Bridals By Elena

I remember going to Elena for my nieces prom dress 6 years ago when she was still located in Severna Park. Fast forward 10 years and I am helping my niece shop for her wedding. Elena’s is the place for one of a kind and very unique wedding attire and accessories. I always share information about this shop for those looking for prom dresses, weddings, and also special occasions. Every dime/​dollar spent is worth it and Katya, Elena, and Mrs. Frances are the best! Excellent care and time-​not to mention patience during appointments and the thousand questions I asked by calling like once a week. Aslo they have great attention to detail.

as a newly engaged couple my fiancé and I decided to stop in at Elena Bridal to have a look at dresses. It was extremely disappointing and offensive that before I could say hello the employee aggressively asked if I had an appointment to which I responded no can I look around a little bit and decide if I would like to make one? She was clearly annoyed and directed me towards a room she thought that would be appropriate for me and by me she meant my dress size. After a few minutes the same employee came back in and told me I might find more things in my size at Curvaceous Couture. My fiancé and I were so shocked we left before I had a chance to process and read her the riot act. Too bad Elena bridal will only cater to women who are a size 14 or smaller. I’ll be chasing my wedding dress dreams at a place with kinder employees.

Run, don’t walk to see Ms. Frances at Elena’s. If you’re looking to be coddled and left with an ill-​fitting dress please go elsewhere.
Ours was a group of 5 there to try on dresses for the first time.
Super organized details about the rooms, dresses and options.
The shop is airy and open, but allows for personalized experiences by providing a runway style viewing for each bride. At each runway there is a television that offers the bride and party a view from all sides along with the standard full length mirrors.
Frances is candid and has the shapes and details DOWN for the dress styles. Ultimately, she selected the dress that was best liked by our group (and the bride).
The dress selection of the shop is wonderful. In comparison to other 3 other local shops, I was impressed by Elena’s and one other.
As a spectator I learned early that it’s SUPER important to make the bride and her party feel as though their opinions matter, that you’re an EXPERT in the process and that you can help get them to the happy place. This was done at Elena’s…
Wonderful experience.
Norrelle (Maid of Honor for Janeen G.)

I came here to dress shop with my sister for her wedding and got amazing service. the inside is very clean and pretty, we walked in and they offered us water and sat us down. we got to go and pick some dresses which was a definite plus, and asked us questions. Elena herself was helping us and if you go there make sure you get her because she was an amazing person. The best out of all the places we went. she helped us to pick «the dress» too and listened to our needs. Way better than Mary’s Bridal Boutique, that place was a nightmare!

I am shocked by any review lower than 4 stars for Bridals by Elena. I can only assume they took to heart the reviews and made the necessary changes. This was the third and final bridal shop I visited and I ordered my dress from them. Based on the service I received on that day, I can’t imagine any problems going forward. I was helped by Frances and she was amazing! She is very knowledgeable about the dresses, especially on what works for each body type. She can advise on what will make you look your best but in no way keeps you from trying on what you like’ she works very hard to make sure you find the dress that makes you feel like the beautiful bride you will be.
I was shown 4 rooms of dresses, I believe. (Maybe 3?) Organized by designer, and even the samples that were being sold off the rack because they’d been discontinued. There was something there for every budget. She helped me into the dresses and pinned/​laced/​clamped me in so that even in the samples that were too large, I would have a decent idea on what the dress would look like on me.
I was the first appointment of the day and received 5-​Star treatment. I brought along two friends and Frances made sure to know their names and interacted with them during the process, to also share information with them. At previous locations, my friends were not even addressed by the staff, so I appreciated the respect and inclusion they were shown.
Overall, I would recommend this shop to any bride-​to-​be and be sure to request Frances.

i worked with Francis. She is wonderful, told me what looked good and what didn’t. They have a huge variety of beautiful high quality dresses at great prices. I didn’t know exactly what I wanted until I left the shop and looked at the pictures I took, so I am very excited to go back and order my dress.

