The Love Club Bridal — Local services in Ann Arbor

My 1st appointment was truly so wonderful, tried on about 10 dresses and ended up choosing a dress like what I had always dreamed of. Chandra was wonderful, very knowledgable about designers and helpful with stylistic choices aimed at what I was looking for. I grew up Ann Arbor, and had always wanted to get my dress here, and I will always love, love, love my dress [Daffodil by Alena Leena] but the customer service experience I received from the owners of Beloved was outstandingly unprofessional and disappointing.

The day I ordered my dress (late Nov./early Dec.), I was communicated that my dress would be ready for pickup by late May/early June. My wedding was at the end of Aug., so I figured that would be more than enough time for alterations, etc. I live out of state, which was communicated numerous times, and requested many times for communication as to when my dress was set to arrive due to having to fly into town to pick up my dress.

The delivery date was changed, and I was communicated it would be here late June, which was then communicated it would be shipped in mid-late June (June 19-21). Come to find out, it wasn't shipped until after that. I booked an appointment to pickup my dress for July 10, for which I had purchased a flight, 3-4 weeks after the ETA that I was provided. I was communicated by the owner of the salon that the dress would most definitely be in in time.

I was emailing back and forth with ownership, who advised they would follow up, who continuously did not, or sometimes took up to NINE days to respond requesting updates. Eventually, my Fiance took the liberty to call the store and request an update.

I received a phone call from one of the owners, who apologized and explained that she was doing everything she could, by even calling me while she was on vacation in Italy. Further advising she would get me a response in a day or two. Several days later, I received another phone call from the same owner promising they would get me an update. She also asked if I was coming in from Boston? The other end of the country where I was from. She didn't even know who she was speaking with. This owner explained that I could text her personal number, and she would personally provide updates. I proceeded to text her, and did not receive updates, let alone a response.

I spent the next few days speaking with her sister, also an owner of the salon, who proceeded to explain that she was so sorry for how her sister handled things and was "really stressed out", eventually the phone call lead to her crying to me on the phone.

I requested to be provided with tracking info, which they were able to get for me, but as the week of my appointment approached (after being told that my dress was going to be in in time) and despite the fact that the DHL site said arrival was days after my appointment, but "the website is just wrong." Sure enough, by the time my appointment came around, my dress that they had ensured would be here in time, was not.

After my dress came in, a MONTH before my wedding they called me again to tell me they didn't know where my veil was. They said that "it could be at the store in Detroit but it wasn't at the store in Ann Arbor," where I had originally ordered it, because "they don't carry the designer [Alexandra Grecco] in the Ann Arbor store anymore," and wanted to know if they wanted to wait to ship my dress until they found my veil.

So, I was going back and forth communicating with two different people, both of which didn't know what was going on or where things were. I explained that I only wanted to be communicating with one of them and reiterated numerous times how disappointed and frustrated I was, as this wasn't just any dress, but was my wedding dress and was a month and a half later than quoted me at the time of purchase, and a MONTH before my wedding. Let alone the fact that we spent $4,500.00 at their store.

I am remarkably disappointed a the experience received for what should be one of the biggest and most exciting parts my...

Beloved bridal was the first bridal shop that I decided to try on dresses at. It was underwhelming and I do not recommend this shop or stylist, Ashley.

My appt was for 1:00pm and we showed up at 12:50 pm. They were finishing up with a client and had us wait in their lounge area. This was understandable. However, we were not brought back to the gown area until almost 1:30 pm. No apologies given. Ashley was my stylist, who I later found out is one of the owners.

I filled out a pre-questionnaire survey prior to the fitting appt. It was evident that it was Ashley's first time reading the survey as she was frantically scrolling through it and kept asking me redundant things that were typed on the survey.

She gathered a couple of the dresses I attached onto the survey. In terms of their dress options at Beloved, one positive is that they do have a good amount to choose from. At the beginning of the appointment I was very open to trying on a range of styles, but as the appt went on and I was explaining to her what features I was and was not looking for in a dress, it was as if the things I was saying were in one ear and out the other. She kept pulling dresses that I was reiterating with her about things that I do not like. I felt that she was not listening to me and was simply churning out another generic fitting appointment. At one point there were over a dozen dresses in the fitting room and I had to ask Ashley to remove them and put them back as I was getting confused on which dresses I liked and didn't like.

As this being my first time dress shopping it was terrible. I ended up leaving the dress appt 30 minutes early because I was simply wasting my time. After trying on my last dress, Ashley said "I will email you" and walked away. No "thank you for coming to Beloved, we hope you find the one etc". It was awkward and I have delayed writing this post in hopes to receive the email including the 3 possible dresses I liked, but to be honest, Ashley was inattentive so she probably doesn't even remember what they were. To this day I have not received a post email and it has been almost a week. My friends who both have been to plenty of dress try on appts at other shops stated that this was one of the worst.

For being an owner, Ashley was dull and unprofessional. I absolutely regret going to beloved bridal and do not...

I really loved the Gown Shop, as well as Stacy (the owner).

I went to the Gown Shop after trying on a few dresses at David's Bridal. The two places could not be any more different. The Gown Shop's physical store is breathtaking--tall ceilings in an expansive room lined with delicate dresses... and the entire place to yourself.

I met with Stacy for about an hour. In that time I tried on a large handful of dresses and found a few that I was curious about. Stacy was thoughtful about selecting dresses given my requests, and was very kind about helping me into them.

Throughout, I felt really encouraged and happy. I didn't get to try on a dress in my desired style, but I did get to try on dresses that opened my mind to what might work for me. I continued to email with Stacy about her borrowing a few sample dresses specifically for me to try on. I only stopped in that process because I found a dress elsewhere (Bombshell Bridal), but was nonetheless amazed at the customer service here.

The dresses here are by a select set of designers. They're all a little higher end [than what you'd find at David's Bridal, at least], but despite the larger price tag, the good news is that each dress is made by the designer specifically for the recipient, so they are fully tailored and customizable as you buy them. Don't like the slit down the leg? Your dress won't have it. Want a higher back? You got it. Don't want a bubble hemline? No bubble hemline for you.

The only reason I'm giving the Gown Shop four stars instead of five is that they didn't have dresses in sample sizes above 12, I believe. So that's the equivalent of an 8 or 10 in everyday clothing? I am bigger than that, though not terribly so, and as such was limited to trying on a few specific dresses, and then to having them half-tried-on. I was able to get an idea of how each dress looked (an open back--as I could not zip/button it up--was clipped to my bra so the front looked as normal as possible), but it's not the same as really being in a dress. I think if the Gown Shop carried some samples in bigger sizes, it would be unstoppable. Their attitude, the experience of trying on dresses here, and the gorgeous dresses they have... it would all come together so well.

I left my appointment feeling so warm and excited. If nothing else, that's a...