Couture Bridal of Maryland — Local services in Gaithersburg

I went to Couture Bridal on 10 February to look at wedding dresses for my 3 September wedding. I was charged the $25 appointment fee, chose my wedding dress during this visit, was measured for the dress, and told the salon that I needed to set up another appointment because I wanted to bring my mom to see the dress before I purchased it. During the second visit on 18 February, I was again charged the $25 appointment fee despite already having chosen the dress and my measurements already having been taken at the earlier appointment. While this fee was waived because I did sign the contract for the dress and pay the deposit on this day, it would have been considerate of the salon to recognize that I came back and waived both appointment fees. They were not and they did not. When my dress arrived and I tried it on on 19 April, it was waaay too tight…I couldn’t sit down in it, couldn’t dance in it, could barely breathe in it! Come to find out the bridal consultant, upon taking my measurements, ordered a dress that was too small. I tried on a Size 6 during my February appointment (Which fit and felt comfortable. Some very minor alterations would have been needed but that’s normal.) but the bridal consultant ordered me a size 4. The seamstress (who is only a consultant for the salon) felt awful because when I raised the issue with the bridal consultant that day (no manager on duty supposedly), she walked away. The seamstress said that she would try and “stretch it out”. Because I signed a contract with my measurements on it, I had to honor the contract with the dress the salon stated fit within those measurements. The dress was so unbearably tight, I thought the zipper was going to bust and the seamstress couldn’t button the top 4 buttons that were around my rib cage (how does one lose/gain weight around their rib cage!). If you think I gained weight between the February appointment and the April dress fitting, I did not. I was the same weight. So, since the salon had ZERO remorse for ordering a dress that left me no room for error, I went on a massive diet to lose AN ENTIRE DRESS SIZE in order to fit into the dress for my final fitting in July. I cannot support ANY BUSINESS that clearly condones having someone get an eating disorder in order to make up for their mistake. I believe a dress should fit the bride … the bride should not have to fit the dress. I lost 10 lbs to fit into the dress for my final fitting on 18 July. During the final fitting, the dress did fit and I was able to feel comfortable in it where I would actually be able to sit, dance, eat, drink, etc… at my wedding (you know – important things that make a bride happy on her wedding day). However, it was also very clear that NO alterations were done on my dress – the only thing that needed corrected from my first fitting in April was the length (and the “stretching”) – it was about an inch longer than I needed it to be with my shoes. However, this was not done. I was charged for alterations that were clearly not performed. I was furious. I want NOTHING to EVER do with this place again. This should have been one of the happiest days for me but I was miserable and just wanted to leave the store so that my unhappiness didn’t get on the other brides that were there. Upon leaving, I asked for a black bag for the dress…I was told that I needed to pay for it. No thank you, I said. I think you’ve made enough money scamming me with your salon ordering the wrong size dress and having me pay for alterations that clearly were not performed. I will never recommend this salon and will let everyone I know about my experience here. This place should be ashamed of itself ….but I know it is not because it had the opportunity to correct their mistakes and they chose not to care! You do not want to be treated like this with one of the most special decisions you have to...

First, let me say that I typically do not write reviews, but if I feel so inclined to do so, it's because I had an incredible experience with a business and I want to be sure to give credit where credit is due. If I have a bad experience with a business, I always give them the benefit of the doubt. Maybe they just had an off day. But let me tell you, unless Posh has been having an off MONTH, they are subpar in customer service and salesmanship. I have been a bridesmaid in 7 weddings to date and NEVER, have I ever, had so many issues dealing with a so called "upscale" bridal boutique. I receive better service at McDonalds.

