Wedding Blog

I made the critical decision of purchasing my wedding dress a couple months ago. Over the course of 2 months, I went to 8 different bridal boutiques and was getting frustrated with not finding “the perfect yes dress.” It was getting to the point where I wanted to get it over with and scratch it off my “to do list.”

So my MOH and I stopped by Lulu’s again and tried on a couple of dresses that I originally liked on me, but wasn’t the “perfect yes dress.” My fantabulous bridal consultant, Sharon Carter, was so sweet and helpful she suggested I try on a new dress that just came that morning. It was a Pronovias Ipanema 2006 Collection dress. I tried it on and knew I found “the perfect yes dress.” What impressed me more was the price tag. Hahaha - I’m a practical bride so spending only $1,500 for my wedding dress was a-ok with me.

Searching for the right dress with the right price tag was so frustrating. I tried on dresses that cost well over $5000, and couldn’t justify spending that much on a dress I’d be wearing for no more than 5 hours. I’d rather use that $$$$ towards a nice honeymoon or towards our home.

My MOH’s reaction was what I really needed to finalize my purchase. She really loved it on me - I just hope everyone else will too. I’m sacrificing a 100% silk couture dress, but I’ll be gaining so much more when I can use that money for our tickets to Australia to see the Great Barrier Reef (FI’s first honeymoon pick) or the Greek Isles (one of my top picks).

Here is a list of bridal boutiques that I visited in the Dallas area and my personal take on them.

1) Lulu’s
—- mid priced dresses ranging between $1000-$3000, great selection of Pronovias, super helpful staff. I love Sharon Carter - her sweet face and honest heart really helped to calm my hypersensitivity at times. I really wanted her to get the commission too. Oh - they also serenade you by blowing bubbles after you make your purchase. It was so cute and unexpected - they even played the dum dum dum dum bridal song when they did it. She will be receiving a thank you card from me soon.
—- a little disorganized and chaotic at times.

The first picture is the bubble serenade, the second picture is me tired and confused from a long day of wedding dress shopping.

2) Southlake Bridal Portolio
—-mid to high end dresses averaging $3500, beautiful wooden and glass cabinetry filled with couture dresses, beautiful lace dresses, great service from Sueda and Corey. They really take time in meeting with you and assisting with any questions or requests.
—-the drive was about 45 minutes outside of where I live, so it was quite a bit of a drive considering I’d have to drive at least 3-5 times for fittings and such.

3) Neiman Marcus Downtown
—-very high end, dresses ranging from $3600 to $10000, beautiful couture dresses by Vera Wang, Amsale, Monique Lhuillier, etc., decent service.
—-don’t even bother to look if you plan to spend less than $4000 total for alterations and dress.

4) Terra Costa
—-lower end dresses $500-$2000, lots of sale items on the rack, lots of ballgown dress selections, service was ok.
—-selection seems dated

5) Mockingbird Bridal
—-low to mid priced dresses $500 and up, huge selection of dresses lined up against perimeter of the store, designer names.
—-madness, so many people in the store (too many and unorganized), they had a waiting list in the dressing rooms. Once I saw that, I walked out.

6) Stardust Celebrations
—-sister store to Lulu’s, higher end boutique with small selection of dresses, beautiful Alvina Valenta dresses, average price range is $3000 and up.
—-snooty brunette salesgirl (don’t know her name), terrible at doing her job. They picked out 2 dresses for me and I didn’t get to choose any. I didn’t go back because of their service.

7) Priscilla of Boston
—-mid to high end prices $2000 and up, beautiful lace selection, lots of trumpets and ballgowns, good service. I felt kind of bad b/c I knew I wasn’t going to purchase a dress there and kept the salesgirl for almost 2 hours. Oops!
—-dresses have the similar looks, not much variety with the dresses.

Blush Couture
—-brand spanking new boutique (opened this year I think or around it), super cute, great service by ??? (only person that works there besides the owner), she has curly brown hair, super nice and helpful. Beautiful unique dresses by independent designers, no big names which is good sometimes for me. mid range around $3000.
—-small selection consisting of about 30 dresses max, small jewelry selection.

Ok, well that was my slimmed down version of my personal opinions on these boutiques. Hopefully it’ll be a good source for any weddingbee brides in the area.