Dress Shopping Reviews

Hi all--

I went dress shopping and found my gown this weekend! I went to a few stores in the city and Nassau, so I wanted to tell you about my experiences in case you need some recommendations. My budget was around $2000, but I went in telling the sales people that I was looking for something around $1500. Here was what I experienced:

RK Bridal-- I went on a Friday around 1pm. I put my name on the list and only one bride was before me. While we were looking at a pulling a few dresses, we were called. I think I only waited 10 minutes, which was much shorter than I thought. Definitely go on a weekday, I've heard it is a madhouse on the weekends. I thought I would be treated badly there, but Olga was an amazing consultant. She was so sweet and had been working there for 20+ years. She worked with what I gave her and kept pulling more dresses when some part of a dress worked and others didn't. Since they have a huge selection, they can find something that's definitely in your price range, which would be helpful on a restricted budget. I had said I was looking in the $1500 range, and the dress I ended up liking there was way under budget at $975. I highly recommend RK if you're on a budget or know exactly what you want. You're really only limited by what you are looking for. They have so many similar dresses that you will only see a small amount of their selection. I loved my experience and it was much better than I thought it would be!

Macy's Bridal Salon-- This salon has a ton of dresses but they are all by Demetrios. The woman who helped me was an 80 year old lady named Sylvia. She was very nice, but very talkative. She talked more about herself than about the dresses and it took FOREVER. I found a couple I liked, but wasn't so excited about their dresses. Whereas at other stores if one style isn't working, they have something radically different, their dresses are mostly the same type. Apparently they do have some wiggle room for price though, which was nice. It's a big department store, you're not going to get that 'boutique feel. The area is a little run down and the dressing rooms are dark.

Nouveau Bride (Merrick)-- This store was probably the nicest 'experience'. The fitting room was beautiful and huge, they gave me a robe to have on between fittings since they didn't require you to try a bra with the dresses like other places did. The store is large and well lit, and they had tons of chairs for my family to sit in (I went with my Mom, FMIL, FSIL, Mom's friend and one bridesmaid). The sales woman, Corey, was VERY pushy. She first put me into a crazy gown that had just 'come from Italy' and was very different. It was 'half price' down from almost $4000 which put it in my price range. It was really a crazy dress-- I loved the top by the skirt looked kind of shredded, so I didn't love it. I did find a dress there I liked. My friends and family thought it was a contender. We said we had to go to our other appointments and that we'd be back. The woman was so pushy, telling me what she'd give me, asking me to call to let her know if I was coming back, etc. She was pretty annoying.

Elena's (Merrick)-- It was refreshing to come into a small, quaint store after Nouveau Bride. Elena's is where my FMIL bought her dress for my FSIL's wedding, and she brought a picture of her in the dress which the owner and her daughter, Tracy loved. They were so sweet, I felt so welcome. It's a small family owned shop, and there's not a ton of space in there. The dressing room is just a curtain in the back, and there are only a couple of racks of dresses. I was afraid that since they only had around 3 dresses pulled for me at first (and not a huge selection) that I wouldn't find anything. It turns out, the second gown they pulled was it! It was different from anything else I tried on, but it was SO beautiful. I felt like they were my fairy godmothers, wanting me to look beautiful rather than a pushy, Long Island saleswoman who was making a sale. I had the 'Say Yes to the Dress' moment that I didn't think was possible. I'm not very sappy or much of a crier, but I put on the dress and instantly teared up! I told my mom to buy it right then. The dress was a little higher than our budget (just over $2K) so the ladies took off 15% right away since they knew they gave us something a little out of our range. They also took $100 off the jeweled belt that made the dress so perfect. I can't wait to go back for my fittings (not for a loooong time though). My FMIL and bridesmaids would get a 15% off discount if we get dresses there, so we may try to find some there.

Bridal Reflections (Massapequa)-- Even though I found my dress, we went there because my FMIL had to guarantee our appointment with a credit card and we would've gotten charged if we didn't show up. They just have an area where you try on dresses, and you can't walk through the racks. I think this is a bit like Kleinfelds on Say Yes To the Dress, though I think you can see SOME dresses at Kleinfeld. The consultants make all the selections. I tried on three dresses. I wish I knew my consultants name, she was SO nice. My FSIL had another consultant who when she said she was looking for a dress in the $1500 range, told her that she had 'champagne taste on a beer budget' and was rude. But I had a great experience. They must not work on commission because when I told her after trying on 3 dresses that I actually just bought a dress but that I needed to keep my appointment, she was happy to show me any more dresses 'for fun' since she thought we were a fun group and didn't want to deal with anyone who was obnoxious! We stepped over to the mother of the bride part of the store afterwards, and they were HORRIBLE. The sales girl was seriously terrible! She was so pushy! It's ok, we had a fun day!

Good luck everyone!

Dress Shopping Reviews

this is great, thank you for posting!

Dress Shopping Reviews

I bought my dress at elenas and had the same fabulous experience! I love the saleswomen Debbie and Tracy, they are so incredibly sweet. I brought my bridesmaids there and she took so much money off their dresses. So glad I found my gown and this store, I recommend it to everyone!

Re: Dress Shopping Reviews

Congratulations on finding your dress!

Dress Shopping Reviews

Congratulations on saying 'Yes to the dress!!!!'

Dress Shopping Reviews

This post was really helpful! Thank you for posting! So happy you found your dress =]