Bridal Connection — Attraction in Ankeny

My first visit to Bridal Connection was magical. Melissa helped me find the perfect dress. She was never pushy and let me take my time with each and every dress. She never seemed like it was an inconvenience that my mother, sister, and I were there. The next few visits picking out bridesmaid dresses and tuxes were the same way. Melissa made my wedding planning experience amazing!!! Then it all went downhill when Melissa messaged me saying she was no longer working at Bridal Connection. My first alteration appointment, Lara the owner helped me out and made me feel like I was an idiot. The second alteration they called me 5 minutes before my appointment when I was already in Ankeny and told me the seamstress was running behind and they needed to reschedule my appointment for another day. My mother came from 2.5 hours away to learn how to bustle my dress the next week. Fifteen minutes before that appointment the owner, Lara called and wanted to push the appointment back 2 hours because the seamstress was still working on my dress. Why she was doing this 5 minutes before my appointment is beyond me. My mother and I waited in their waiting area for an hour and a half (past closing time) to get back and learn my bustle. The workers offered to get my a coffee from Starbucks but it was already 7pm. The bustle was rushed and there were many things wrong. But the owner “reassured” us that those things were supposed to be like that even though my mother argued they were not. My bridesmaid went to try on her dress because she had gotten pregnant. They tried telling her that she had gotten too fat and there was nothing they could do about it. When she told them she had gotten pregnant they were much more pleasant. They charged her $150 more to take out a zipper and add a corset (this was after she had drove 3 hours and waited for 2 hours emotionally exhausted). When my husband and his groomsman went to get their tuxes to try on, my husbands pants were too short and his undershirt was too long. The workers assured him that they were supposed to be like that. His best mans pants were a size too big and one leg was shorter than the other. In which the owner Lara budged the pants up a little bit and said “see they’re the same length”.. but they definitely weren’t. The way the staff talked to them was like they had never worn a tux before and that tuxes are supposed to be like that. My husband was very upset. My husband gave his best man his pants and had to wait for his pants to be ordered. When he went in again one leg was shorter than the other. So he left again with no pants. My father also ordered a size 44 coat because he knew that was his size but they ordered a 46 instead after him already telling them 44 was his size. His coat was not there the week of the wedding and they tried to charge him again for reordering another coat. I went in on the Friday before my wedding to pick up my dress and try it on. I brought my mom with me to make sure the bustle was fixed. My fathers coat was still not there and they told us we would have to come back and get it. I told them they messed up and how frustrated I was that I have came to Ankeny 6-8 different times due to them messing up. The owner (male) offered to bring the coat to our hotel during our rehearsal dinner that night. I tried on my dress and you could tell the staff was sucking up due to all the mishaps that I had encountered. But we finally left with everything we needed besides my dads coat and we will never be going back to Bridal Connection or recommending them to anyone. They either need to work on how they speak to customers, hire Melissa back because she was the only one who knew what the hell she was doing,...

The store is very nice and the staff is friendly. I didn't end up finding THE dress and that is ok. I really wanted to write this review in the chance it may help other brides.

When I got to the store the consultant was very nice and friendly! She was confident and knew about the dresses in the shop. I was not exactly sure what I was looking for, since I am just starting my dress shopping process. I am indecisive and not sure what I want yet. I kept being told that I was "Confused" or " Overwhelmed". I honestly was not either of those, I was just not seeing what I wanted. I then was basically told that I needed to pick a style, but again I was not ready to. My reason for bringing this up is because some girls react well to that, some people need to be told that to help them pick but not me. I take time to decide, and I was feeling pressured to convince myself I loved something that was not me. The owner who is very nice came over and she was giving me complements but I also felt like she was getting annoyed cause I was so indecisive. I know they pride themselves in being able to select the perfect dress for people. The consultant actually picked out the dress I did like there on the first try! They are good! It was truly nothing against them or the dresses I just did not find " The One" and I felt like there was something wrong with me because of that. I tried on lots of dresses and they let me walk around and grab some and gave me some space so that was nice. I just wanted to make it clear, I am not knocking on either the consultant or the owner, I am just sharing how I felt. Everyone has their own style and I know you can't please everyone.