For the current wedding I'm in (2 weeks away, mind you), it took a total of 5 phone calls over a 3 week period (4 from the bride herself and one from me, the MOH) to FINALLY get someone to tell us when the bridesmaid dresses would be in. When we initially ordered them way back when, the shop said, "12-16 weeks but they usually arrive on the earlier side." Well, we received ours at the end of week 16. Each time we called to ask for tracking, the best they could do was say, "Looks like they've shipped (on August 20). We'll let you know when they're in." But they were unable to track the dresses while they were in route. So apparently it took 18 days from ship to arrival? Something's not adding up. I order my toilet paper from Amazon and receive tracking information, apparently it's not the same for an expensive dress. Give me a break. And when I called and left a message for the manager, I told her to call ME back, not the bride. She had been strung along and stressed out by them far too long. But no, they ignored my request and called the bride, who then frantically called me. The lack of customer service etiquette is reprehensible.

Also, the bride requested IN WRITING that as soon as the dresses came in, they were to be overnighted to the select bridesmaids who reside out of state AND since Posh was sending them, the bride wanted to receive tracking. Well, guess what? They ignored her email and decided to send ground. How did we find this out? The one bridesmaid living in Seattle had to email the shop asking where her dress was and the manager responded and stated that unless requested, they don't do overnight shipping. ARE YOU KIDDING ME. So now two bridesmaid need to have rush alterations ($$$). Fantastic. Posh isn't paying for it nor receiving money from it, so why should they care? Oh, that's right, they don't and they've made that quite clear.

Another thing, when I received an email from Posh on Friday the 9th; stating that my dress was ready for pickup, they ask that I please respond to let them know when I'd be coming in. I responded within 20 minutes and said; 'Wonderful, I'll be in on Monday shortly after opening.' Welp, received no response (even though they were open all weekend) and on Monday, discovered they were closed. I actually laughed. Was I on hidden camera?

They have done nothing but made this entire process miserable and have shown no interest in righting their wrongs. They seem to have an 'Oh well' mantra. Do yourself a favor and visit Icon Bridal and Formal in Darnestown. It's the sweetest little bridal boutique. Ask for Connie. Unlike Posh, they have a 5...

If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. That was my experience with Posh. I'm sure they do fine with basic alterations- the friend that referred me did not report any issues. But if you need alterations that are more extensive, go elsewhere. The price I was given for my alterations was on average $250 cheaper than every other quote I received, and now I know that was for a reason. When it was all said and done, my dream dress had the following issues:

The hem was higher off the floor on one side than the other The hem was folded and cut so that the seam was bulkier on one side than the other The dress was taken in roughly from a size 10 to a size 8 in the waist, but absolutely no alterations were done on the lining, resulting in the lining bunching up and not laying flat. There were 2 fistfuls of extra fabric underneath the dress. Seams were left open both on the lining and the dress Rather than opening seams and attaching the cups as I asked, they were simply tacked on. I WAS told after the fact, how "hard it was to open up and get into the seams" as if it had been done already, but when I removed the cups myself they came off without opening any seams at all. Extra fabric in the neckline was folded over and tacked down, rather than cut out and the seam closed properly. The neckline was stretched out, and gaped under the arms.

The bustle was done beautifully, but everything else was a total disaster, and I was handed a dress 8 days before my destination wedding that was incomplete. I took it to another alterations company to be sure that I was not hallucinating, and they confirmed that my alterations were done sloppily. I asked for a refund of some kind, and was told they couldn't refund labor, but would provide me with a discount on anything they had on the floor should I need to purchase another dress. I took this to mean that they would give me an additional discount, not just the standard sample sale discount, but I was severely mistaken. In my state of panic (I was leaving town the next day) I ended up purchasing a second dress from them, which was also a mistake. I was deeply disappointed in the quality of the work, and not satisfied with the answers I received when I pointed out the issues in the photos attached.

I just wish that they had told me up front that what I was asking was impossible. I showed pictures of the exact alterations I wanted during my initial consultation, and did not change any aspect of the design over the course of the 9 months that I was in communication with Tirza. This caused me more stress than I can begin to describe, since rather than picking up my dress and using the final 7 days to rest and tie up loose ends, I spent it looking for another dress, which is a bride's worst nightmare. This had a domino effect on just about everything else, but based on the comments I got ("There's nothing wrong with the dress" "I don't understand why you don't like it") I don't think Tirza or anyone else at Posh seemed to understand the...