a&bé bridal shop raleigh — Attraction in Cary

I was recommended to this bridal salon by a close family friend who raved about their great customer service experience. After going to several other bridal stores, I decided to make an appointment on a Saturday morning (8/4) to give a bridal shop one last shot before giving up.

I did like the selection of simple wedding gowns that they had, without a lot of embellishments. My stylist, Eliza who was training Kayla, also only brought one dress in at a time which was different than other bridal stores who bring everything into the fitting room, so you are very overwhelmed. After hearing my feedback on each dress, each following dress she chose reflected my likes/dislikes which was great.

I found a dress I said YES to! The stylists congratulated me and wanted to go over the details of the purchase. This dress had a 8-10 week lead time, which worked out for me and gave me another 3 months to get tailored before my wedding. Eliza then asked me if I was going to consider buying this size or order a different one. This one zipped up perfectly, so I said that this is the size that I would order. She then offered to sell this dress from the floor as a used sample that I could take home that very same day, for a discount. That of course, piqued my interest!

We went over how a sample dress would work, and they assured me that the makeup stains on the dress would come out with a proper cleaning, and they have a cleaner that they recommended, so that was not communicated that it was a big deal or anything. They went to the back room I'm assuming to discuss a price, and came back with an offer. I countered for $50 less, and they accepted. I felt good that I could walk home with a dress that day. I thanked them several times as it took me over 6 months to find my dress, and this experience was definitely different than other bridal salons. I was given a contract to review for the purchase. I signed it under the assumption that I was given a fair deal, and that they were transparent with the situation.

I got home to write on their Instagram account about my wonderful experience, and then I saw that they posted (the day before on 8/4) that they were having a sample less than 2 weeks away where the sample dresses would be "30-70% off (most will be under $500!)." That felt a bit strange to me... why wasn't I told about this upcoming sale as I definitely paid more than $500 for my sample dress? That should have been communicated to me so that I had all of the facts while making my decision on my wedding dress.

After seeing that, I called the dry cleaning company that they exclusively trust to clean their dresses, and I was told that these cleanings start at $300 (no preservation mind you, just a cleaning!), and that it will take 4-6 weeks to clean! This was not disclosed to me, and once you add this cleaning cost to what I paid, it is almost the same cost as a brand new dress. BTW the dress has 1 layer with no beading or lace, so I would never think that something "so simple" could cost so much to clean. Why wasn't I told that up front?

This took my happy morning into a nosedive. The following week, I called around to other dry cleaners and they said the same thing, that this cleaning cost starts at $300. IF this is an industry standard that a bridal stylist is familiar with, isn't this something that you would want to tell a customer up front vs. them finding out after the fact?

Our family friends were shocked when I told them about my experience. They recommended that I call the store manager to let her know what happened. I called and spoke to Kimberly, and all she said was that she apologized and will let the stylist know this feedback as a learning experience. Tone deaf customer service.

Maybe it is the type of person I am, but I choose to be honest and up front with people, and I expect the same from others. The bottom line is that I was sold a dress in bad faith by this store, and I feel completely betrayed. I cannot recommend this business due to their dishonesty and...

