Pantora Bridal — Attraction in New York

It was around this time last year when I was dealing with Pantora Bridal. With everything going on with my wedding, I didn’t have a chance to write a review, but since I still remember this horror story like it was yesterday, and how poorly they treated me I need to share my experience for any current or future brides considering them.

I had ten bridesmaids who each spent over $300 on dresses, and my experience with this company was nothing short of a disaster. If they had a BBB account, I would have filed a complaint there as well because their business practices are completely unethical.

For context, I traveled from North Carolina to New York to attend one of their showcase events because I wanted to see the dresses in person before making a final decision. After carefully selecting three colors: pearl, rose gold, and hot chocolate. I had my bridesmaids place their orders in November 2024, confident that we were getting exactly what I saw in person.

However, when the dresses arrived, the hot chocolate dresses were a completely different shade than what we originally saw in the store. After all the time, money, and planning that went into this, the last thing I expected was such a major discrepancy.

I reached out to Pantora Bridal to address the issue, hoping for a resolution. Instead, I was met with dismissive and unhelpful customer service. They offered no solutions and no discounts, even after having to be open to changing my entire wedding colors for their dresses. However, they did allow us to return the dresses, but by refusing to assist in finding an alternative solution, they left me with only a month to find new dresses for my bridesmaids.

Since they refused to help over the phone, I had no choice but to fly back to New York to speak to someone in person. Even then, it was another frustrating experience where I had to suggest possible solutions myself while they remained uncooperative. The only option they offered was for me to change my wedding colors and choose from whatever display dresses they had in inventory, without offering any discount for these used dresses.

After returning home, I waited for a promised follow-up call from the manager, Kadine, which never came. So my fiancé and I followed up again. When we finally got her on the phone, she claimed there was a "dye lot issue" and insisted that this was clearly stated in a clause on their website. However, when we checked, there was no such clause. We immediately took screenshots of their website while on the call and emailed them proof that nothing about a "dye lot issue" was listed anywhere.

Kadine put us on hold for 15 minutes, and when she returned, she blatantly lied, and magically provided a screenshot of the website now showing the clause. They had obviously added the clause while we were on hold. The font, wording, and formatting were completely different from their other policies, making it clear that they had just inserted it to cover themselves.

To make matters worse, Kadine refused to let us speak to anyone above her, and when we attempted to reach out to the owner of the company via Instagram, we never received a response.

In the end, we had to scramble to find a new vendor at the last minute to replace ten bridesmaid dresses, a stressful and expensive process. I never got to have the exact color scheme I originally envisioned, all because of their dishonesty, unprofessionalism, and lack of accountability.

Brides, if you are considering Pantora Bridal, think twice. They do not care about customer satisfaction, they do not take responsibility for their mistakes, and their customer service is terrible. I would never recommend them to anyone. Save yourself the stress and disappointment!

I ended up going with Tatiana’s Bridal Boutique, and they were beyond amazing! They heard my horror story and immediately jumped into savior mode, not only providing expedited shipping, but also garment bags and custom jewelry for my bridesmaids. They even sent me a special garment bag...

SAVE YOURSELF THE HEADACHE. This shop is a scam. Google does not permit 0 stars so I've selected 1. I ignored the reviews when I chose Pantora and it was the most costly mistake I've made in planning this wedding. PLEASE SAVE YOURSELF THE HEADACHE.

I am a 2022 bride who was eager to support a black owned dressmaker as I searched for the perfect wedding gown in 2021. I had a fitting at Pantora in October 2021. I tried on several gowns and ultimately selected one that would need a few minor design changes.

I was told that the gown would be ready around June 15th - that date came and went with out any communication from the dress shop. By July 15th I began calling the shop weekly to get a better understanding of when I could anticipate the dress coming in. The shop consultants and store manager continued to reassure me that I had time but did not give me any estimate or update on when I could anticipate scheduling my first fitting.

Eventually I called the shop in LATE AUGUST (having never heard from anyone) and surprisingly the shop consultant said "Your dress is in - you just need to pay your balance to schedule a fitting". I was shocked since I had been calling weekly and sharing my concerns as an out of state bride. I asked if I could see an image of the dress and this is where the first RED FLAG came up. The Pantora Bridal shop workers were adamant that I could not see any image of my dress until the balance was paid. They reiterated that it is written into the contract that way. (Eventually I learned why they write it into the contract - it is a critical part of their Made in China dress scam).

Despite my terrible gut feeling, I paid the balance and proceeded to book my first fitting. Having blown through the estimated June 15th dress completion, Pantora left me with very few options as we got closer to my October wedding date.

The dress fitting was a disaster. When I first saw the dress hanging on the rack, it struck me that it looked incomplete. There were threads sticking out down all the seams there was a stain on the front and ball point pen markings on the inside. The worst part was the back of the dress was supposed to have beautiful crepe buttons down the back and I was SHOCKED to see they replaced the buttons with a white (dollar store) zipper. I had paid $4,000+ for a dress that looked like it was fast fashion from an IG boutique. The shop workers also could not fathom why I was irate at the TERRIBLE QUALITY of he $4,000+ dress.

My wedding is coming up in 10 days and I had to scramble to have a second dress made (for several more thousands of dollars). Once I am married, I will be sure to post images of the disgraced dress they sold me. I will share a side by side comparison of the gown I tried on in the showroom vs the 'Made In China' dress I...

Update: Updating my star rating to reflect the fact that we received my mothers dress in the wrong size and color.

While I do admit that Pantora Bridal sells very pretty bridesmaids dresses, our experience with them has been a bit bumpy from the start. To begin, I placed an order for 7 bridesmaids dresses during their Pantora Maids sale. Their customer service was responsive in the beginning, but after purchasing the dresses, I noticed their responsiveness and quality of reply was not the same.

I think it's worth noting that after you purchase your Pantora Maids dresses, there is absolutely no communication afterward on whether your dress is processing, whether it's in transit, or if there are any delays. While I do understand that there are multiple factors that can affect processing & shipping times, I think the bare minimum would be to have some kind of status tracker people can follow to see where their order is at to minimize confusion.

They only provide you with a general time frame as to when your dresses will ship (16-24 weeks I believe), and nothing else. With less than 9 weeks to my wedding, I had no idea what was going on with the dresses. Myself, my bridesmaid, and my mother had to reach out several times via phone, email, and Instagram to finally have someone look into things — just wanted to know if the dresses were still processing or if they were ready to be shipped.

Via email I was told the dresses were undergoing inspection and they didn't know when they'd be shipped to be, but via Instagram I was told that the dresses were actually in transit. So that was confusing to digest until I finally received tracking on my order.

I honestly believe had we not flooded them with messages, these dresses would still be in limbo and we would have no idea what was going on. I credit us reaching out so much to the fact that the dresses did finally get here at a reasonable tine.

Additionally, my mother also ordered a dress from here and initially received no confirmation email for her order — it took several months to get that information. Still, her dress has not arrived even though she was told someone would be in touch with her directly about her dress. I am hoping it arrives at the end of the month, before my wedding and I still have to reach out again to ask if there are any updates.

While this experience may not have been as bad as others who have recently written in, I would recommend thinking twice about ordering from here. If you value good customer service and timely replies (as well as faster shipping), I'd recommend shopping elsewhere. I wish I considered other places as these past few weeks were stressful trying to figure out what to do in the event that the dresses simply didn't...