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100% influenced. I bought from the best service place/consultant. The first place I went to was: welcoming, gracious, complimentary, not pushy, offered discount if I bought from them (even if i took a few days to make my decision).
2nd place: I arrived 10 minutes early and they had a really nice sitting area with dresses to browse. She asked my mom and I to "take a walk and grab a coffee" since they weren't ready for us. I felt really excited entering and then burned.
3rd place: Manager was filling in for consultant who was out sick. She acted like she was above helping me in and out of dresses. Didn't compliment me...just kept passing me new ones. Not helpful/friendly at all.
In the end - yes it was the dress, but the service REALLY made a difference. Trying on dresses is a huge deal and girls can feel excited but also nervous. I highly recommend focusing on the atmosphere/attitude of consultants because it makes a big difference. The third place I went to is a very well known high end bridal salon. I was shocked by their lack of service.
The place i bought from has been SO helpful...I got a holiday card in the mail from them signed by my consultant who helped me. A little bit goes a long way.
Hope this helps!
I'll admit that my #1 concern with picking bridal salons to go to was price. I went to the salon that had dresses in my price range.
@alrettig: Like the discount on BM dresses if the bride buys her dress from you - good idea, this should happen more often. The first shop was quite stiff and I felt slightly patronised. Where I did get my dress from they were lovely and fun and did make the experience and I wanted to give them the business.
I was influenced to NOT buy a dress or bridesmaid dresses from a place because 1. they didnt keep my appointment time free after we spoke, 2. made me pull all my own dresses and 3. sent my bridesmaid 3 blocks away to use a bathroom because theirs was full of dresses (ew and rude all at once)
I'm so glad that you already decided to allow pictures because that is a must! I also think service is extremely important. I tried on the dress I ultimately ended up getting at another store, but I bought it from the place that had better service and I felt more comfortable depending on long-term. I also agree with someone who said they needed help from a consultant getting in and out of the dresses. That is very important. I also liked the fact that most of the places I went allowed you to browse through the dresses instead of only depending on what the consultant pulled (like a certain tv show, cough).
To me pictures were very important, and attitude/helpfulness. Also the fact that the person who helped me was not pushy. She gave me advice, helped me into and out of dresses, offered discount/savings advice (but in a nice low-key non-agressive kinda way), and didn't make me feel rushed or neglected.
I went to many bridal shops in my search for a dress. I bought mine from David's Bridal, which I know gets knocked often for poor service (however my experience there was great!). The number one factor that led to my buying there was that they had a variety of dresses that I didn't find anywhere else in my area. I wanted a dress with some sort of sleeve--strapless is so pretty but it just doesn't flatter me. David's Bridal was the ONLY place in my area that had dresses that weren't strapless. Other bridal shops said they could add a sleeve or straps on, but when they showed me their ideas, it looked obvious that what they were suggesting didn't look right with the dress.
Another thing I noticed in the shops that I visited was that they didnt' have samples larger than a six or eight-ish size. That wasn't a problem for me personally, but it gave us no options for trying on bridesmaid dresses. I refused to make my maid of honor feel unattractive just because she's not a sample size, so we ended up at David's Bridal for her bridesmaid dress as well.
I wound up going with a shop that had a nice selection of colors. I'm very pale, so the shops that offered mostly white and ivory variations were no help. My salon was able to put a variety of golds/champagnes against my skin to help me compare. Their staff was also really knowledgeable...my consultant knew exactly which dresses in the store came in the colors I liked.
I really appreciated shops that let customers look through the racks. Don't get me wrong...I really appreciated the consultants who pulled stuff for me. I just felt better about my final pick knowing that I had seen all the possibilities.
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Just looking for some feedback from brides regarding your experiences in bridal salons. Any suggestions would be great, we are planning on offering a discount on bridesmaid dresses to brides who purchase their dresses, setting up a referral program in which brides can actually end up receiving a refund on part or all of their dress purchase if they refer a certain number of new customers to the salon and we plan to encourage appointments so brides can get one on one attention with a consultant and make buying her gown an "experience" that won't soon be forgotten. If you have any do's or don't's we'd love to hear them to help us along the way!