Bella Sera Bridal — Attraction in Danvers

I would not recommended Bella Sera. I went to Bella Sera Bridal after receiving a recommendation. I had purchased my dress up in Portland Maine, but live on the Northshore so I wanted to get my dress altered locally. Upon reaching out I received excellent responsive customer service and was able to get an appointment booked in the next couple of weeks (I had 6+ months until my wedding so I had plenty of time). When I arrived for this appointment I was greeted with a smile. I tried on my dress and the seamstress began to pin the areas needing adjustments. One of the alterations I needed was cups being changed out as they were too small and the cups were sewn into the dress. The seamstress cut my dress that day and removed the smaller cups, she then pinned the larger cups in so I could confirm they would fit/get an idea how it would look once the alteration was complete. Everything this first appointment was perfect and I felt confident in leaving my dress with them. After this is when it went drastically down hill. I came to pick up my dress and the cups that were originally nude (my dress was sheer) were now white. This made it look like I had white circles on my dress and completely changed the whole look of my dress. I didn’t notice this until I looked at the photos from this appointment and once realized I reached out to them immediately to try and get it fixed. They were able to get me in quickly, and when I went in I felt as though I was a burden even though the seamstress specially mentioned she had taken it upon herself to completely change the look of my dress by sewing white over the cups and added vines from the bottom to the cup area. Well I don’t believe it was on purpose I left this appointment feeling extremely frustrated due to the energy/tone I received from them. All I wanted was my dress to be how the designer intended it to be.

Flash forward to my last appointment 1 month before my wedding. I walked in and was greeted again with a smile, I explained that I was there to pick up my dress and they had me take a seat. They went out back to get my dress and then came back out (without my dress) and proceeded to go over to their coworker and start whispering something. Obviously this caused me some concern. Others came in to get their dresses and the workers went out back got the dress and came back to them within minutes, another got their dress tried it on and left all while I was still waiting there without knowing what was even happening. No one was looking at us or even acknowledging us. I began to panic and started pacing the store. After about 35 minutes I asked my mom if I should ask them if they even had my dress/what was happening, but the person at the desk (not the one who initially helped us) must have seen I was panicking and asked if we were all set. I said someone went out back to get my dress came back didn’t say anything to us and we’ve now been here for over a half hour without any answers and I don’t even know if you have my dress. From the back of the store the employee who initially helped us extremely rudely stated very loudly “they’re out back finishing it up and steaming it like I said”

In fact nothing at all was said to us. We waited another 15 or so minutes until we received my dress. When I tried it on the cups were done correctly. I had also paid for a dress bag from the location I originally got my dress and Bella Sera took it upon themselves to change out my dress bag and didn’t even provide me with the other one that I had actually bought from the location I bought my dress. The day of my wedding after taking photos I realized there was a random area that needed to be cut off the bottom I assumed it had ripped, but when we cut this you could tell that a large part of the bottom layer was pieced together. I would not recommend Bella Sera to anyone. The alterations that were done were so poor that all the vines that were added to my dress (without me stating I would like that done or getting approval from me) fell...