My daughter purchased her dress at Bridals by Elena and it is gorgeous! The selection was amazing and our consultant, Teri, was wonderful. She didn’t hurry us and spent over two hours with us narrowing down the dresses that my daughter liked the best. She helped us feel welcome and asked all the right questions. My daughter also found her Maid of Honor and Bridesmaids dresses there. I would recommend this place to anyone who wants a positive experience while shopping for their dress! They are a joy to work with!

I did find my dream dress at Bridals by Elena and they do have a very friendly staff. That being said, I would not recommend it because they never run on time for appointments and at my first appointment, I didn’t feel like they were willing to work with my budget. I was a little turned off at the beginning because when I gave them my budget ($ 1000), I was told there was only one dress in the whole store that would fit that budget (she pointed to a very plain, dull looking dress on a mannequin). I ended up looking around anyway and finding one of their «buy off the rack» dresses that was on sale for less than $ 1000. As for timing, I waited 30 – 75 minutes before being helped at every single appointment (4 appointments total). The day I was picking up my dress (5 days before my wedding), again they had me waiting for what felt like forever. 5 days before your wedding is NOT when you want to be waiting on someone to finish a job they should have finished weeks or even months before. It really increased my stress levels in the home stretch.

I came to Bridals by Elena based on the recommendation of a friend who had purchased her dress here. I actually live in Texas, but am from the area originally, so I knew I would be doing my dress shopping around the Crofton/​Gambrills area. The selection was great — very extensive but organized so it wasn’t overwhelming. Our consultant, Teri, was fun, sweet, and a joy to work with. She spent hours (literally, over two hours) with me and let me try on anything I wanted. She was very good at helping to narrow down the dresses I liked or didn’t like, as well, and stay in my price range. This was actually the first place I visited and I found my dress while I was there. I wanted to be ‘100% sure’, so we visited two other boutiques before coming back the next day to purchase. They even let me come back with my family the next day to try on the dress again just to be sure, even though we didn’t have an appointment. Overall, a joy to work with and a definite recommendation to all other brides in the area!

After being disappointed by David’s bridal I decided to go here because it wasn’t far from where I live which is important because time is very important when it comes to planning a wedding and my life is kind of hectic. My mom sister and three bridesmaids came to help me find my dress and we had a great time. Elena’s shop was nice and Elena really knew what she was doing. She chose a variety of dresses and I found my dress. We has no idea this place had such great reviews nor did we know it was top rated by «The Knot» and highly recommended. The interactions I had with the staff were the best I’ve had in a long time. I paid in full in cash for my dress and I got a 5% discount which covers the cost of taking it in. :) I’m trying to figure out ways to save right and left. I paid about 1400 for my dress and that isn’t even considered expensive in the wedding dress market, but it was double what I wanted to pay. As my Dad said «some things will just be more than what you want to pay,» but I have no regrets. I am obsessed with my dress. :)

I’m getting married on 9~19~14 and I got my dress from this boutique. Over all I’m pretty happy with my experience here. As a bride who has worked in bridals for many years and has visited every shop between Annapolis and Baltimore to find the dress it was nice to stumble across this shop hidden in Gambrills. The prices are competitive, I actually found «the dress» at another location (courvasious couture) but Bridals by Elena had it for about $ 400 less. So obviously I saved a few bucks and ordered my gown at the shop with the lower price.

Dress selection is decent… Got my dress here, 2 of my gfs got their wedding dresses here too. My problem with them is them lying to me like I’m stupid.
I asked if I would be getting the floor model of the dress I liked, they said oh no we order a new dress for you. but somehow at my 1^st fitting that sample dress is magically sold when I asked where the sample dress is.
That happened with my friends dress as well. Magically sold the sample dress at the 1^st fitting. AND on top of that, they charged for shipping for a dress that was already there! Also each time they do some alteration you pay for it!
Nip & tuck, bust, hem… each time ur gonna pay something… don’t know if it’s like that everywhere else.
I will give Elena credit for pulling dresses in the styles I liked… she obviously has a lot of experience in this business. She also did help me in and out of my dresses that I was trying on.
You might end up waiting for 30 mins or more even though u made an appt.
After spending more than couple grand on a dress n alterations, you’d think at the very least they would give u a nice carrying garment bag… nope! Cheap Elena’s bag with no loop to pull over the bottom half of the dress… what happen to my designer garment carrying bag that comes with my designer gown? Unbelievable! She will take care of you but proceed with caution.

