Brides of Florida — Local services in Kendall

MAKE SURE YOU BRING YOUR VOICE TO YOUR APPOINTMENT

If you are a bride who loves, sexy, beaded, bedazzled gowns and can put up with the pressures of the staff… this is probably the store for you.

I had high hopes for this appointment based off the inventory Brides of Florida advertised and the “top” reviews. I left my bridal appointment so discouraged and honestly just sad. Keep in mind, you have to pay $100 which is non refundable if you do not buy a gown, just to book your appointment.

To start, I show up to my appointment and the greetings from the staff were much less than enthusiastic. After they checked me in, they had me and my party wait on a couch in the main room that had dirty cups, confetti all over the place, and an open champagne bottle. It wasn’t a warm welcome to start the appointment. We waited for about 10 minutes before MJ finally came by to introduce her self and get the appointment started. She was very nice but very direct. The only questions asked were “what my dream dress looked like” and “what the budget was”. While those are the two most important questions, she seemed to have no interest in an intimate consultation. Strictly business. However, she tried to reassure me by saying “I feel like I know your vibe”. (I also did show her two gowns I told her to beat from another store for reference.) My crew and I waited while she pulled some dresses for me since they don’t allow you to browse their selection. We opened our bottle of Barefoot pink moscato just for fun, didn’t actually drink it because none of us liked our wine that sweet, and waited for MJ to come back.

My first thought when she brought the first 5 dresses were, “this is not at all what I described to her”. I wanted simple, timeless, classy. These dresses were the complete opposite, but I was willing to try just to confirm likes and dislikes. After the first dress was a complete let down, I expressed that I didn’t like an exposed corset look and a ton of beading and lace. MJ continued to put me in three more dresses that were almost identical to the first. I did not feel heard.

As the appointment went on, I was put in dressed that were too sexy, had too many embellishments, and were over my budget. Finally she took me to look at their inventory because we kept striking out on every dress she pulled. I picked two dresses and she said “oh I would have never thought to get that for you”. Once I was in one of the gowns I chose I felt a little better. I smiled a bit but I still wasn’t 100% happy. While standing in the dress, she gave me a bouquet, veil, and tried to make it a romantic moment. The Social media coordinator popped in, saw me and tried to sell me the dress since they had it in stock but not in my size. It was extremely off putting.

I was defeated at this point and I felt like I had waisted my time and my money on this appointment and just wanted to go home. Once MJ realized I probably wasn’t finding the dress, I felt like the customer service went down the drain. There was no interest or commitment to us the rest of the appointment. When we finally left we got a cold good buy and were on our way.

For being rated one of the top bridal salons in south Florida, I honestly expected more especially since I had to pay a deposit of $100 just to book my...

Response to Macky’s 9/3 Response:

Hi Macky, while I appreciate your response and willingness to improve. I would like to correct some of the statements you made.

First of all, I did not spend a cumulative 4 hours being worked with. The first appointment I was worked with from 4:50 (when my appointment was for 4) to approximately 5:45 when I tried on my last dress for the day. The second appointment I was worked with for approximately 75 minutes. I know this because I have photos with time stamps. That makes the total of time worked with me at most 2hr 30 minutes being generous. This is logical because I paid for two appointments. Although the main room was empty, it’s not appropriate that we paid $100 for a specific service and were not given that service till 45 minutes into my appointment (that had been delayed 40 minutes).

Secondly, I did not try on 35+ dresses as suggested. I tried about 5 the first visit and 7/8 the second visit which makes sense because we paid for the private room and extra time.

I did not mention my stylist’s name out of respect for her. She was very kind and friendly, however she did not listen well. She asked me my budget multiple times, did not let me finish showing her reference photos before asking me how flexible my budget was, and kept forgetting we had brought our own non alcoholic celebratory drink. Her lack of listening was really demoralizing as a bride, because I felt like all that mattered was how much money I spent, not that I find a dress I love.

You may have a wide selection of larger sized dresses, however I was always put into a dress that was smaller than my size making it very difficult to visualize what the final result might be.

Having wait times during both my visits, being asked about my budget multiple times, and having to remind your staff that we had brought an alcohol free option communicated to me that I was not being listened to. In the future I suggest listening more intently, and offering a refund when services are not fully rendered provided.

I would like to respectfully request a full refund for the delayed appointments and for the delay in being provided the private room that we paid for.

Thank you.

Original review: I had two disappointing experiences at this store. The staff is friendly but unfortunately didn't listen well, and the service quality didn't match the high prices. Both appointments started with a 30-minute wait, but my second appointment was particularly frustrating. I paid a $100 premium for the "white room" experience, yet I spent only 15 minutes in the room due to backlog. Most of my appointment took place in the main room, wasting the extra money I spent. The stylist repeatedly forgot my budget and preferences, and their dress selection for sizes 14/16 was inadequate compared to other stores. I left feeling discouraged and uncertain about finding my perfect wedding dress, having wasted $125 without receiving the full...

I have had such a positive experience so far, the staff is kind and attentive, the facility is beautiful and the prices are extremely reasonable for the beautiful selection they have. I’m in the process of getting alterations done but so far so good! I have no complaints and recommend this bridal store. Stay tuned for the update :)

Update: I was leaning towards a dress with sleeves but the stylist showed me a strapless dress and we fell in love with the design, it fit me like a glove and she informed me that sleeves could be added so I went that route. We ordered the same size as the sample. When the dress came in, I went to have my first fitting to add the sleeves and we noticed the dress had these “bumps” of extra material on each side. The seamstress came in and barely said a word, and took all of five minutes before she was out of the room. We thought that’s just how they worked and left it as that. The dress was perfect otherwise so I wasn’t worried.

My second fitting came and when I put the dress on I couldn’t lift my arms up AT ALL, the extra material was still there and the dress was taken in at the bottom, where it didn’t need alterations at all, the dress was lace and had beautiful flower patterns that were ruined because of this. The stylist got the seamstress and she came marching in with the NASTIEST attitude and was like “well you added sleeves to a strapless dress, what do you expect?!” If I knew this was going to be an issue, I would’ve picked one of their lovely dresses with sleeves in the first place. She started inserting pins without listening to our concerns and once again left in all of five minutes.

The stylist was nice enough to offer a different seamstress and I wish I would’ve met with her in the first place. She took her time and tried her best to help us. When I picked up my dress, they explained that a lot of the material had been used up the first time with the sleeves so I still couldn’t lift my arms up completely but it was better, though my right sleeve did rip during my reception. She couldn’t do much about the extra material but she was able to remove the previous alterations and tried to fix the pattern, however it was still noticeable.

The staff was still very pleasant, especially my stylist Dani that was jumping through hoops to try to rectify the experience. I recommend them for their dresses but if you’re gonna buy something, try to avoid any drastic alterations and if you really need one request to meet with more than one seamstress from the beginning if you feel that the...