Leila Haute Couture — Local services in Montreal

Update: The owner reached out to me and apologized for the this unfortunate experience that me and my family and friends had with them. She owned up to the miskakes, clarified a few things, and asked honest opinion about their staff. :)

Original comment: I usually support local Iranian businesses in Montreal, and this was the first place I went to for wedding dresses. Unfortunately, they traumatized me and ruined the entire experience that a bride-to-be deserves.

I don't even know where to begin, but if I could give a negative rating, I would. Here are some of the issues I experienced:

As soon as I entered, they aggressively asked me where my fiancé went. I explained that he had gone home and was not supposed to see me trying on wedding dresses. The owner's response was, "Oh, but isn't he going to pay for the dress? I thought he was going to pay. Ask him to come back." I was speechless and thought to myself, "No, that's not how it works!"

When I asked for a dress to try on, Leila told me that it was for "curvy" people, not for me. It's 2023, and comments like these should stop.

Every employee in the store kept commenting on my body type, and they wouldn't stop. If you don't understand social manners, you shouldn't be in a business that deals with clients. When I was asking to see dresses to try on, the owner, Leila, was constantly complaining and moaning that she was tired and had worked so much. She didn't have the energy anymore to deal with us. Dear Leila, I had booked an appointment that you had given me on your own will. I didn't push for the appointment to be on that day. Treating me, my friends, and my family like that and ruining the whole experience with your lack of professionalism was very immature of you. It showed that you had zero interest in having your clients satisfied, rather 100% interest in selling and receiving money.

At the end of all this mess, I found a dress that I liked, and then their business and seller attitudes kicked in. They were trying so hard to convince me to buy the first dress I liked in the first store because it was the last day of the sale. I said I didn't care about the sale. I wanted to feel wow in my wedding dress, and without any source of comparison, I couldn't buy it at that moment. Yet, they kept pushing and treating me like I was stupid.

I ended up having my dress custom-made by a designer because I thought all wedding store businesses were like this, and I was tired of getting comments on my body or getting insulted like this. I was so done. I realized recently that there are very great wedding dress places in Montreal that sell yes, but at the end of the day, care about their clients.

Some notes to Leila and her employees for their future reference:

It's 2023. Young women are not stupid, nor are they poor. Their fiancé is not responsible for paying for their dresses. Nowadays, women pay for themselves. Even if the man pays, you don't need to shout in front of someone's family and friends about who pays as soon as they enter your store.

In 2023, all women deserve to wear all types of dresses, regardless of their "curviness" level.

Body-shaming and giving redundant and random comments about a petite person's physique is as shameful and hectic as body-shaming an oversized person. No one asked for your opinion on my body.

Your business is, indeed, about selling, but a great seller has satisfied customers who feel great coming out...

I waited several months now after my wedding to post a review to make sure I was not speaking emotionally but from a standpoint of honesty and disappointment.

I came in needing a dress for my wedding which was only 5 months away, and was very happy that the staff warmly received me. I needed something extremely modest for a traditional church wedding and was grateful they were willing to accommodate me. I had given my budget and was basically forced to try dresses thousands of dollars out of my budget because that was all they had. Fortunately, I found a beautiful dress and we agreed on the modifications to make it appropriate for church. I was over the moon.

After that, things went south. The store refused to tell me the designer of the dress or provide proper pictures of it despite the fact I had paid a large deposit on the dress. It was only after it had finally arrived and I tried it on that they would let me take any pictures.

The alterations gal is a third party and did not speak any English and was very difficult to communicate with. The staff at the bridal salon did little to nothing to help with the language barrier and seemed to be indifferent to the discomfort of the process. Her fees were extremely high but there was simply no choice as my wedding was months away.

Fast forward to my alterations being done: Well, the sleeves we added on were cut horribly and all the lace added on to create a modest look were cut so sloppy. I was so frustrated to say the least. I was told that my dress would be completely done in a month. The next thing I know, I get a call saying I needed to come in a few weeks earlier because the alterations woman needed to return to her war torn country. That was a lie. I asked the alterations woman why I had to come back so soon, and it was because she wanted to go on vacation. The dishonesty was appalling, especially considering my now husband is from that same war torn country.

Finally, I get my completed dress and it is dirty. There was hair all inside of it and dirt. When I spoke to the owner about this, she told me it was from being in the store. In my country, this is unacceptable. When you get your wedding dress, it is COMPLETE. No alterations left and certainly not dirty and full of hair.

I had to go to seek cleaning and alterations from another place because of their ignorance, dishonesty, and shady business. The other person was able to complete the work but told me that I had been taken advantage of and essentially robbed.

So, my final thought is this: Do not shop here. Do not get taken advantage of like I did and take your money...

I went into this store with very high hopes given the [mostly] great reviews on Google, but unfortunately, was very disappointed with the lack of professionalism exhibited during my visit. To begin with, I booked an appointment online via their website. The same day, an employee called me to confirm my appointment. A day before my appointment, I get another call by a confused employee who wanted to check if someone responded to my email and gave me an appointment. This should have been the first red flag, but I gave them the benefit of the doubt. My appointment was on a Saturday at 11:00a.m. and I arrived exactly on time. The boutique was crowded with loud bridesmaids, and it took the employees 10 minutes to notice me. After which, they approached and asked if I had an appointment. When I said I did, they asked me to give them a few minutes and handed me a form to fill out. After a lot of running around the shop, the lady came back to me to supposedly give me her full attention. She asked me for a budget, and a few other details, while going in and out of fitting rooms amidst this conversation. After we selected a few dresses, they showed us to a fitting room way in the back, and then took me to a separate changing room where I was given NO privacy whatsoever - curtains partly open, and was asked to change there. Ridiculous and extremely uncomfortable if you ask me - especially with 10+ strangers in the shop. After trying on a few dresses, and liking one of them, I was pressured by a 300$ discount if I were to buy the dress on the spot. To top it off, I was told that I am almost too tight on time to buy a wedding dress (my wedding is in August), and that I should be making up my mind ASAP (not what I was told by other boutiques). This, to me is ridiculous. I had been to other boutiques prior to this, and not one of them pressured me into purchasing a dress in the moment, and in fact told me to sleep on it and shop around some more before making my decision. All in all, even though I absolutely loved a dress there, the poor customer service and their pressure tactics have convinced me that I would never support a business of...