I stumbled into this store after a hopeless day of prom dress shopping and everyone in the store even the manager helped me find the dress of my dreams. they reassured every fear i had with buying a dress! the dress i wanted was priced at $ 550 and they brought it down to $ 320 i couldn’t have been happier and they were going to do my alterations for an incredibly low price. I would recommend this store to anyone in need of a prom dress and good customer service! My mother also intends on getting married soon and she looked through the bridal gowns and was so pleased with the selection, she plans on going back for her wedding dress! Pay them a visit the inside of the store is beautiful with runways so you can model your dress, and 10ft dressing rooms so you feel comfortable and the staff was so helpful and gave great opinions and insight!

I purchased a beautiful dress from here thanks to my wonderful consultant, Frances. She is so easy to talk to and helpful! She not only kept me laughing, but she taught me how to put on a dress properly and all the way alterations can be made to fit my desire. She also went through the different bustles with me. My eyes bulged out of my head because they had a HUGE selection of dresses. They have two rooms of designer wedding dresses and a room of sale dresses. They also have the best selection of Mother’s dresses too.
I like that they build in the bras for you and I got to meet with the owners. They were very nice to me. My mom and future mother-​in-​law were allowed to take as many pictures as they wanted. After finding the dress, we were told any other dresses we purchase from there would be 15% off. They even gave me 3 different bridal magazines. This was such a relaxing experience. I enjoyed myself, thoroughly. I will recommend this place to anyone. From what I understand, they have made renovations recently to their store.
It definitely wouldn’t hurt you to check this place out.

I had a great experience! I believe my consultant’s name was Teri. She was so nice and listened to exactly what I wanted. She helped me find my wedding dress!
The store has a lot of choices and they’re organized my designer. The dress garment bags have pictures on them so you know what the dress looks like without having to pull it out of the bag which is great! You know whether you like the dress or not right away. The only thing I didn’t like was that they did not list the prices. Initially, I found a gorgeous gown and was ready to buy it until I learned the price was over budget. Teri helped me find another one just like it that I liked even better.
I had the pleasure of meeting Elena and she helped me imagine the bustle and the sweetheart neckline I wanted. She was really sweet and I enjoyed working with her to create my vision.
So far, I have just purchased my dress so I will update after I get my alterations done.
PS — I emailed the store prior to making an appointment to find out whether they carried dresses in my budget ($ 1500) and they were very prompt with responding.

I originally emailed the store to ask what their normal price ranges are, as I’ve chosen to limit my budget to around $ 1000. They led me to believe they’d have a decent selection. Fast forward to today, and that proved to not be true. Also, once telling the assistant what my limit was, she kept showing me things that were hundreds above. This was not okay — I have a limit, please stick to it. I therefore ended up in only 2 dresses, neither of which I liked, and neither of which matched hardly any of my criteria.
More interesting, however, was that once we dismissed a few higher priced dresses right off the rack, the sales women suggested that my mom «hook» herself out to afford the remaining cost. It was meant as a joke… but I would NEVER recommend, to a stranger, that you’re getting commission from, that they… um…sell their goods… to afford an over-​priced dress. Even in jest. It didn’t even make us mad, it was just weird.
The place is not a boutique, but perhaps a miniaturized version of some place you normally see on TV. I’m not sure how the alterations price compare to other places, but she mentioned $ 90 to make a sweetheart neckline and $ 200 for hemming. They are also *very* designer focused. She couldn’t believe that I didn’t remember the designer of a dress I liked at another store. I honestly didn’t; I tried to explain that I was buying a dress, not a designer. If you have a specific designer in mind, or that’s important to you, then perhaps this place is something that may interest you.

