What is with the prejudice against Davids Bridal?

I think the main thing to remember Is that David's bridal is not a boutique. Don't expect to get the same service you would at a small expensive place, and you'll be fine.

Ok, so I am a DB bride, I had a so-so experience (started out rocky as there were a million people in the dressing area and my consultant had to help like 4 of them, but they left 20 minutes in and then she was all mine and it was a good time) and I am also a fashion designer. I can tell cheap. And yes, some of DB gowns are cheap. When you pay $300 for a wedding dress, no matter where it comes from, it will be of cheaper quality and fabric. It does not take away from if it is a beautiful gown on someone. One persons nightmare of a dress is another person's dream come true. Unfortunately DB is so hit or miss with it's stores, that it gets an overall bad rep. I personally tried on like 15 dresses there, with the majority being the Vera Wang collection. And even some of those were of cheaper quality. Sometimes you get a rough break with ordering a dress how it comes in. But I bought my dress there, and I think it is gorgeous and not cheap looking in the slightest.

Carole: Someone DID say they look cheap, here's the quote "The fabric you can tell looks cheaper, and feels cheaper and the dresses just look lower-quality"

I took offense to this, because there are so many of us here that are David's bridal brides, some who are insecure, and now may worry if there dress doesn't look as nice as one from somewhere else when we're already trying to make our weddings the best we can with the budget we have.

My David bridal experience was not great as well. I had to wait around for 20 mins before someone had the time to find my consultant, then my consultant had other brides at the same time, so she had to juggle me and the other bride. I felt rushed and definitely not special. I hated that the mirrored area was in plain sight of everyone, so when they tried to squeeze me into a dress that was too small (they didn't have many plus size dresses in the style I was looking for)I had to go out and show my backside to the world.

Nicole, I am not being defensive in the least. I don't have anything to defend. I briefly perused the posts & posted my opinion. My comments were not even specifically directed to you. If they were, I would have typed your name

Shannah, TY, I stand corrected. Please read my last sent:

"My point, despite the quality and whether you view it poor or great, the beauty of the bride shines through in any dress she wears from any place she bought it."

I think that is a positive & supportive comment.

Jamie, "Well said!"

Vera Wang's line at DB is not the same quality as the dresses in her boutique. I bought my daughter a Jess McClintock prom dress. It was pricey, & it was not of the same quality as the dresses in her boutique shops. Again, think volume of sales. When you make something that is for mass markets, corners have to be cut to make it affordable.

Perhaps, instead of the word, "cheap" to not offend, we should use the words, "poorly made."

I did want to add I have had 3 experiences w/ DB. 1 in the city & 2 in the burbs. The service was horrid in all 3 stores. My theory on why is because they are very busy w/ brides/high school kids seeking affordable dresses. It is the first place most consider shopping. I don't know if they work on commission, but I would think the more they sell, the better their job security.

Also, I bought my dress at AA. I didn't realize I could have gone to a bridal salon to purchase it. However, when I did go to a bridal salon, out of mere curiosity, a simple inspection showed the AA designs were not as well made as other designers. I saw the difference first hand. Did I care? Heck yes, my dress was less expensive in the bridal salon. AA was a rip off.

Additionally, Cate's BM dresses came from AA in Cherry Hill. We had a horrid experience. They couldn't even sew a sash on correctly. One of her BMs went to a local bridal salon, bought the same dress & they did it properly.

Ok, normally I wouldn't say much but here goes! I went to DB and was not happy with my consultant at all so I left and went to a small locally owned boutique. I found a lovely Bill Levkoff dress that I loved and ordered it. Paid in full THAT day. I was told that it would be in within 8 weeks. NOT! At ten weeks I called and checked...not in, they would call when it was. At 11 weeks I call back, not in again. At 12 weeks I call again, getting a bit impatient as another girl that ordered the exact dress elsewhere had hers within 5 weeks. The person that answered the phoine was incredibly rude..said it wasn't in and someone would call when it was....I asked for an ETA and she said it would get there when it got there. I hung up, filed claim with CC company and was credited the $$ back. The "boutique" fought claim with the ole' standby "All sales are final". They won...then a month later they call to tell me the dress was in...(con't)

(I believe they had my $$ and didn't order the dress until I filed the claim) Well, I fought back with the definition of sale..."payment for goods or services RENDERED"...I never received the goods....I recently received word that I did indeed win and that the boutique is not able to appeal this final decision. I ordered online from DB and I love my dress...doesn't look or feel any cheaper than anything else I tried on. The moral of this story is....every store has unhappy customers, DB is just bigger so they of course have more people walk through the doors thus having an opportunity for more complaints. If you broke it down by the volume of sales vs complaints, many of the smaller boutiques would rank right up the with DB in the complaint arena

I went to DB when i was engaged back in 2009, and i will never set foot in that store again. I know it may have just been that particular consultant, but it turned me off of DB forever. I went in there, told her i had a budget that could not be exceeded including alterations, she pulled three dresses, ALL of which needed alterations, and ALL of which were over my budget, and only ONE of which actually fit me at all. Then she tried to squeeze me into a bra that was WAY too small, and it took me forever to get her back over to me to take the dress off, because i was shopping alone and she apparently had better things to do. The only good thing i have to say about DB is that when the groom called off the wedding, they did refund the entire price i paid for the dress, even though i had agreed that they could keep a restocking fee out of it if i needed to cancel it.

