David's Bridal Manchester CT — Local services in Manchester

Honestly, this was the best bridal experience I had shopping for dresses. I went to a “bridal boutique” right before coming here and they were very disinterested in helping me because I wasn’t willing to buy a dress that wasn’t in their clearance section and even made rude comments about my financials when I asked about alterations, needless to say I did not get a dress there and walked out.

I went to David’s bridal afterwards and it was a total 180. They were friendly the second I walked in the door, I got a welcome bag, the spiel and sent out to find dresses that I was interested in and told exactly what my options were based on my budget (of which there were plenty both regularly priced and in the clearance section). I ended up picking 6 dresses to try based on what I wanted, I was told anything that didn’t have sleeves could be added, alterations would be made etc. The first dress I tried on ended up being THE dress. I knew it was the one because it made my very unemotional sister cry the second I walked out in it, I hadn’t even seen what I looked like yet but in her words “this dress looks like it was literally made for you”. It screams me and my personality. I ended up coming back a second time with my bridesmaids to surprise them with the dress and they had no idea, I walked out in it and they loved it without knowing I had already bought it. I wanted to thank the staff at David’s bridal especially Kiara for all their help in making this very non girly girl feel like an absolute princess through this entire ordeal and helping me pull off the surprise for my bridesmaids.

Update: Now that who I only assume is the manager of alterations isn’t standing over my shoulder pressuring me to write a good review and my wedding is over, I can be more honest about some of what I experienced. Honestly I loved the sales team who helped me with my dress and Vinnette who finished altering my dress at the end of it all.

I didn’t appreciate the alterations managers attitude towards me or the other alterations employees from start to end. I don’t remember her name but she wore glasses and had a high pitched voice. I came in for my first fitting and had taken some time off work to be able to do so, while she was setting up my appt for the first come back fitting, she gave me one date and one time. I explained to her that I had work and asked if I could come back another day later on (they ended up cancelling my appt anyways and pushing it back a month because someone had Covid) and she rolled her eyes at me and told me “I guess you’re going to have to take a day off” extremely sarcastically, walked off to do something else ignoring me entirely and offered me no other options. The attitude was like this every time I visited until my last pick up appt when she was suddenly so sweet and pressuring me for a nice review. Not to mention she yelled at the woman doing my original alterations for trying to take a minute to go to the bathroom after finishing my fitting.

The alterations were severely wrong the first time and honestly I should have taken it somewhere else to get them done considering how much it cost to have them done here. Vinette took over and was able to save my dress, though there was zero work done to fix any of the beading on the dress that was coming off (only noticeable by me) and no bustle was added but I was also never asked.

I originally was supposed to get a corset back but the first alterations person told me I didn’t need it to make it fit. In the end, I needed 2 panels added and the arm holes widened, and it’s an heavily detailed/embroidered dress so it required extra care because of that. The first alterations persons basically butchered the dress, the boning was stabbing me, she didn’t even fix the sleeves and Vinette saved my dress in the end. I still appreciate her so much for all her help...

Not the type of person to leave a review on a business' public page but I'm feeling pretty bummed. I bought my prom dress about two months ago (my prom is in June and I was expecting a rush on local dress stores so I brought it far in advance for that reason). I had my first fitting session about a month ago. There was a manufacturing issue with my dress (which they fixed free of charge) as well as an issue with the boning. Colby (the head tailor there) is great. Super friendly and approachable. She was very professional as well. Unfortunately, there's not much more I can say that's positive about my experience here. I had a second fitting appointment to finalize my alterations at 3:30 today. I walked in at 3:25 and stood at the front desk. I was there for about five minutes before another family walked in behind me. We both waited for about 15 minutes. No one approached us and I saw one staff member in that entire time. She made no attempt to assist either of us or to find someone who could. We were both there to pick up dresses, not to purchase them. Eventually, one of us went to investigate and we were told to go to the back counter. We did and I gave them my name to look for my dress. The family behind me did as well. I spoke to another customer there and she told me that they'd altered her dress incorrectly and that it was now too small for her. I was a bit concerned by this, but assumed the mistake was a one-off thing and that my dress would be fine. This was not the case. One of the tailors came out and asked me if my dress was registered under a different name because they couldn't find it. I waited for about twenty minutes while they searched for it. The family who I'd been chatting with waited for just as long as I had, only to find out that the dress they were picking up hadn't been altered yet (also important to note that they paid extra so that the alterations would be expedited). The daughter's prom is within the next week so this was obviously a pretty big issue. They told her to come back tomorrow to pick it up. I asked them about my dress and they told me that they still couldn't find it. They found it after about twenty five minutes (total) of searching. At the recommendation of the tailor, I'd purchased a garment bag to protect my dress and they assumed it was a wedding dress. Why there isn't a system to keep track of whose dress is whose, regardless of whether there's a garment bag or not, I honestly couldn't tell you. They eventually told me that my dress also was not done, in spite of the fact that I had a scheduled time and had received a text confirmation for my appointment. I live about 25 minutes from Manchester and it was a bit of a hike for me to get there. Now I have to carve time out of my schedule to pick up a dress that was supposed to be ready today. I know that prom season is a busy time, but this was a...

To start, I had a great experience my 1st appointment. Downward slope from there.

I did find my dress for my big day and felt very supported and understood by the woman who assisted me, I wish I remembered her name so I could personally give her 5 stars for the attention she gave me the day of. Affordable pricing and lots of options. Unfortunately the 2 other experiences I had after sucked, even after my mom contacted management for my first bad encounter because I felt like a nag. I was dismissed by an attendant for 20 mins standing alone in the front, walked by and ignored. Never greeted, asked what do I need, I was supposed to be having an alteration consult to add fabric straps and hem the sides. She brought out my dress to me and went to walk away. I asked her if I could try on, she told me try on was optional. I stated I was here to get alteration consultation. She walked me to a room and left. I went to the store alone and had no one to zip my dress. I waited around in my dress for ten mins in front of the mirror and no help was given. I took off the dress and waited at the front as apparently a dust bag isn’t even given for your dress and my dress was hanging out of the plastic….nobody came to the counter for 15 mins and I then left frustrated. I learned later that nobody is supposed to leave you to try on your dress alone, especially after you tell them you need alterations. Spoke to a great woman on the phone who assured me this wouldn’t happen again and I’d have an appointment with herself or the manager. Mind you, I live over an hour away, and stated I wanted to get alterations done today. I don’t care how much it costs and don’t need just a consult. I already went over the straps available at the store the day I tried on my dress. I went to the store, put on my dress, again was shown the straps they had and told we weren’t doing alterations today. I would’ve never driven out if I knew I was going for 5 minutes to talk about straps again…I already was aware of the pricing…I again went home upset and did not meet with a manager that day to rectify the initial problem. I was hoping I just caught them on a hectic time but to me it feels as soon as you cash out your dress they couldn’t care less about the rest. I will now be taking my business elsewhere and certainly more local. Disappointed. PS. When leaving the store someone finally came out to help get me a dust bag, but she was wearing slippers, long socks, and a mini skirt you could barely see. She looked like she didn’t have pants on. I’m in my early 20’s, definitely not a “Karen” or ever really care how people dress, I’ve also never even left a bad review anywhere but I’d certainly never approach customers that unprofessionally dressed, and no bride should feel so dismissed by staff numerous times. Especially by a big...