Before I get into why I’m leaving a two star review, I just want to say that there are many pros to this shop. The staff are all very nice. The store is gorgeous. There is a large selection of designer dresses. I felt like I was listened to during my bridal appointment And was able to try on all of the dresses that I wanted without being rushed. However, I do feel that in some ways I was set up for failure by things that as professionals, the store should have educated me on. I chose a dress that was a made to measurement dress. This was supposed to be a money saving experience as I was told repeatedly that I should not have to have alterations to it besides maybe getting the dress taken in a little bit and a bustle. When the dress arrived, it fit less than ideal. The back zips up skin tight to the point where I cannot breathe or sit down comfortably. My only option to get it to fit comfortably is to have the seamstress cut open the back of the dress and turn it from a zipper up to a corset lace up. This is upsetting for a couple of reasons, one because it changes the way that my dress is going to look and that’s not what I picked. Two, it’s going to cost $700 to get all of these alterations done. I reached out to the store after the fact to let them know what was going on. The end result is that they claim there is nothing they can do as the dress was made correctly to my measurements that day. My weight has not changed since my appointment. As of measuring me at home myself there is a 5 cm discrepancy in my bust area and the rest of my measurements remain the same as measured that day.. As a woman, your bust size can change throughout your cycle. And I feel that as a store full of women this is something that should have been thought about when measuring me. The store was very vocal after the dress arrived too small and not before placing my order that the dress that I chose has no give to it, no way to let it out to make it bigger, and absolutely no stretch. And that it is supposed to be skin tight. None of this was told to me when being measured for the dress and purchasing the dress. My seamstress agreed that I was set up for failure, and these things should’ve been discussed with me by my stylist. I do feel that if these are things that were highlighted before I purchased the dress and signed off on measurements then I would not be sitting in this situation right now. If they knew that the dress that I chose had absolutely no give to it. This should have been discussed with me so I could make an educated decision on if I might want to leave a little bit of room as yes, as a woman, your body can fluctuate throughout the month. While I would still recommend this store to anyone, I am now left with $700 in alterations on top of it almost $4000 dress that I will have to pay for completely by myself. On top of the back of the dress being too tight, I still have to get it hemmed a significant amount, even though the dress was supposed to have been measured to my heel height to prevent me from having to pay additional cost for hemming. While overall, the staff was nice and I am happy with my dress choice, I do feel that as professionals in this industry I should’ve been provided a little bit more education about the material of my dress and that it does not have any stretch or wiggle room. Had I been educated on this I would have chosen to leave a little bit of room so that the dress was not fit to be skin tight to my body on that exact day. I guess lesson learned to be cautious when ordering things that are made to measurement and I definitely would think of this if you choose to go that direction or ask that some...

TLDR: the dress was beautiful but the customer service is terrible and you are just a transaction and a dollar sign for them. They couldn't care less about you or your dress once the contract is signed.

Ok full story: I loved the dress I bought from here in the end, however the buying experience and customer service were pretty disappointing, especially for a purchase as important and expensive as a wedding dress.

The staff is obviously trained to be over-the-top happy and bubbly but if you have a question or concern during the buying process, they suddenly don't care and you're just a transaction.

In my case, I had 2 appointments - one in Jan and one in early March for my September 6th wedding - I ended up purchasing my dress in March, a full 6 months before my wedding. At the time of purchase, they told me the dress was estimated to come in at the end of June so I would have a full 2 months for alterations. They say they will place the order that day to get the ball rolling and that you will get an email as soon as the order is placed. They also go through the contract with you and basically say no matter what happens, they are not responsible and they guarantee nothing and you're outta luck once you sign and pay which gave me an icky feeling as I was buying my dress.

Over a week goes by, and I still don't have an email saying my dress has been ordered so I had to call to see if they'd even ordered it - they said it was just a delay in the email not the actual ordering, but given how they behaved, I think they just didn't order it. That day after calling, I finally get an email but it now says the dress will ship in late July (not even arrive, when they originally told me the dress would arrive in late June). This was a over a month after what they had told me when I purchased and meant that I would potentially only have 2 weeks to get it altered.

I called to clarify, first they said it was a mistake in the email, then they said it was going to be late July, then they basically said we can't give you a date and it's not our problem, you signed the contract and we guarantee nothing. After multiple calls and emails, I finally got one of the girls to try and get some info from the designer but the whole thing left a really bad taste in my mouth. The dress did end up getting there in mid-July and I was able to get it altered (not by one of their recommended seamstresses, I found my own) but the experience overall the worst customer service out of all of my wedding vendors (who were all otherwise wonderful). Given my experience, I would say to go somewhere else, there are plenty of other bridal shops and plenty that carry the...