go there for my dress, just the bridesmaids. They all received their dresses on time and exactly as ordered.
6. My opinion - buying your dress at DB is fine, but I've heard way too many horror and high-price stories to ever even think of letting their alterations staff touch anything! I found my dress at DB, had a lovely salesperson who didn't rush me. Once I found the dress I wanted and confirmed my size, I ordered from DB online and had the dress shipped to me. It was a clearance dress (so they probably had some already made) and I had it within 2 weeks from when I ordered it.
7. To be honest with you, I've done 3 weddings including my own using David's Bridal and never had any issues with them. They were always super friendly and helpful and never did they rush me out or anything. My alterations all came out great and I've only had good experiences with them. For my wedding, one of my BM's even needed to exchange the dress size about 4 weeks before and they did it without a problem. One hint though--because it's such a high volume store, the salespeople did suggest that when shopping for bridal gowns to try to make an appointment during the week because they're not as busy and you can pretty much stay in there as long as you want.
8. I was martried 2 years ago, and I found them to be unprofessional and not at all what I'd expected from a bridal fitting. I know plenty of women shop there, but I would never give them any business. To me, they're the Wal Mart of bridal shops.
9. The people I dealt with at my local David's bridal were very pleasant and friendly. However I decided not to go with them. I found that the bridal shops were much better. Also, when I was at my seamstress, a women came in in tears because she had her dress altered at David's and they completely screwed it up.
10. I used David's for my wedding and used them for a few weddings I was in as a bridesmaid and always had a great experience. They wouldn't be in business if everyones experience was like yours. It depends on which store you go to and the people you happen to interact with while you are there I suppose.
11. I didn't have a bad experience at David's Bridal, but that was in 2004 and I didn't buy my wedding dress there. I only ordered dresses for the bridesmaids, but had them altered elsewhere since DB's alteration prices were really high. The saleswoman was very helpful and nice. She did try to sell me shoes and a veil, but I politely declined.
12. I had a great experience. Made an appointment in the week so i knew it would not be busy. Had a girl who was my age and just fantastic on listening to what i wanted. Ended up buying an Oleg Cassini gown that was being discontinued at a GREAT price. Got it within 3 weeks, and will be going back for my alterations in july. :-) If you go there and dont feel comfortable, then move on...simple as that! lol oh, i bought my veil on Ebay. So i saved money doing that.
13. My experience in buying my gown there was great. I didn't have an appointment, and my mom, MOH, and I were just in there looking at their BM colors. Mom and my MOH convinced me to try some on, and we ended up ordering it that day (a year and a half before the wedding...lol). When we went to pick it up, that's another story. The consultant at the counter expected us to just grab it and leave. Yeah, right...I'm not that stupid. I tried it on, and the only problem was some loose beading. I notified my consultant (the same one I'd had when we ordered it), and she told me that there was nothing she could do. I got upset, as the floor sample didn't even have loose beading, and my brand new dress did. I told her that I had 3 BMs that would be buying their dress from David's but that I'd make sure we'd be going to another store. By the time my mom and I got back to our hometown (the store's about an hour away), the consultant called and said that she talked to her supervisor and they could repair the beading for no charge. I went off on her again, telling her that there was no way they'd touch it again, and that I was NOT going to travel an hour to get some loose beading repaired. (After I told my alterations lady about my experience, she's doing it for free when she does my other alterations.) Funny thing is, my mom and I went up there about a month or so later to look at dresses for my mom and found out that my consultant had been fired for being rude to customers. Like other posters, I think it depends on which location. Some stores are great, others suck.
14. I was in a wedding this summer. They also gave me the wrong size BM dress. They would do any hemming to the dress saying it was perfect. My dress was the longest out of all the BM and when the day was done i had two baseball size sours on my back from the selfbra in the dress. And to make matters worse the dress ripped when i put it on.( because the zipper wasn't in properly) After the wedding we went into complain the saleslady was rude saying I was fat (I am not even close to being overweight). Then she told us that we would have to call the costumer service line When we asked for the number she told us she wasn't able to give it out and we would have to call from the store. She sat there and listened to our whole conversation. The lady on the phone told my mom that she would call her back. She called us back a month later saying that the time we had to complain had lapsed and there was nothing she could do and hung up. Now i have a two hundred dollar dress that i can't wear and no refund. They didn't even apologize.
15. no never and i have been going to the one in Glen Burnie for over 10 years. i got my prom dresses, bridesmaids, wedding, and my mother and mother in law got their dresses and shoes there too. so no problem here.but the alternations were kind of expensive! but you need to go at a good time too! dont expect on a weekend to get their full attention even with an appointment! get an appointment during the week!