I went there in January and bought my dress. I love my dress, but the service was a little disappointing. This is supposed to be fun and I felt like I was wasting their time. I was told I needed to purchase it right away so that it would arrive in time. It arrived in April. Ridiculous. And now they are extending my alterations visits and charging at least $ 100 a time. They said I need 4. I don’t think so. And they never mentioned all the different alterations

I had a really nice experience at Elena’s. I worked with Frances, and also Elena briefly. I picked out some dresses, and Frances picked some, and she actually ended up picking the dresses that looked the best on me. She listened to what I wanted and helped me find something beautiful. She was also really helpful with getting me veils, earrings and other accessories to try on with it.
I will say she is very frank, straightforward and honest, which means she will tell you if she doesn’t think something looks good on you. I really appreciated this. At another store they told me EVERY dress looked GREAT on me. Obviously, every dress does not look good on me, i’m not a supermodel. Frances really seemed to care about finding a dress that looked great on me and made me feel great.
Once I found THE dress, they seemed to have no problem letting me hang out in it for practically an hour. Elena also came over and pinned a beautiful modified french bustle into place so I could see it and move with it. They also have a really nice store, with little mini runways, mirrors, and even cameras so you can see your dress from different angles.
The gave me estimated ranges for the alterations which seemed very reasonable compared to what I’ve gotten from other stores. If you check out their reviews on
, they’re much better than they are here on Unilocal.I’d recommend them.

I wanted a lace, A-​line wedding dress with a sweetheart neckline. The selection at Elena’s is good, but they did not have exactly what I wanted. I ended up getting exactly what I wanted at Elena’s, though. How can this be, you ask?
Well. I DID find a Martina Liana dress that was a lace cocktail dress and had a silk, poofy ballgown skirt that fastened to it. (
) I loved the idea of two dresses in one, but the big ballgown was not really my style. Elena had the idea of buying the cocktail dress with a few yards of the matching lace. She custom-​made the skirt for me with a beautiful train with covered buttons. It ended up being exactly what I wanted for the same price of the ballgown. The added bonus was that my formal dress became a dancing dress, and I never even had to change or leave the dancefloor.
I had a wonderful experience at Elena’s from start to finish. I interacted with Katya, Elena, and Frances during my trials and fittings and they were all lovely. I’m surprised by the negative reviews. The main reason I see for visiting Elena’s is that prices in the suburbs are lower than in DC. My old roommate also found her wedding dress at Elena’s. She waited a bit too long to order, and the dress was sold and discontinued when she finally wanted to pull the trigger. Elena and Katya hunted down a sample of the dress at a Chicago store and altered it for her, so she ended up paying a fraction of what she was prepared to pay. I’d say that is pretty great service.
No photos here until you purchase the dress, just like at Hitched in DC and Betsy Robinson’s in Reisterstown. It is an unfortunate policy!

As another reviewer stated «I would expect the service to match the price tag.» Unfortunately at Elena’s this isn’t the case.
This was the first place I shopped for my wedding gown, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. The consultant did not listen to what I wanted and told me that what I wanted wouldn’t be as flattering to my figure. The dresses she pulled were not my style at all, however I did have her pull two dresses that were more in line with what I wanted, I went in with an open mind and was willing to try on some dresses that maybe weren’t in line with what I wanted just to give it a chance. I mean you never know until the dress is actually on. The dresses the consultant chose looked horrible on me while the two that she pulled that I chose actually were flattering.
I think I tried on about 7 dresses and it took upwards of 2 hours. The consultant would not allow my mother or friend to assist me in the dressing room– so I of course I assumed the consultant would assist me with the dresses. WRONG. I had to take the dresses out of the garment bags, take them off the hanger and step into them by myself. She would then come in and zip/​button/​clip them. Then to take them off she’d unbutton them and leave me to step out of them, rehang them and move onto the next dress. The dressing rooms were also very small.
When the consultant figured out I probably was not going to buy anything she simply disappeared. This was while I still had the last dress on and I had to flag down another salesperson to unclip/​unbutton me.
My advice would be to skip Elena’s. I had a lovely experience the next day at another boutique and found exactly what I wanted!