All About the Gown — Local services in Lake Geneva

I visited All About the Gown (AATG) in April 2023, and I am writing this review because bride-to-bride, Stephanie and her mom Judy (owners of All About the Gown) are THE WOMEN you should trust to help you when it comes to choosing and purchasing your wedding dress. If you are at all in doubt about where to make an appointment, do not hesitate to go to AATG! Stephanie and Judy went ABOVE AND BEYOND and truly supported me throughout the entire process.

In April 2023, my mom and I drove to All About the Gown from Chicago on a whim to attend the last day of a trunk show, and Stephanie hosted my appointment. I researched dress designers before I scheduled the appointment because many wedding dress stores AND designers are NOT transparent about pricing. Early on, when I was scheduling bridal store appointments, one thing I appreciated about AATG is that their social media accounts tell you the price range for the dresses they carry in store, which is helpful because you won't fall in love with a dress you try on that doesn't fit your budget. Although I was interested in dresses by one specific designer, Stephanie invited me to walk around and point out dresses, styles and features I liked so she could curate a selection of dresses for me to try on. This was helpful because even though she let me try on as many dresses from that designer as I wanted to, I tried on dresses by a few other designers that fit the look I was going for, which gave me a better frame of reference to make a decision. One thing Stephanie did that was EXTREMELY helpful is that as I was trying on dresses, she would have me "kick out" a dress that I liked but didn't LOVE as much as another dress I had already tried on. If Stephanie hadn't asked me to "kick out" dresses, I probably would have ended up liking 15 dresses and feeling confused; therefore, Stephanie's process of "narrowing it down" helped me gain clarity about what I really liked.

Stephanie was patient, kind, and inquisitive. She asked me questions about the feel of the dresses, which was actually critical for me because I am very sensitive to fabrics but might not have said something, so this was another way she was in tune with my needs. She didn't make me feel rushed. She gave me more time than was allotted for the appointment. She also had me try on veils of different lengths so I could better visualize the entire look. I never would have expected to walk in and buy a dress that day, but Stephanie was so thorough and helpful that I said YES TO THE DRESS!

I should mention that I had planned to go dress shopping with my mom AND grandma, but since I visited AATG on the trunk show's last day, my grandma was not there. I felt horrible that I was going to buy a dress and my grandma missed out on the experience of shopping with me. Stephanie was compassionate and offered to host a follow up appointment when the dress came in to have me try on my dress and do a champagne toast with my grandma in attendance. She was true to her word and that is exactly what happened!

Since it took a little longer for the dress to come in than normal, Stephanie and Judy kept me in the loop about the timeframe with updates via text. When my dress finally came in, I tried my dress on at AATG with my mom, grandma, aunt, cousin and sister in law in attendance. The dress pickup appointment was hosted by Judy, who also made this a wonderful experience, complete with a celebratory champagne toast for me. It was an emotional experience to try on this beautiful dress in front of my family. Judy helped me select a hair piece and a beautiful finger length veil. I am very picky, but their in store selection was good, and she helped identify what might look good with my dress, which made for an easy decision!

I LOVED my dress, veil and hairpiece, and I received so many compliments.

All in all I would recommend AATG, Stephanie and Judy to anyone. It is easy to write a glowing review - they are the best! Thank you Stephanie and Judy for EVERYTHING you...

The initial experience at All About the Gown was great! I called to make an appointment, and they were very helpful in arranging everything, asking if we wanted champagne or mimosas (of course! That was the one requirement I had when choosing a place to try on dresses), who was all going to be there with me (three of my bridesmaids, my mom, my aunt, my future mother in law, and my niece), my price range I was looking at etc. I made an appointment.

We arrived the day of the appointment, and they brought all of us to the suite where I would try on the dresses. It is an intimate boutique that appeared to be very clean and organized. They brought us our mimosas, and then they brought us to the area where they have all of the dresses. I got a container full of mini clothes pins so we could indicate all of the dresses I was interested in trying on. The employee assisting me was extremely helpful the entire time. She was able to give me her subtle opinion without being too forward or annoying. She was great! Then we go back to the room to try on the dresses. I tried on about 10 dresses, but eventually fell in love with the first dress I tried on. It was significantly outside my price range, but then the employee advised me I would be able to purchase the floor model dress I tried on for a significant discount. I couldn't buy that dress because 1) there was significant damage to the dress from all the individuals that had tried it on previously 2) it was a size too small and could not be let out at all, so I couldn't even sit down in that dress. The employee then went and talked to the owner, who stated that they would be able to honor the discounted price on a brand new ordered dress! Sign me up! To order the dress, you have to pay 50% of the agreed upon price, no problem, so I signed the paperwork to order my dress.

The dress was delivered about 2 months earlier than expected, so I made an appointment to pick up the dress. They did ask me to pay the remaining balance on the dress over the phone since the appointment was a ways out, but I didnt feel comfortable paying for a dress that I hadn't seen yet. They were very understanding.

The day I came to pick up my dress, I brought my sister and my aunt. They put us in one of the smaller dressing rooms, which was fine, but the smaller dressing room was not nearly as clean as the rest of the spaces. There was a white chair in there that showed EVERY single strain. The pedestal was all chipped and appeared unkempt. It was a slightly disappointing space to see my brand new dress for the first time. The dress itself was perfect, I had no issues. So I preceded to purchase the rest of the dress. I went to grab my dress, and it was on a cheap plastic hanger, inside of a cheap plastic dry cleaning bag that had a hole in it...for my nearly $2,000 dress, I was extremely disappointed in the departure from the boutique. As soon as I left I ordered a black hanging dress bag that has a name tag on the exterior and two mesh pockets the carry shoes/slip/extras on Amazon Prime for $17.99... For a nearly $2,000 dress a $20 decent dress bag is the least they could do. A nice hanger wouldn't...

This was my first ever bridal dress shopping experience and I wouldn’t have done it any other way! It was extremely easy and convenient to make the appointment online, and I was called several times by the employees to confirm the appointment and talk about what I was looking for in a dress. They also helped with information about the day of, such as parking (I was advised to come 20 min early because the weekends are busy and THANK GOODNESS because I’m from out of town and wouldn’t have known!) and I was greeted over the phone with general excitement about coming and trying on dresses. I was excited and I hadn’t even gone yet!

Boiana was the AMAZING woman who helped me and she really took time to know who I was before I got there - knowing our venue, date, and other details. I felt like they really paid attention to me. Once I arrived, I was led in up the stairs to a beautiful space and we were guided to a smaller fitting room. It had windows and natural lighting which was really a nice bonus for seeing the dresses in different types of lighting. I was given a jar of clothespins to pin to any of the dresses I wanted to try and Boiana also picked a few for me based on what I told her I was looking for! Trying on the dresses went very well, I had the perfect amount of assistance and space to feel comfortable. I had a dress in mind that I wanted going in so we saved that for last and it ended up with it being the one!!! Once I finally said YES to my dress, ALL of the employees came in and shared in the special moment. Tears were shed by almost everyone and it felt so special that everyone cared enough to come in and be with us! We had a champagne toast and we took pictures after we knew this was the one!

Then we took care of payment which went easy and smooth and everyone said goodbye to us all and thanked us for coming in. I have nothing negative to say - the whole experience was MAGICAL. Thank you all for sharing in that special day with me! I will share pictures next June of our special...