Bridal Elegance

This was the first place I shopped for my wedding dress. When I called to make an appointment they asked several questions, such as: what style dress are you looking for, when is the wedding, what is your jean size, budget, ect. When I got to the store they asked ALL those questions again. I had to pick out all the dresses I wanted to try, the consultant didn’t offer any suggestions of styles to try (even though she asked what I was looking for). The consultant didn’t even help me get into any of the dresses, she handed me each dress through a curtain and then would help zip it up. She was obviously getting frustrated with I couldn’t pick a dress I liked, but offered no guidance as to what style would be best for me.
The store feels like the Walmart of wedding dresses; just rack after rack of dresses that you have to go through yourself to pick out what you might want to try on. Do you know how hard it is for someone not familiar with bridal gowns to see what style each dress is while it is hanging in a bag? On top of that you have to sort through which dresses are discontinued and they only have one of and which ones are dresses that they can still order from the maker. I would not recommend this store to anyone.

The sales associate who helped us was super friendly and made the experience very easy for us. I found two dresses I really like. On the downside, you can’t take photos of things you try on. This was especially upsetting because I have two bridesmaids who are out of state and I’m trying to involve them in each step of the planning. The area people sit to watch you as you come out in each dress was nice with the pedestal and mirrors. However the dresses were quite expensive compared to other places. They were clearly in a not top rate condition due to being tried on and we were told we had to pay 80 $ extra to order a dress we liked in the correct size or a new one that hadn’t been tried on over and over.

Wonderful store with wonderful staff!!! I had a weekend of wedding activities planned this weekend with my mom. I figured we would just go out and see what I like and don’t like… Just getting an idea. Today was the very first day of wedding shopping for me and I had very low expectations to be honest. I had two appointments, one with Country Lace on Eastland Drive and one here at Bridal Elegance. The appointment at Country Lace was awful. The woman was rude and quite frankly almost seemed like we were annoying her. I was already sort of not in the best moods by the time I stepped foot in Bridal Elegance. My anxiety and skepticism was pretty high. To be fair, I am a plus size bride and understand I can be difficult to fit. I also hate attention that every other bride loves. For example, I hate my picture taken and the idea of a head table with people watching me eat gives me anxiety. However, I grew up around the bridal industry, modeling in bridal shows and my aunt being a seamstress in a bridal shop for much of my childhood. Bridal dresses/​industry are not new to me. The staff at Bridal Elegance immediately made me feel so comfortable. EJ is AMAZING!!! She was so super sweet! Not one time was I uncomfortable at all with her! It was like shopping with my best friend. When I put on the fourth dress, it literally took my breath away. When EJ put a veil on my head, I couldn’t control my tears. The ENTIRE staff came running over to see me in my dress. They all made me so comfortable! I can not say enough wonderful things about this store and the staff!!! I highly recommend this store to absolutely anyone!!! By far the best experience I have ever had shopping for formal attire. Thank you, EJ and the rest of the staff!!!

I am newly engaged and stopped into Bridal Elegance with 3 of my girlfriends without an appointment. I’ve heard a lot of bad things about this store, but decided I’d give it a try.
The appearance of the store is a little trashy. If you’re looking for a classy bridal shop… this is not your store. There were about 10 girls («employees») in black standing around when we walked in, not doing anything. Most of them were MAYBE 20 years old, maybe… We asked if it were possible to look around and try on a few dresses if we saw anything we liked. The manager said their policy was that they stop taking appointments at 3pm on Sundays. It was 3:20pm, they close at 5pm, and there were clearly plenty of people there to help us. She said no. We asked if we could look around and maybe just try on one or 2 dresses if we saw anything we liked. She said no.
Totally turned off by then, we decided we’d just look around anyway. I didn’t see anything great there (I’m not into traditional wedding dresses), but there were 2 dresses that I’d consider trying on. This was the first bridal dress shopping experience for me, so why not try to at least get one dress on me. We didn’t see anyone else shopping, and there was maybe one bridal party in the dressing room. We asked one of the girls that was in the aisle if they could make an exception to just try on one or both of these dresses. She said she’d have to ask the manager… came back with the answer no. We then decided to leave. As we were leaving passing by the desk, the 10 girls were still just standing around doing nothing.
I am a business owner myself and was shocked by such poor customer service. There was no attempt made to make us feel welcome. It seems that there could have been a little more effort on the part of the manager to help us out. The impression I get is that the staff, including the manager, need better training. As a new bride who doesn’t like shopping, this was quite a traumatizing first experience into the bridal dress world. I truly hope the owner takes note and does something to improve the things there.
For any brides out there who are looking for good customer service and quality dresses… don’t waste your time at this place. If I could give it no stars, I would.

Living in Chicago, I started my wedding dress search at House of Brides. Terrible! I decided to try this place since it’s closer to our wedding location. After ten minutes of working with my consultant I knew I had to give them my business. I worked with Rebecca, such a sweet girl. It came down to two dresses for me. One was $ 2,000 the other was only $ 800.she didn’t try to sell me into the more expensive purchase, she wanted me to be in the dress that satisfied my needs in a dress AND budget. She was honest, kind, helpful and paid attention to my likes and dislikes. They offer really great specials on/​for your bridesmaids, groomsmen, accessories and invitations if you pay for your dress in full that day. They have a HUGE selection in all sizes and to top it off, their sample dresses are clean and don’t look like they’ve been trampled on all day everyday. Central Illinois brides shop here!!!