I completely agree with another poster's comment about the first experience with Bella Sera being fantastic but after that everything went down hill. I needed to find a dress for a wedding and Amanda couldn't have been more helpful. I found the perfect dress and was told, because it was an in-stock dress, that it should be in shortly. After a couple of weeks when I didn't hear back from anyone at Bella Sera regarding the dress, I called and was told that it had been in for over a week. When I asked why no one had called, I was told that someone had called. Well, they had my cell phone and no message or any record of an incoming call was on my phone (I have a smartphone - they're pretty good at recording calls from my experience). I put that aside and tried to set up a time for a dress fitting and was told that, no I needed to come in and try on the dress first, and if a fitting was needed I would need to schedule an appointment at that time. I explained to the woman that with my schedule that would be very inconvenient and that I would like to do it all at once if possible. She finally gave me an appointment on the same day I was planning to go but only after I insisted and explained my schedule dilemma again and again. Long story short, I went in to try on the dress and sure enough the dress did need to be tailored. Overall the fitting went well and I was scheduled to come back in a couple of weeks when the dress would be ready; my scheduled time was 10 a.m. I received the form with the time and seamstress (Janice). Two weeks later I arrive promptly at 10 a.m. and the sign on the door states an opening time of 11 a.m. I had scheduled this fitting around client appointments and needless to say I wasn't happy. I called to find out what happened and was told that, no my appointment was at 11 a.m. and not 10 am. Meanwhile I'm looking at my form that clearly states 10 a.m. Janice, the seamstress, gets on the phone with me and tells me that no my appointment was at 11 - that is what she has written down. She then tells me that my form must be smudged or I'm not reading it correctly. I'm staring a the form - no smudges anywhere and I clearly see a 10 (not 11). She clearly doesn't want to hear that and insists that she's right - the appointment was for 11. Thank God for my co-workers who are also at this point looking at my form and telling me, no you're not crazy - it clearly says 10 a.m. I just want an apology for the inconvenience and a rescheduled appointment. Finally Janice tells me, oh, I see what the problem is. You're in our computer system for 10 a.m. which is why your form is incorrect. I received a very half-hearted apology (if I can even call it that) and an insistence from her that it wasn't her fault. It was incorrect in the computer and she didn't enter it. Okay???? I gave up even trying to get her to see my point at all - the whole conversation just became ridiculous. I did receive a phone call from the manager, Amanda, who did apologize for what happened, and that did mean something. However, what did me in and why I finally decided to post this review, is that I went in to pick up my dress on my newly scheduled appointment day (I did confirm the time the day before just in case) and while I won't say that they were exactly icy, it was not the pleasant reception that I had received on certainly my first day or on the initial fitting day. No mention of the incident along the lines of sorry about the inconvenience you experienced, etc. They basically treated it as though it never happened. Coming from a client-services oriented field, I can't imagine treating any client/customer in...

My experience with Bella Sera actually started two years ago. I was with my mom shopping for a mother of the groom dress for her for my brother’s wedding. We overheard Anthony helping a bride pick out her dress. He was funny and helpful, made very tailored suggestions, honest when something was a little off, and full of good advice. When we walked out of the store that day, I looked at my mom and said, “if I ever get married, I want that man to help me pick out my dress!”

A year later, I got engaged! Bella Sera was the first (and ended up being only!) dress appointment I had. Making the appointment online ahead of time was a breeze, and I was able to request Anthony (which they also called me to confirm!) The day of shopping, my mom, maid of honor, and I all went in with ideas on what dress I’d end up in. I was convinced I’d be in an a line, vneck dress. After the first one I put on, it was a clear no (confirmed by Anthony- ha!) I tried on 8 dresses in total that day, with a clear winner. Anthony helped recommend styles complimentary to my body type that I would have never even considered. It was such a pleasant experience. When I tried on the dress I ended up in- I loved everything about it- except the back was sheer and therefore I couldn’t wear a bra with it. Anthony quickly solved this issue by checking with the designer who could fill it in with fabric matching the rest of the dress. He got a piece of a dress to imitate what that would look like for me so we could get an idea. It was perfect! The staff let my mom bringing mimosas and we had a whole little morning out of it. It was lovely. Another associate at the store asked when my wedding was, when I shared September, he pointed out that the dress I was wearing looked like falling leaves down the back- that was it! The only thing keeping me from wanting to buy it that day was this idea in the back of my head that I’d wear my mom’s wedding dress. The seamstress right at Bella Sera told me to bring mom’s dress in the next day and she could show me what they could do with it. So home we went.

The next day, we went back with my mom’s dress and compared the two side by side. While I loved the sentimentality of wearing mom’s dress, the new one was just stunning. We all agreed to go with that and I said yes to the dress! The fact that Bella Sera was able to accommodate both options to help make an informed decision was invaluable.

I ended up getting my alterations done at Bella Sera as well, which were very reasonable for bridal alterations. In addition to hemming and making the French bustle, the seamstress added a piece of lace transferred from somewhere else on the dress to the neckline to make the bust a little more modest. I was so pleased with the result.

I’m so grateful for the help of all of the staff at Bella Sera throughout my dress buying process. They were responsive and thoughtful, and stayed in touch every step of the way. They even reached out the week of my wedding to wish us a great day. I can’t recommend them enough to anyone looking for a personalized, enjoyable, fun, and affordable bridal...