The Bridal Shop

Merrell is an irresponsible and intimidating liar. Get everything in writing!!! Back in the fall, when I ordered my dress, I asked whether the jacket that was made for the dress was an extra charge. Merrell said of course the jacket was included at no extra charge. I couldn't imagine a company giving away a jacket for free so I questioned him again. Merrell was brusque and acted offended that I would question him, but he said the jacket would come in with the dress, so I let it go and figured he knows his own business. When the dress came in, of course there was no jacket. At first Merrell told me there was no matching jacket and acted like I was crazy. When I showed him the picture on the manfacturer's website, he quickly back-pedaled and said that yes, there was a jacket and he would sell it to me for $150. Not our original agreement, but I foolishly conducted all our transactions by phone! Adding insult to injury, Merrell berated me for not seeing the pricing of the jacket on one of his websites. I politely reminded him that I was not aware of this website as we had only done business over the phone, but I would think about the jacket. He would not even sell it at cost. My further inquiries regarding the lead time of the jacket were completely ignored. I guess Merrell got his $800 out of me so he wouldn't care too much about $150 more! I am now having a seamstress make me a jacket for the same price and I would gladly pay someone I trust rather than that cheater! Because honesty and professionalism is critical in any business, I recommend to everyone considering The Bridal Shop to STAY AWAY!!!! If you have to use Merrell or are already in the middle of a transaction with him, get it in writing. You'll be glad you did!

I feel like I was very lucky with my purchase from The Bridal Shop because I was able to find a dress that they were looking to sell right off the rack. I paid cash which saved a bunch of money and sales tax, and I also walked out of the store that day with my dress. I'd read on another board that the owner took the money when a customer paid, and put the money into her bra and gave them change from her bra. Thankfully, I didn't need any change because as I handed her my money she stuck it into her bra! Very unprofessional in my mind. My biggest disappointment was the woman who they recommended for alterations, Nina, was horrible!! They should be aware that Nina is incapable of doing a simple hem around the bottom of the dress because my dress fit perfectly, I just needed the train removed as my wedding was on the beach.

When I came to my previously scheduled appointment, the woman there didn't even have me on the books and was swamped with two other brides. Fortunately I knew what style I wanted and had my best friend there to help me look for dresses. I ended up taking one of the dresses off of the mannequin in the window (this dress I would stare at each time I passed the store) and it was THE ONE. I loved it!! Now mind you, through all this I received barely any help for the consultant. Once I decided I wanted to get the dress, the consultant told me that should would give me discount for my dress since it was the sample and they were discontinuing the line and she wouldn't charge me tax if I paid in cash. I quickly got the money and paid an unbelievably low price for the quality and detail of the dress. That was the only redeeming factor of this experience. I decided not to go there for alterations because I didn't like the chaos of the store. The place was overcrowded and you didn't receive that "Bride" experience. So, if you are down for a good deal and better quality dress than David's Bridal, check it out. If you want some one that is going to help you shop, offer you ideas and make you feel like the special bride you are, go somewhere else.

I had two unpleasant experiences with The Bridal Shop...My first experience was for my sisters wedding and and then with my wedding. I got my bridesmaid dress for my sisters wedding here and they were not very helpful with the exception of a "everything okay" here and there. They did not help us find the dresses when we were first trying dresses on. All we got were "go straight back and you'll find the designer you're looking for...." When the dresses finally came I NEVER got a call and the only reason I knew the dresses were in was because one of the other bridesmaids called to see if they were in and she told me she had picked hers up so I assumed mine was in as well. At that time they did have a seamstress working in the store and she was great! My second bad experience was when my bridesmaids purchased their dresses for my wedding there. I tried my hardest to find the dress I selected at another store that was convenient for all my bridesmaid, but I couldn't find one! When I asked them if they had the dress they specifically told me that they did not have that style......WELL, after my bridesmaids and I were looking through the dresses, what do you think we found??????? The exact dress style I was looking for. We finally placed the order and months went by and my wedding was approaching and still no calls were received......one of my bridesmaids called and her questions and calls were not answered or returned. Finally I called and they let me know that they would call my bridesmaid back along with the other one once the dresses came in. Still no calls were received! I called back and they informed me the dresses were in and that they had called each bridesmaid to inform them. I asked my bridesmaid if they got any calls and they ALL said NO!! They lied to me! The point is they never called my bridesmaids to let them know the dresses were in. When I went in with one of my bridesmaids to get her dress, it, along with all of the other dresses were on the floor!!!!!!! When I said something about it they responded with "well they have the bags over them." I wish I could have found the dresses somewhere else, but......... The dresses were beautiful and after alterations, which we got done somewhere else, the dresses looked even better!! If you do go to The Bridal Shop enter and shop with CAUTION!!!!!!!!

I ordered the dress online and when I had questions, they never responded to my emails. I was left hanging about my dress. I had to do last minute alterations and it was just so stressful. If they had just given me the info earlier, I wouldn't have been stressing about them. The dress was still beautiful for the cost. I would've paid two to three times the price if I ordered the same type of dress somewhere else.

I was a little hesitant to order my wedding dress online, but it cost less to order it from The Bridal shop in NY and have it shipped to me in IL. They responded to all my email inquiries within a few hours and I was able to have my dress shortened before they sent it to me, which saved on alterations. When my dress arrived, it was in perfect condition. They have everything from flower girl, bridesmaid, mother of the bride/groom, wedding dresses, and prom. Easy to work with!

Bridal Shop has a huge inventory, lots of dresses to pick from. However, they are extremely unorganized. They don't take appointments so you can get there and wait for hours for your fitting, then they rush you right through. I would recommend getting the dress from them, because they do have a huge inventory but doing the alterations elsewhere, you will have a much more pleasant experience and your dress will be treated in a nicer way.

The Bridal Shop has pretty good pricing and huge inventory, however, the service could really use some improvement. They are extremely unorganized there, they don't make appointments for alterations, so you just come in and sit in line of angry brides who had been waiting there forever. The place is not very clean and they keep dragging the dress around on the floor. THe woman who does the alterations does not speak any language so you always have to look for one more person to translate, which is not easy because they always get distracted. All in all, I got my dress on time and the price was good. I would not recommend getting alterations there, get the dress, the price is good and have it altered somewhere else

A glam dress at a great price; but the customer serivce is lacking big time.

I had shopped here before and had such a great experience with this store that I knew I wanted to go here for my wedding dress. Again, as with my vendor, along the way they were so helpful and fun that I was sure I was going to have a stress free experience... but I was wrong. The short of the very long is that they ordered the wrong size with no time to fix the problem. When they were altering the dress which was way too big, it changed the look of it so much that it didn't even look like the same dress. I ended up going in and looking at other wedding dresses and it was awful. Finally they altered the sample... which was way too small to fit me and it look beautiful, except that it had more cleavage than I wanted and by the end of the night corset loops had popped and my bustle did not hold. I was very dissapointed and personally hurt by the lack of compassion and service that was shown to me in the end... the owner wasn't even there the day I finally picked up the dress, she totally avoided me and never bothered to follow up. Though I know at least one of the girls was very sincere I was devasted by the situation.

I would have to say that I order both my dress and veil from them. Everything with the dress came out perfect. The tiara was broken and at first they were gaving me a hard time when i went to switchit. The veil was great.