Good Idea. Bad Idea.

Squeet!!

Now you know I had to have an itinerary for the week, right? I emailed it round to my posse a week in advance just in case we needed to adjust scheduling. And you know I had to have maps, right? Google street view anyone? And...you know I was totally late to the first appointment. Best laid plans. Not to worry, it gets better before it gets worse.  You'll see.

~Cymbeline~

The first stop on our whirlwind dress shopping tour in August. This was a great first start. Our consultant, Ivy, was a peach. The salon was spacious and all the dresses were displayed in glass doored closets. The dressing room is just a small curtained off area but that certainly did not detract from the experience one iota. I tried on 5 dresses. It's a good thing my rating sheet had enough spaces. The selection was A-mazing. Lots of different styles to choose from. Our consultant tricked each dress out with a veil, a hairpiece and/or some jewelry. This is what you want for your dress shopping experience. Highly Recommended!

We had a wonderful, wonderful time. Ummm. . . so great that we forgot to ask the prices. I ended up calling the salon at the end of the week to get pricing and Ivy remembered us. Awesome sauce! (as Lil Sis would say)

Checking the rear view.

That's Ivy showing me how to work the extra long veil.

Judges?

Mumsie: It's the first one. I don't want to rate it too high. I'll wait until we go to the others.

Sister: 4.5 stars

Little Sister: 4.5 stars

~Bridal Garden~

Umm…yeah. . . not my favorite. I suppose it could have been because the earlier appointment was so spectacular but judging it on its own merits I still wasn’t pleased. It’s a small space with four rows of dresses arranged by size and style. Our “consultant” showed us around and after she asked for my price point she started pulling dresses. She then stuck me in a tiny dressing room to try out her picks. My sisters tried to pick some dresses for me and she was all "Whoa, Nelly!". Thank goodness more people came in so she could leave us be for a bit. I kept time checking to see when we could leave.  Long story short? It sucked. Too much hassle / work. And for what? The dresses were not in the best condition and the discounts were not worth it. A David’s Bridal dress for like $100 off with a broken zipper and dirty? Nope. I could get it clean and new from DB on sale. 'Cause they always have a sale.  Puh-lease! If you are willing to put in the effort, have the patience of a saint and the luck of the Irish then maybe, just maybe, it could work for you. I guess it's cool since the proceeds do go towards a charity but you could probably. . . Skip it!

Judges?

Mumsie: 2 stars

Sister: 2 stars

Little Sister: 2 stars

Next up: Reviews of Amsale and Reem Acra