Weddingbee Blog

Maid of honor and MOB dresses: Fashions at Large, Overland Park, KS (a KC suburb)

I went to Fashions at Large twice in two days. The first time was a culmination of a whole day’s worth of MOH dress searching. In finding her dress, I tried to be *really* easygoing with Katie: I asked that the dress be blue, and probably tea-length. Those were the only requests I had. So Katie, her mom and I set out early one Saturday morning and began searching. We tried unsuccessfully at many department stores before heading over to Fashions at Large. This place retails Alfred Angelo, as well as many other brands of BM dresses. When we got there we were greeted by a nice girl (I’m pretty sure her name was Lauren). Katie tried on several different dresses, and ultimately found hers. Lauren was extremely fun to work with—very friendly and easygoing, and not afraid to offer her honest opinion. She really made us feel comfortable and appreciated, a feeling we hadn’t really gotten in the other stores.

One problem: the owner of this shop is a *talker*! She kept going on and on, long after we had ordered the dress and were ready to leave. She had Katie’s mom cornered for at least an hour, talking about this and that. We were all afraid to look at each other for fear we’d crack up laughing. Finally, and at her first opportunity (no, really), Katie’s mom grabbed us and we dashed off.

We were so happy with Lauren’s service that day, that the next day I went back down there with my parents to find a MOB dress for my mom. We specifically went in when Lauren said she’d be working. Unfortunately, she was working with another customer when we arrived. She looked like she was just about done, so we grabbed a seat to wait for her to become available. Unfortunately, another salesclerk accosted us. We didn’t like her at *all*, and really the only reason we’d gone back was to be helped by Lauren. This salesclerk was pushy and rude. My mom is plus sized, and the clerk took great pains to make sure Mom didn’t forget it. She suggested that there were only a couple gowns she could even try on, and humiliated her by not closing the dressing room door after her. She was really hands-y and seemed to have no concept of personal space.

While this was going on, I kept an eye on Lauren’s previous customers and as *soon* as she was done, I asked her to come help us. I know this is bad etiquette, but this other saleslady was really driving us nuts.

As soon as Lauren came over, the trip became a lot more productive. She pulled out *numerous* other dresses the first saleslady hadn’t shown us, and in a very short time we found The Dress for mom. They had the correct size in stock, so we took it home that day. It was a pleasure to work with Lauren again, and despite the rude saleslady at first we were really happy with our second experience there.

A couple months passed, and Katie’s dress still hadn’t arrived. Her mom called the shop and was told that the dress ‘should arrive by the second week of May’. Considering that the wedding was the *third* week of May, this was understandably unacceptable! Coupled with the fact that they paid a special rush fee in order to get the dress in early, we weren’t too happy. After a couple more phone calls, her dress surfaced just in time. After a quick alteration, Katie’s dress was ready to go with a few days until the wedding.

Grade: B-. Lauren was an absolute joy to work with, and we were really pleased with their selection for both MOH and MOB. But the other saleslady was simply *awful*, and the owner was a talker. Plus, the whole thing with Katie’s dress barely coming in on time… the experience could’ve been better.