Bridals by Lori — Attraction in Sandy Springs

Every girl dreams of the day she'll say yes to the dress.

Being from Atlanta, and growing up watching the show on TLC, Bridals by Lori was the only place I wanted to go.

I thought I had found my dress at Bridals by Lori, so I asked my future mother-in-law and aunt to fly in town for the designer's trunk show that was happening at the store 6 weeks later. It was important they rearranged their schedules to be there, as we were told the designer rep would be in town from NYC, they would be bringing next year's styles, and we would be subject to special trunk show discounts.

When we arrived, the designer rep had already left town (it was a snow storm, but they could have called us to reschedule for earlier in the day or the day before...at the very least, an acknowledgement), there were NO new dresses (after I had sent a list of new dresses I wanted to try and received email confirmation that they would be present), and no mentioned discounts. However, after much deliberation, I ended up saying YES to the dress I originally fell in love with!

Lori and her team knew very clearly that this dress was at the top of my budget, and when it was time for measurements, I was then told that this dress was going to be significantly more than what was listed to make a new pattern for the dress to fit me. Adding costs to this dress (excluding alterations) was never mentioned to us. After all, we were told discounts would be available because it was the trunk show.

At this point, we asked Lori to be a part of the collaborative discussion, as we wanted to work through this to figure out how I could move forward with this dress.

Lori comes into my dressing room, and as soon as I explained the situation to her and told her how upset I was by the entire experience, something changed.

She turned the situation around on us, and yelled at us for our behavior. Lori continued to berate us, not let us get a word in, and after Lori told us we were not fit to do business together, she stormed out of my dressing room. In passing to my sister, she said "these people are crazy". The "people" she was referring to were my mom and me.

I didn't even have a choice to buy the dress. Lori made the decision for me.

Lori deprived me of a moment every girl dreams of.

I had family come in town for a once in a lifetime moment.

She took that moment away from me.

Brides- I am warning you. DO NOT go to Bridals by Lori. There are so many inclusive, warm, wonderful bridal stores in Atlanta. You deserve to feel special and valued. I hope this review helps you find experiences that will make you feel that way :)

PER LORI'S RESPONSE BELOW: There is a bit of this response that is true: The staff helped pull the two dresses I had previously tried on, I did ask to FaceTime the rep (after-all, I flew in my family to meet with him... he was not going through security, he was in an Uber), Flo was AMAZING and unbelievably helpful, and OF COURSE I cried very loudly when Lori said "we are not a good fit for each other", as I thought I had found my perfect dress. I can imagine and am deeply sorry that was a disruption to the other customers in the store. I was CRUSHED! My review took me five months to write, precisely recalling every detail. That being said, the rest of Lori's fabricated and dishonest response tells you everything you need to know about how this store treats...

Perplexed in Pittsburgh

I’m not someone to write a negative review about a store but my recent disappointing visit (with my excited, nervous, and expectant daughter) to Bridals by Lori dictated I absolutely MUST!

I write in order to possibly save another hopeful bride from making the same mistake we did. We believed that Bridals by Lori was a full service bridal salon dedicated to fulfilling a bride’s dream of saying “Yes to the Dress.” My daughter and I have watched many seasons of Say Yes to the Dress Atlanta. So when I asked my daughter if she would like to have “the experience” she jumped at the offer.

We made an appointment at the shop, rearranged our work schedules, made airline reservations, hotel reservations, rented a car, packed our bags and waited anxiously for our trip to Atlanta and Lori’s!

Unfortunately our greeting upon arrival was the best part of our visit. Once we stepped off the elevator to the bridal floor we were met by a young lady who seemed confused as to who may be helping us and when. My daughter had made the appointment 6 weeks prior!! Surely a consultant should have been chosen to assist my daughter within 6 weeks. She instructed us to start choosing dresses and that someone would be over shortly. After a few minutes it turned out that she would in fact be our consultant? There was no sit and get to know the bride, her groom, her wedding site. Not even a what is your budget? Which, by the way could have been unlimited!!

We were told to go through the rooms and pick any dresses we liked. We assumed what we chose would be in addition to the dresses the consultant would pull. Little did we know this was a “self serve” shop. And only an additional 4 dresses were shown to us.

In defense of the “consultant” that was attempting to help my daughter it was probably a challenge to do so since ball gowns were not on my daughters list. The shop appeared to be filled with only ball gowns. When I attempted to show a picture of a dress my daughter had tried on in Pittsburgh we were told by a manager (unknown as an introduction was never made). “Oh, we don’t have anything like that here!” (in a condescending tone). I felt scolded and criticized for merely trying to turn the appointment towards my daughter's vision of a more simple, classic design.

We spent approximately one hour trying to find something, anything! It was just NOT going to happen here. I could actually feel my daughter's anxiety level rising the longer we stayed. My daughter succumbed to being “jacked up” in a dress that she was not comfortable in just to end the appointment. Apparently the “true” experience at Bridals by Lori is very different from the positive “Say Yes to the Dress” experience that we’ve watched on tv for years.

I write this as a cautionary post to any bride to be or mother of the bride. Do your due diligence before making a trip filled with high expectations. It can quickly turn into a day of disillusionment and...

I have watched say yes to the dress forever and always imagined getting my dress here. When you walk in, it doesn’t feel inviting it feels sterile. We were left to shop by ourselves and they didn’t even know who our consultant would be though the appointment was scheduled in enough time. They forgot to list the dress I asked to see over the phone, though they said they would. My mom and I were very clear that our budget was $4,000 but we DEFINITELY wouldn’t go over $5,000. We pulled every dress that was in budget and had what I liked. The consultant did not seem genuine, and it didn’t feel like she really listened to what I wanted, instead kept pulling other dresses that either didn’t have lace, or were over $5,000. When I came in I told them I had already fallen in love with a dress at a different salon. So when I found a dress there that tied with it, the consultant didn’t respect my need to think on it, she just kept pushing for us to make the decision now. We also made it clear before hand we would purchase whatever dress I chose in 2 weeks when my mom got her bonus from Nike. Yet, the consultant kept pushing for us to put 60% down that day even though I was undecided. To top it all off you cannot take a single picture of the dress you try on so there’s no way to have a valid comparison. It was really heartbreaking for me because I had built this up in my head only to feel awful. Right away she told me “so you know none of these are gonna fit you, right?” Which made me feel horrible because I just had a baby and I’m breastfeeding. And I listed that I have body image issues. Overall it was a heartbreaking experience.

*Edit to original review

I initially left 2 stars, simply because the dress was beautiful, and I guess I held onto a shred of that childhood wonder from the show. However, I’ve come back to lower to one star because zero isn’t an option. The day after my appointment I received a text to my personal phone number from the consultant. She started with “so I saw your nasty review” it was confrontational, and borderline harassment. I cannot believe the lack of professionalism, it just cemented that I made the right decision turning away from that Dress. I still watch the show out of boredom, but in my head I know it’s all beautiful lies, scripted for tv. I 10000000% can’t recommend Vocelles In Tallahassee florida Enough! But I also cannot say enough please don’t waste your time. They do not care about you or your body or you comfort or your budget. My mom gave me a pretty decent budget, and they still managed to make her feel not good enough. Ultimately the dresses were tied in appearance. The dress at Vocelles was cheaper but it was also unique and special, and ultimately the look on my moms face when she couldn’t do 60% that day was enough to make...