The Wedding Connection

The staff here is friendly, and the atmosphere is nice, but they have a very small selection, don’t offer any help in looking through the options, and don’t let you take pictures of any of the dresses you try on.
I came here with my fiancé looking for a wedding dress. We were greeted by a friendly woman at the front desk who took down all my information. She immediately informed us that it would take 10 – 11 months to get a dress in and have it altered. I was about to go into full on freak out mode because our wedding is in 10 months, but then I remembered that all the other bridal places I’d gone to had quoted me much shorter wait times.
The associate asked if I had a Pinterest board with dresses I liked, and after perusing it on my phone asked what designers and fabrics I liked and any other details I thought were important. This attention to detail is great in theory, but keep in mind that the shop is tiny. So in the time we spent discussing my personal style, we could have just gone through every dress in their inventory and decided yes or no.
She led me back to where the dresses were all hanging and told me to pick three dresses and hang them outside the dressing room she assigned me, and then went back up front to do paperwork. I perused the selection while wondering what the point of all the questions was if she wasn’t actually going to help me select anything. At this point we were the only customers in the store. If you’ve ever gone wedding dress shopping, you know that it really helps to have an associate from the store standing next to you when you’re selecting dresses, because wedding dresses are really bulky and look very different when hanging on a hanger than when you’re actually trying them on.
The dresses all have tags on them that give the size, available colors, price ($ 900‑2000, at least for the ones I looked at), rush price (a couple hundred dollars higher — not sure how fast that translates to), and some other details. The dresses themselves had clearly been hanging there for a while. Some had beading or appliques coming off, and you could see loose threads on a lot of them.
I picked three dresses like she said, and proceeded to try them on one by one. I kind of liked one, but wasn’t really sure. This is the point where at other stores I’d gone to, the associate would have stepped in with suggestions of other dresses that are similar to one I liked, or started pointing out changes that a seamstress could make to deal with parts I didn’t like, but here the associate didn’t do either of those things. She kind of just stood there and looked at me expectantly. I’m not sure if other brides only need to try on three dresses before deciding, but I am certainly not one of them. After several moments of awkward silence, I suggested that maybe I could go back and look at other dresses, which she seemed surprised by but acquiesced. As with the first time, I looked through the racks on my own while she sat upfront doing paperwork. I found another dress that looked nice and tried it on, but really wasn’t feeling it. We ended up leaving long before our appointment was over, and we are not coming back.

We worked with Marissa last week, she’s in the business to please! She was funny, patient, doesn’t pressure! The first dress my bridesmaid tried on was the one. Marissa went over all color options, payment plans, and aprox. Shipping.
The dresses are on the higher priced side, but you get what you pay for!
I’ll be going back for flower girl dresses!

I visited this location on Sunday and was totally underwhelmed by the staff and how rudely they treated us. I happened to be visiting from out of town and went with one of my bridesmaids to look at potential dresses. I have already picked the color/​fabric but wanted her to try some on since I’m letting everyone choose their own style and she planned to purchase close to home. Unfortunately, they are one of only a few locations in that area that have Alfred Angelo dresses. My friend will now be driving over an hour to get her dress just because she refuses to give them any business. Here is why:
From the moment we walked in the store, the girl at the front desk (blonde with glasses) was extremely abrasive and expressed her irritation that we arrived without an appointment. I explained that I wouldn’t need anyone to assist and we just simply wanted to look and utilize a dressing room. She was clearly irritated and we were treated like second-​class citizens the entire time we were there. There was an eye-​roll a few «Oh the nerve!» glances and of course when we left within 20 minutes of arriving no one said «have a nice day.» We had to walk out because we both felt so uncomfortable and at that point, angry.
Now, I certainly understand that they had appointments to attend to but I also was under the impression that they are in the business of selling dresses. Would it have killed her to say «Well, we do prefer appointments but you are more than welcome to look around. Would there be a time this week that we could set to have you come and we can assist you?» In customer service you accommodate the customer, no?
I certainly hope that the owner was not one of the rude associates we had the displeasure of meeting and that she has a serious chat with the unprofessional girls she has working there. They aren’t doing her any favors. I can only imagine if a poor bride showed up excited to try on dresses and was greeted with the same condescending and annoyed attitudes. What a great way to ruin one of the best/​fun times in a girls’ life.
We drove to another location called Diamond Bridal & Formal in Plymouth and were lucky enough that the staff was welcoming and helpful. My friend will be purchasing her dress through them.