I've been and also had a horrible experience, like they really could care less about "ME" they seemed to be the factory outlet type of thing, in & out cookie cutter type of style...My wedding has come & gone, and I still have gotten calls from them about scheduling to come in and look at dresses....HELLO I told you my date, and if you took the time to read the form youre looking at you'd see it has passed!! I just feel that is horrible customer service, I'd rather spend my money elsewhere

Tiedaknot.....I couldn't agree more with sales v. complaints. Look at the horrid experience I had with my MOB dress. Like your dress, my dress was never ordered. I shopped at what I thought was a reputable salon that offers good prices. Sadly, I didn't even read reviews. It was a stupid move on my part. It seems the place I went to was no longer the shining star I knew from 30 years ago.

Cate's dress was a Cassablanca. Her original choice was a Pronovias. Were they the same quality? Hell no! The Cassablanca was about $4K less expensive. The Pronovias is no longer being made, as that designer only makes a certain # of cuts per design.

The bottom line is, every bride is gorgeous. Noone knows or cares where you bought your dress or what you paid for it. Noone is going to see if seams are crooked, bling is not swarovski, etc. If you love your dress, everyone else will because all brides are beautiful.

I say, even made poorly is still not the best way to say it. Made differently would be the best and most unoffensive way to put it, but I get ya Carole!

And in the end, I think people don't like DB because of the customer service. While some of us had really fantastic experiences, others had horrible ones. It's a franchised chain so it's harder to control every aspect.

Take for example McDonalds. There are some McDonalds I LOVE going to around here, great service, the food is always hot and fresh, and FAST. And then others in this area I attempt to avoid. Slow, lukewarm food, and RUDE. Some will be great, some will not be.

And YES I just used a fast food place to compare a wedding gown shop, that's how I roll.

Only read the first page for now but I wanted to add that I do agree a lot of their dresses look cheap. Not saying just because you get your dress at DB your dress will look cheap, but when I was trying things on there I could barely tell if I would like it or not because they were all SO wrinkled, it looked like they stored their dresses in a pile on the floor of the back room. But when I went to Alfred Angelo it was literally like night and day. The consultant was very nice and attentive, the dresses were all in perfect condition without a single wrinkle, and the quality was very noticeably better. I don't recommend DB to anyone.

None of the dresses I tried on were wrinkled. It really has GOT to be a store by store basis. Apparently, we have a good store here in town.

I got my dress at David's Bridal. I went to both DB and an Alfred Angelo Signature Store. I was shopping for a lace dress, and the AA lace dresses definately felt better quality than the DB lace dresses I tried on.

The experience at AA was much nicer. DB was very busy and understaffed. My consultant was helping several other brides, so I had very little facetime with her. She kept pulling dresses and leaving them by my dressing room, then she would come by every 10 min or so and ask what I did and did not like. She did a great job at pulling dresses based on my feedback and I was able to find a dress that I liked. Beyond that, she was just really busy, so all conversation was very brief and focused, no friendly chit-chat, no compliments on how the dresses looked.

The lady at AA was helping only me, so she was able to spend time with me, have the friendly small talk, compliment all the dresses, provide her opinion/feedback. The service felt more personnal.

Shannah....."Made differently" works, but I don't think there is anything wrong with "poorly made". When you compare a couture, one of a kind gown, to a dress that all of us can afford, yep, our dress would be considered "poorly made". It is all relative.

Re a comparison of McD's to a wedding shop, if you saw where I bought my MOB dress, the one that skrewed me over that is, that would be an equal comparison, as both made me, well, shyte.

Kirsten... I think your description reflects my experience. Perhaps we went to the same DB. lolol

I think what bothers me the most about DB is that because of clever marketing, i.e. the $99 dress sale, most brides think the first place they should go to buy a dress is DB. They don't know there are so many other options. It is an automatic go to place. And that $99 dress sale, how many brides actually found something? If we did a survey here, I believe the number would be quite small in comparison to the ladies who bought there.

I took a break from the forums for a few weeks and I'm ready to come back because I'm not going to let the negativity keep me away from those of you who are positive.

I would encourage anyone to step out from behind a keyboard and tell any bride on her wedding day that her dress looks cheap.

Davids Bridal has gotten a bad wrap-sheet for offenses that people accuse them of committing, when they go in there with SYTTD Kleinfelds expectations.. its not going to be like THAT AT ALL.

I've been to Kleinfelds , in my opinion that was degrading and HORRIBLE. they asked me my budget and i went over what i was comfortable with to $3,000 and they treated me like a second class citizen.

To each their own of course. but it was said on page 1 or 2 that the dresses look cheap, and again to that I say whats your address I'll send you an invitation and dare you to tell me my dress looks cheap.

I have had a mixed experience with Davids Bridal. I did get my dress from them and i just recently took my dress in for my first fitting. I took it to a different davids bridal than the one I ordered it at. I had a good experience when I purchased my dress. When i took it in on saturday for my first fitting, I was a little disappointed because the dress I ordered is now discontinued and I either had to pay for the alteration to take it down two sizes or exchange it for the one of the shelf that had some snags and markings in it. The first lady I worked with wasnt helpful at all! But eventually the manager came over and was able to work with me, and we came to what I feel was a good deal, and compromise. So it really depends, if you are not having a good experience ask for another consultant. It is your money, wedding, dont settle!

The DB really depends on the day if they'll be helpful or not. When I went to try on dresses they found out I wasn't planning on buying one that day, the lady was helping me and a bride who was going to buy that day. So she left me in the same dress for 45 minutes while she got veils and stuff for the other bride. She didn't help me out til I got an attitude and said I'd let myself out of the dress. That's when I left and decided I'd go somewhere else. But we went there for my mom's dress and they were wonderful.

For all you ladies who had a bad experience at DB -- did anyone prep you for how it was going to be or did you jump in feet first expecting something completely different? DB is a department store, never claimed to be a full service completely personalized salon -- of course it's not going to be completely personalized service. it just seems like a lot of the complaints here are because not enough time was spent on them...just seems like half of these could've been cleared up had they been warned beforehand and advised on what to do.