When I first got engaged, I like many other brides, was under the impression that David's Bridal was a good place to go for affordable wedding dresses. While they do in fact have some affordable dresses, this was NOT a good place to go.
David's Bridal Myth 1: You always see all those David's Bridal commercials, and they have all those locations. They must know what they are doing, right?
Wrong! To begin, I scheduled an appointment a week in advance. When I got there, they had no idea who I was, and had me mixed up with some Kristin Brown in Hawaii. I can understand that there are a lot of Kristin Browns in the world, so I let that one go. They made me fill out a new registration form because they couldn't find my info. Whatever, no big deal.
What I didn't realize is they DOUBLE BOOK their consultants on weekends. This means that you do not have a consultant who is only helping you, but rather a consultant who is helping you and at least one other bride at the same time. The consultant zips you into a dress, and basically leaves you there while she goes to help the other bride. So, even if you HATE that dress. You're stuck in it until she returns. So basically, even though I had an hour and a half appointment, I only got to try on 5-6 dresses. They did not tell me this when I first booked my appointment.
At one point, I was in this lace/beaded dress. It was very pretty , but it just didn't suit my body type. Not only that, but it was HEAVY. I was stuck in it for so long, my back was absolutely aching. However, heaven forbid you try to take it off without a consultant. That's a major sin over there at DB....even if you're about to fall over.
There was another dress that had this really interesting neckline. I asked her what it was called and she had no idea. This was very surprising to me. It did not appear that she knew much at all about any of the dresses. So much for quality training, yes?
Seeing that these first few dresses were not going well, the consultant finally asked me what I liked in a dress, and I gave her a few key features I wanted. I told her I like strapless, A-line, pick up skirt, and a lace up back. So off she went, and 10-15 minutes later she brought back a dress that fit all these qualifications. Oh boy. The taffeta on the dress, I kid you not, felt like one of those plastic party table cloths. I knew INSTANTLY that this was not the dress, for me, and politely told her so. She proceeded to look at me with a frustrated look on her face and said, "Well, you realize this has everything you said, right?!?"
Are you kidding me? Just because it has all the general features does not mean they are all put together in the right way. PLUS, it feels like it came from the dollar store! I have absolutely NO desire to *swish swish swish* down the aisle in a plastic table cloth! Mind you, I did not verbalize any of this and remained very polite to her. No point in being a bridezilla just because this consultant is over worked.
Anyway, this moves us into the next myth.
David's Bridal Myth 2: David's Bridal has high quality gowns.
Wrong again! As we covered in the previous section, many of their fabrics are cheap and just do not feel like something you would want to be caught dead in on your wedding day. Kindly keep in mind that this is coming from a girl who primarily buys all her clothes at Ross,Target, and sometimes even the thrift store. I am by no means a fashion snob.
The other thing to keep in mind is that David's bridal dresses are so pathetically THIN, that you are forced to wear a long line bra and a giant petticoat underneath just to make the dress lay right. For those of you unfamiliar with what those are, take a quick gander:
Sexy, right? The under skirt costs and additional $49 and the long line bra costs an additional $79. That's an additional $128 (pre tax) you can take right out of your dress budget right from the start, because I gaurantee the dress won't fit right without them.
Furthermore, while you can't see it in the picture, this thing is ITCHY! The "Zip up power net waist and lace trimmed bottom" were the most uncomfortable things I'd ever worn in my life. That's right folks, you read it right, power NET. Try that one on for size.
David's Bridal Myth 3:
I am on a budget, and I can only David's Bridal prices.
WRONG! I must admit that I too believed this to be true. I thought that the cute little shops with the beautiful gowns would never have anything even remotely within my budget. Let me tell you fellow brides to be, I am so glad I went anyway!
The first key is to play it smart. Don't even walk in the door without having a budget in mind. If you don't have a number to tell them, they are of course going to pull expensive gowns, as they do get paid on commission and want to make a hefty sale.
The second key is to be very specific about the budget. Don't say: "I have a budget of $1,000" if that is all the money you have. You have to keep in mind that you still need to buy a veil, have alterations done,buy shoes, etc. Be VERY specific and say: "I have a total budget of $1000, and this includes alterations." This lets the consultant know she probably should be pulling dresses under $700 for you, rather than what she would like to do which is to pull dresses at $999.
Believe it or not, I found my dream dress at Trudy's Bridal in Campbell for $515. This was less expensive than every single dress I tried on at David's. The consultants at Trudy's are friendly, know their stock, know the business, and can give you one look to know exactly which dresses are going to look great on you. I was able to find my strapless, A-line, lace-up gown in (get ready for this) TAFFETA!! The main difference is that this taffeta feels absolutely amazing, and is so light and airy. This dress will not be weighing me down one bit on my wedding day! Most importantly, no swoosh swoosh swooshing down the aisle!
The key to these smaller shops is that they have highly trained consultants, and do not ever double book their appointments. (In fact, you often see Trudy herself wandering around the shop conversing with various brides.) They carry much higher quality gowns that do not require a long line bra or poofy under skirt. In fact, my dress is so well made, the only thing I'm required to wear under my dress is my underwear, and it still lays just perfectly. No bra, no poofy underskirt, no anything! Something tells me my fiancee would much rather find cute little panties under my dress on our wedding night than that monstrosity you saw before ;-)
Just a thought.
The Lesson:
Don't be intimidated by those cute bridal salons. Go in with a budget in mind, and be very clear about what you are, and are not, willing to spend. By doing this, I was able to take my budget of $1000 and stretch to cover the:
Gown $515
Veil $198
Shoes $60
Alterations $120
Jewelry $74
That's right folks, that's a grand total of $967 for all of the most important things. Not bad, huh?
In any case, while I would recommend never stepping foot into a David's Bridal, just be careful if you do. I unfortunately was stuck doing business with them for all our shoes, since not many places in the area have a good selection of shoes, and do custom dying. Stay tuned for another post on the drama that adventure brought to my life!
Down with David's Bridal!
