Pure Bridal — Local services in Ames

I’m not one to leave reviews but I was honestly so disappointed and distressed by this appointment. I’ve done wedding dress shopping at lots of other places and have never had an experience like this. I booked the appointment online in advance, paid the $30 fee, and even filled out all the registration info. I went through their look book and favorited a handful of dresses as well as sent 5 dress pics ahead of time. 3 of those pics they had in the store. When we arrived we were sat down and spent several minutes going over rules which felt a little weird but whatever and they asked if I had a style in mind. I said I wanted straps and anywhere between a fitted to aline skirt, no ball gowns. I said I was very open to lots of styles. Only one dress of all the ones I sent in advance was pulled to try on. One other one I tried also but only because we found it ourselves when looking. We went back to pick dresses and we only got the chance to look at the ball gown/aline section, she never even let me look through other parts of the store. She took my size and basically told me to look at my size section only, I asked “but don’t you order the dress in, like if I like something not my size could I still look at it” and she was like “yeah I guess you can”. I wear a size medium-large in regular clothing so yes of course I don’t expect to try on a size 2 but most places only have one or maybe two size options in each style so I thought I could at least LOOK at all the options. The fitting room had a door that was left open and a curtain that went part way across, when we started trying on dresses the consultant said she WILL be helping me in and out of the dresses to which I asked sheepishly that I wasn’t planning to wear a bra (which was their recommendation) and she just planted herself there, said “oh well we see people naked all the time” and made it clear she wouldn’t be stepping out so I had to undress in front of her which honestly felt so awkward and violating and between dresses I had to stand naked in my underwear just trying to keep my chest covered. Every other bridal store I have been to asked my comfort level and generally would have you step into the dress yourself then would come in to tie you up. There was a curtain in the room so it very easily could have been done that way, she just insisted not to. It felt borderline shaming.

Comments during the session of “we’re almost out of time” or when another consultant came to put away some dresses her saying “sorry there’s so many” like I was doing a bad job of wanting to try on a variety? were so off-putting. The whole session felt so rushed, and I barely remember a lot of the dresses I tried on because the consultant was the one picking what I did (or didn’t) get to try on next. We were almost to the end and I brought up that there were favorited dresses that I sent ahead that were fitted and I hadn’t gotten to try any and the consultant almost seemed put out that I wanted to try some other style. I got to try a couple fitted ones, one of which I actually liked quite a lot, and then we were basically out of time so I re-tried two that I had liked and then we were done.

In response to owner reply: I edited this but the photos have my original review in full. Everything I described is exactly as it happened. My daughters still mention how weird it was any time dress shopping comes up. I went to Pure Bridal because I live in Ames and it is the only bridal shop in town-what a conspiracy! I actually had no idea my husband's ex-wife worked there until after the appt, but he says she worked there 13 years ago (2012) for a total of only one year while they were in college. What a weird response from a store, try to blame the customer on some random connection rather than improve their process. Now I'm wondering if you treated me poorly on purpose when I had no idea? I also went to Modern Dress, Something Blue, and Schaffers and I cannot recommend them enough, were a totally...

My bridal shopping experience at Pure Bridal was second to none! As a bride who planned a microwedding in Iowa, my dress was one of the splurges I made for our day - that said, having a great shopping experience and affordability was still an important factor for me. Pure Bridal came as a top bridal store recommendation by my photographer, Katie Decker Photography, and I’m so thankful I took her advice!

I was blown away with my Pure Bridal experience before even arriving at the shop, as they have a very intuitive site that allows you to see all the dresses and sizes they have in stock. As someone who planned to buy a dress off the rack, this helped me to be very efficient as I could save any dresses I liked, and narrow down to only those in stock and in my size and preferred styles. I could not believe the variety of styles, silhouettes, and sizes IN STORE and I would have a hard time believing any other boutique bridal salon can offer more options than Pure Bridal. I received a call the day before my appointment from Rita answering any upfront questions I had, which was very much appreciated.

Megan was my consultant for the day of my appointment and we clicked immediately! She was authentic and fun, and had also spent time reviewing my intake survey and preferred styles. This kept the day efficient but not rushed, as I tried on over 15 dresses during my appointment and had time to retry my favorite at the end. I appreciated how Megan could balance efficiency while also maintaining a relaxed demeanor throughout the appointment, which was exactly what I wanted. I never felt rushed or pressured and genuinely enjoyed the shopping experience, which was a pleasant surprise to me! I left with a beautiful dress and veil that day.

I could go on and on about my experience with Pure Bridal. The wide selection of styles and sizes in stock, relaxed and friendly atmosphere, and focus on the bride makes Pure Bridal the BEST bridal salon and wedding dress shop in Central Iowa!

Photo credit - Katie...

My daughter's and I had a not so fun experience from the beginning to the end at Pure Bridal. We were all greeted warmly and it is a very nice bridal store with great displays and dresses. We had just been to another bridal store and had a great time and expected the same. So just like the other store my other daughter and I immediately went to inspect possibilities for the bride my other daughter. We started picking a few out and the sales clerk helping our bride/my daughter and says we really prefer the bride to pick out the first few dresses and then looks at my other daughter and says miss please don't pick up the dresses you really need to just sit on the sofa and wait. We both thought that was slightly rude but blew it off, hoping it would get better so we waited also starting to feel quarantined, so we started joking around trying to have our own fun talking about my other daughter and what she would do if she got stuck on the sofa. This lead to more discussion and the sales lady coming over and warning us that no blood shed would be allowed in the store and that we would need to take it out to the parking lot. WE both said what?? And joked about it some more, basically deciding to ignore her. Then our bride came out and it got a bit better seeing her in some dresses and then other sales clerks got involved and it got even better. A relief, but still not a comfortable situation. By the end we all felt like it was all about the designers and the dresses and had very little to do with the bride our her family and friends. Pure Bridal in fact asked what and where we saw other dresses and informed us they could order the same, but they charge a shipping fee and the other store did not, and our sales clerk was rude. Overall we were all highly dissatisfied and it was a bad experience and not a fun ending for what was supposed to be a wonderful...