RI and Southern MA Brides- Bridal Shop Recommendations?

[Clairitek]

Do the RI/Southern MA brides on PS have any bridal shop recommendations? I have read such mixed reviews about the bigger shops in RI and I am having trouble choosing where I want the one appointment I get to have with my best friend/MOH before she moves to Ft Lauderdale.

I am pulled towards Ana''s Bridal in East Providence because of their designer selection (I love Pronovias, Paloma Blanca, Maggie Sottero, Casablanca). Have any of you had experience shopping there? What about Cinderella''s? Do either of these places not allow pics or rip out the labels of the gowns so you can''t tell what the designer is?

Thanks!

 

[Clairitek]

*bump* for Hudson Hawk, sap, basil, ellaila, vetrik, etc.

 

[sap483]

Hi Claritek. Congratulations on your engagement!

I went to bridal shops in MA, not RI and would definitely recommend most of them. Here are a few whose names I remember.

I bought my dress (Paloma Blanca) from Allure Boutique in Westwood. They were generally good to work with and had a really nice selection of dresses. They were also able to match the price at another salon that had seemed sketchy. I know they also had Casablanca. My only complaint was that their seamstress tried to charge me an insane amount of money for alterations. She also touched my dress with a cut on her hand and got blood on it and then pretended that it was already there but that she would help me get it off. So she then proceeded to smear it all over while rubbing it. It was awful. Needless to say I got it altered elsewhere for 1/4 of the cost and far better service.

La Reine in Waltham carries all four of those designers and more. The staff spent so much time trying to find a dress for me. They were good at listening to me about what I liked and disliked about a dress and finding dresses that had the characteristics that I liked. I was close to buying a dress there.

Yolanda's in Waltham has Paloma Blanca, but they also have a huge selection of other gowns. The place is enormous, and while it can be annoying because there are vendors there trying to sell you on all sorts of stuff but it's a good place to find designers like Michelle Roth that aren't widely available in MA and other high-end labels and couture lines.

The staff at Occasions in Wayland was really great to work with and the salon is very elegant. I don't think they carry any of those lines though. I remember trying on Matthew Christopher, Watters and Marisa dresses there.

Amari Bridal in Franklin has Maggie and Casablanca. Don't have too much to say about them. I wasn't particularly impressesd with their selection or their staff.

 

[Clairitek]

Date: 12/1/2008 10:01:44 AM
Author: sap483
Hi Claritek. Congratulations on your engagement!


I went to bridal shops in MA, not RI and would definitely recommend most of them. Here are a few whose names I remember.


I bought my dress (Paloma Blanca) from Allure Boutique in Westwood. They were generally good to work with and had a really nice selection of dresses. They were also able to match the price at another salon that had seemed sketchy. I know they also had Casablanca. My only complaint was that their seamstress tried to charge me an insane amount of money for alterations. She also touched my dress with a cut on her hand and got blood on it and then pretended that it was already there but that she would help me get it off. So she then proceeded to smear it all over while rubbing it. It was awful. Needless to say I got it altered elsewhere for 1/4 of the cost and far better service.


La Reine in Waltham carries all four of those designers and more. The staff spent so much time trying to find a dress for me. They were good at listening to me about what I liked and disliked about a dress and finding dresses that had the characteristics that I liked. I was close to buying a dress there.


Yolanda''s in Waltham has Paloma Blanca, but they also have a huge selection of other gowns. The place is enormous, and while it can be annoying because there are vendors there trying to sell you on all sorts of stuff but it''s a good place to find designers like Michelle Roth that aren''t widely available in MA and other high-end labels and couture lines.


The staff at Occasions in Wayland was really great to work with and the salon is very elegant. I don''t think they carry any of those lines though. I remember trying on Matthew Christopher, Watters and Marisa dresses there.


Amari Bridal in Franklin has Maggie and Casablanca. Don''t have too much to say about them. I wasn''t particularly impressesd with their selection or their staff.

Wow thanks so much for all the information! I am also going to pass this on to my friend who lives in Northern RI. She has been having trouble finding a gown and isn''t too excited about the selection in the bridal salons she has visited.

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

I bought my dress at Ana''s. I wasn''t hugely impressed with their stock, they carry a lot of designers but not a lot of stock for each designer. They didn''t have any of the dresses I wanted to try on in stock, but I ended up finding something completely different. I''ve been very happy with them so far. I haven''t had my dress altered yet though and I''ve heard some negatives about that so we''ll see how things go moving forward.

 

[basil]

Hey Claritek,

Sorry for my late reply. I was stuck in RI because of flight issues so I just got home, even though I was supposed to get home at 8 pm yesterday!

The only shops I went to in RI/MA were Yolandas in Waltham and House of Brides in Woonsocket. I was looking for my particular Jim Hjelm dress, so I narrowed my search a lot.

I was a little disappointed in Yolandas. The consultant I had was nice our first meeting and I tried on a bunch of dresses. I went back the next weekend for a Monique L''huillier trunk show, so I could compare them to the Jim Hjelm that I ended up buying. I told her I liked the Jim Hjelm best still, and she tried to pressure me into buying it that day. And got sulky when I said I wouldn''t order a dress without my mom there.

House of Brides was fine but maybe a little disorganized. They seemed nice though. Their price was a little better than Yolanda''s for the same dress (though I only compared one).

Neither one of them let me take pictures, which bugged me.

I ended up ordering my dress through Pearl''s Place. It turned out to be a good choice for me because I got my alterations done by a family friend, and my mom made my veil. So it wasn''t as if I needed the services of a bridal salon anyway.

Anyway, hope this wasn''t too late to be useful...good luck with the dress shopping!

 

[basil]

Oh yeah, we ended up trying on bridesmaid dresses at Flair bridesmaid boutique in Boston. They were helpful, but they didn''t carry a lot of the dresses/colors I had hoped to try on. We went there because I had gotten my heart set on a particular color of olive-y green in the Siri line, and they were the only ones that carried it close by. We ended up ordering those through Pearl''s Place as well.

 

[Clairitek]

Thanks Basil! I

Jim Hjelm and its nice to know that you could find it online. Did you receive a discount by ordering through Pearl''s Place?

I am such a pushover I worry about standing my ground with pushy consultants. At least I have time on my side right now. I doubt I will order anything before I get a chance to go to the Filene''s Basement thing in February in Boston.

Thanks again everyone for the input! My time in RI is valuable and I just didn''t want to waste it going to a salon with a horrible customer service standard.

 

[basil]

Yeah, Pearl''s place saved me about $800...