Something I have learned over the years is how to listen to people. I felt like the only thing they listened to was me saying I didn't like lace. I also said I was open to anything though cause I am just starting and I think I know what I like but I wont know until I try. They were not listening to me, they instead were telling me how I was feeling or saying things like " you have been starring at the dress for too long, you are over thinking it" I wasn't, I truly was just taking in what I liked about the dress and what I didn't. After that I felt rushed and like I was wasting their time.

Basically every shop has its own style. If you are someone who likes being told what looks good on you or want someone to decide what is your perfect dress I would say this is your spot (nothing wrong with this). If you are confident that you can say no to something you don't love, and don't cave under pressure this is a great place for you. But if you are unsure, indecisive, crack under pressure, not ok saying no, self-conscious, easily influenced ( again nothing wrong with this), I would maybe say go dress shopping at other shops before coming here so you have practice seeing other dresses and saying no. This still may be the place for you I just wanted to mention this cause I usually am someone who has no problem saying no, but I felt a little uncomfortable.

Again this is a beautiful shop, with knowledgeable, confident staff that are great at selecting dresses based off of what you said. But they will hold you to what you originally said you were looking for. Sometimes the confidence and knowledge turned into arrogance and came off as if I was not capable of making the right decision. Instead of making me feel empowered I felt like something was wrong with me cause I wasn't seeing anything I LOVED, and I felt like I was going to have to pick something I didn't LOVE and just hope that doesn't happen to others. I do not think this was their intention, but this is how I truly felt. Again just a different style...

Edit* The owners response saying we wanted to cancel the appointment when we arrived is not entirely accurate. We were honest about having purchased a dress elsewhere and if she wouldn’t charge us we could give our appointment to someone else OR we were happy to keep the appointment to look at wedding party dresses and the bride said she would even try on other dresses to see if there was one there she liked better. When the bride asked if she could still keep appointment and try on dresses the owner said “No. You aren’t serious about it.” She wasn’t kind, or gracious, or understanding. We went in with full honesty and good faith and got charged for it. If she had said that it was $25-$50 for an appointment whether you kept it, cancelled it, or didn’t buy anything even that would be understandable but we were charged a cancellation fee when we did not cancel.

Short story: Very disappointing service and unprofessional conduct. DO NOT RECOMMEND. We explained that we had made a completely separate trip for this appointment, because THEY cancelled our original appointment, and that due to their cancelation we went to a different shop and found a dress. We still went to Bridal Connections and were still willing to keep the appointment BUT WAS CHARGED A CANCELLATION FEE, when the owner found out another dress had been found by the bride.

Long Story: Completely unprofessional. Appointment was made on 5/4 for a bridal dress shopping on 5/30 at 10am. Due to living over an hour away, multiple other appointments were also made at other shops for 5/30 in the afternoon. On 5/20 Bridal connections called saying that they made an error and booked the appointment when the shop was not even open and asked that it be moved to the following day 5/31 at 11am. This was inconvenient due to distance but understanding accidents happen, we happily took the new appointment. However, at one of the other shops a dress was found on clearance and bought. Immediately called Bridal Connection to ask if we could cancel but was told a $50 fee would be charged. Understanding that it was shorter notice, we still went to Bridal Connection the next day. When we arrived we said we had found a dress the previous day but said we would be open to look around and even try on dresses with the possibility of finding a better dress or we could leave so someone else who didn’t have a dress could come in and try them on. The owner said that we would still be charged the $50 even though we were willing to keep the appointment. We explained that originally we had hoped to go to her shop prior to all the others but that it was Bridal Connection’s mistake that lead us to go to different shops first and find a dress. The owner continually said she needed to charge the money because she didn’t have enough money “for bringing in staff and her overhead.” We explained that we had made a completely separate trip for this appointment and were still willing to keep the it BUT WAS STILL CHARGED A CANCELLATION FEE! Thankfully she only gouged us $25 instead of $50 but it was still completely unprofessional and other brides...