Savvi Formalwear & Bridal — Attraction in Raleigh

I called around lunch time on a Saturday to see if I can walk in that day to see some wedding dresses. I was told that no one would be able to assist me unless I'd made an appointment, so I made one for 3:30 that day. It was pretty busy when we arrived, but we were greeted promptly. The owner, Denise, sat down with us while the other stylists attended other brides and explained the process to us. My two friends and I were able to look through a binder full of photos of gowns and were told to tab up to 6 that I was interested in. I had been to 2 stores before Savvi - one was a completely open showroom where I was able to freely roam and select my dresses, second was a closed showroom where the stylist asked me questions and brought out what she thought I would like (complete fail, btw). Savvi felt like a mix of the two. Despite my appointment being 3:30, my friends and I had to wait about 20 mins until a stylist attended us. When she did though, Sarah was really sweet and super helpful. She pulled the dresses we had tabbed and the search began. It was actually quite a fun process. I had 2 criteria in a wedding dress: 1. Needs to be less than $1,000 and 2. No sweetheart neckline. By the end of the search, I went against both. I found a dress that I loved but was too quick to purchase from being swept up in the excitement. I signed the contract without reading it (it says no refunds or exchanges of any kind front and center). READ WHAT YOU'RE SIGNING. This was my mistake, and I found myself totally upset after purchasing.

I'm writing this as a PSA: BRIDES, THERE IS NO RUSH IN PURCHASING. Please don't make this same mistake! If you find a dress you think you love, take plenty of photos and go home and sleep on it. Make sure it's in your budget and the style you really want. Since I went in on a Saturday they told me they would order my dress that Monday, so I was hoping she could make an exception. I called first thing in the morning as they opened and spoke to Denise, the owner. She said she couldn't refund me anything, but that I could select a dress that was more expensive and pay the difference. I couldn't even select another dress cheaper than the one I'd purchased - she is serious about the no refunds. I asked her why, since as a bridal shop owner, wouldn't you want to do your best to make a bride's wedding day as perfect as can be? She said, "It's my store policy for no reason." I told her this dress was out of my budget, since it didn't count the cost of alterations, but her willingness to help me was only to the extent of her making more money. Granted it was my foolishness that made me purchase the dress, but if you're going to shop here I hope this review helps you NOT make the mistake I made! Other than this, I would recommend Savvi to all brides.

Edit in response to the owner's reply on my review: I did not choose a dress that I loved, and I never received...

Unfortunately, I cannot give Savvi a glowing review. I was highly disappointed in the service I received. Firstly, my wedding was 3/23/18 despite ordering in the time that the owner Denise assured me was “plenty of time” my bridesmaid dresses did not arrive until 3/2/18 despite being told they would arrive the second or third week of February at the latest. Myself and my bridesmaids, as well as the staff, seemed very confused about the status of the dresses. I had to make a trip into the store to find out that they had allegedly been “held” in customs. When the dresses did arrive, I was told I could ship them, at a cost, to my bridesmaids whom were out of town. I opted to pick-up all of the dresses and deliver them myself since Savvi does not offer alterations. After this frustration I ran into additional issues when my husband went to pick up his tux. Despite having confirmed with SEVERAL employees including the owner (Denise) his tux would be free (we had ordered a total of 6) he was told his was considered “custom”. Denise would no budge on this matter and he ended up having to pay for his “custom” vest and tie (white vest, paisley tie). Which ironically the vest was NOT delivered on 3/21 (the pickup date). He had to PAY for a vest that was NOT at the store. We arranged with the store for them to call my brother as soon as it arrived the next day AKA the day BEFORE the wedding. When no one had called by midday I called the store they claimed to have been “just about to call”. We told them that the BEST MAN (and gave a name) would be picking up the vest that afternoon. They gave the vest to another groomsman. When the best man arrived, they could not locate the vest (because they had already given it away) they had him sit at the store for 45 minutes while they panicky looked for it, until they realized it had been given to someone else. Note they keep a combination of computer and paper records.* They caused him to be late to the wedding rehearsal. I wish I could say this was all; however, they gave my father the wrong colored vest. When I tried to clear up this issue Denise told me that she saw him in the vest and “it looked good” to her, but I could come in and look at another vest. I told her I did not have time to come exchange and she said “Ok”. When my brother went to put on his shoes (which she had packed after he tried on his tux) he realized they were two different types one round toe and one square toe. The best man’s shoes were falling apart. My husband lost his bottom button shortly after saying “I do”. I would not recommend them for anything. These situations could have all been avoided. The worst part was no one during any of these times offered an apology or even a...

What a horrible start to my wedding dress search! This was the first store I visited and I can safely say I will never go back.

I walked in at 6pm on a Monday evening & a woman who I will leave unnamed was working at the checkout counter. After greeting me with a very curt, “can I help you?” I walked up to the desk and explained that this was my first time visiting a bridal shop and I was curious to see what they had in stock. She told me that I couldn’t try anything on because it was a closed stock (wasn’t sure what that meant) and they had nothing actually on the floor that I could look at, so I would have to book an appointment and come back. She handed me a look book to go through then went back to what she was doing. Meanwhile, there were other customers in the store and when they left I noticed she didn’t even acknowledge them. I looked through the book, asking several questions about the store, the dresses, etc. and every time she responded very shortly and did not attempt to explain further or provide any more context or detail about their process or products/services. She then asked if I saw anything I liked to which I responded, “yes– if there’s a few I like here can I come back and try them on at a later date?” She was like “yes you would have to come back and make an appointment and then you would sit down with your family and look at the book and tell me which ones you like and then you can try them on.” I was very confused at first since she just told me that there was nothing in the store physically for me to try on so I thought that she would have to order the dresses or something to be there when I wanted to try them on. So then I was like “OK can I tell you the ones that I like now so that they’re here when I want to try them on?” And she was like “no I don’t have time right now... you can’t try anything on. And how would I know what you like the next time you come in if you tell me what you like now??”

Apparently, according to her, what I though was not a natural conclusion to draw based on what she had said. Yikes.

She was very defensive/rude and made me feel 1. very confused and 2. really dumb for having questions.

Being a saleswoman and in the wedding industry myself, i’m pretty sure she has one job, and that is to make me feel excited and ready to try on dresses for the biggest day of my life.

I was extremely taken aback by how I was treated here. The unfortunate part is, they did have several beautiful dresses that I would’ve loved to try on, however if that’s the way I’m going to be treated, I can only imagine how the rest of the sales process would have gone. I’m certainly much better off spending my...