Lovely Bride New York — Local services in New York

I don’t know if it’s a scheme to make money or just carelessness, but I want to share my experience with Lovely Bride NYC so other brides can avoid what I went through.

As a disclaimer, this is not an angry review from a bitter bride! My wedding and wedding dress were absolutely perfect by the time the big day came around. However, the entire process was extremely expensive and stressful due to a lack of empathy and responsibility from Lovely.

Everything started fine with the shopping experience. Lovely has an amazing selection of dresses in a wide variety of styles and prices. I ultimately chose a beautiful Alyssa Kristin dress. The issues began when they measured me for my size. I was told that I was “measuring to exactly a size 2”, so that was the size they recommended I order. Although I was surprised that this was the store’s recommendation (considering I’m typically between a 2 and a 4 and have been told numerous times that the bridal salons order your wedding dress a size larger), I defaulted to Lovely’s recommendation, trusting that they were the professionals…huge mistake.

6 months and 3k+ dollars later, my dress came in and it was as if I was picking up a sandwich from a bodega. My dress was zipped up in a bag and I was allowed to “inspect” the dress before I was asked to leave. They don’t even allow you to try the dress on and yet they have you sign a form waiving them of all responsibility for flaws or issues with sizing. They also push you to avoid trying on your dress until you get to their recommended tailor- Sew Elegant. I tried waiting a month before my first fitting appointment to try on the dress, but ultimately I couldn’t wait any longer and I tried my dress on at home. And thank goodness I did…the dress was so small on me, it was comical. It was probably 4-6” away from closing. Having not gained any weight since my dress was ordered (I was actually 5-10 lbs lighter), I knew that lovely had made a mistake and felt that they were responsible for fixing it. I pushed up my first fitting appointment and reached out to Lovely to try and get their help.

When I called, they first told me that I didn’t need to worry…that Sew Elegant would be able to let out the seams to make it fit. But after trying it on for the tailor, she told me there was no way she would be able to make the dress fit with how small it was. She advised me to call Lovely and have them rush order extra fabric from the designer. Lovely “assisted” me in doing so…which was really just charging me hundreds of dollars to get the fabric. Sew Elegant also informed me that they would have to up-charge me for my alterations, since they would basically have to “rebuild the dress”. So, after 3k for the dress, 500 for the extra fabric and ~1800 for the “complicated alterations”, I had spent almost double on my wedding dress than initially intended. I feel that the majority of this financial and emotional stress is due to the lack of care at Lovely.

Side note: my experience at Sew elegant is a whole other story (body shaming, raising her voice, refusing to make slight adjustments that I requested, etc)

A year later, my cousin went shopping for her dress at Lovely NYC and had the exact same experience. It's hard to think that this is not a concerted effort between Lovely and Sew Elegant to make money and prey on brides during one of the most stressful and emotional times in their lives. Do...

I initially had a great experience when I came to try on dresses. My consultant understood exactly what I was looking for and I ended up finding my dream dress. I was so excited! Fast forward 6 months later - I received an email from Lovely letting me know my dress has arrived. Again, I’m so excited to hear this after patiently waiting! I initially thought I would have my dress shipped to me bc I don’t live in the city, but when I received the notification that it had arrived I had been traveling back and forth from the city for work and decided I would like to pick it up from the store. I called the store and no one ever answers. They text you asking what you need and when you text back no one responds. I kept texting, trying to call in hopes someone would actually pick up the phone and I also emailed. Their automated message says it could take up to 48 hours for a response, which I completely understand but for almost two weeks I never got a response. My last email to them I let it be known I was extremely frustrated and not very happy and someone called me 30 minutes later. Their communication and professionalism is awful. The girl on the phone was not apologetic at all and asked me when I wanted to come get it. I asked if I could come get it a few days later at a certain time and she said sure, I got a text confirming my appointment. I show up to the store at my appointment time to pick up my dress and the door is locked. Now I am pissed. I could hear voices in there and no one was coming to the door. Knocking on the door and again trying to call but no one answers. Coincidentally two employees walk in coming back from their lunch break and tried telling me I needed to come back at 2:45 when their lunch break was over. I showed them the text saying I had a 2:00 appointment and they acted surprised and unaware. One of the employees said she would be right back and would go get my dress for me - didn’t ask my name or anything, so that made me feel like they actually did know I was coming. There wasn’t anyone else coming to get their dresses that day? How did you know who I was since you were SO surprised I had an appointment? How did you know what dress was mine? She brought my dress out and hung it on a hook and said okay you need to sign a release form and you’ll be all set. Got the feeling like I was an huge inconvenience to her and just wanted me to take my dress and leave. I asked if I could open the bag to look my dress over and her response was yes but you can’t try it on. Okay that’s fine, but I’m not going to sign anything until I make sure everything is accurate with my dress. The dress looks good and I signed the release form and then she goes on to trying to sell me an $80 garment bag - okay first of all I spent almost $5K on my dress, it should come with a garment bag. And no I am not spending one more dime in that store after that experience. If I knew how it was going to be after ordering my dress I wouldn’t have ordered it from there in the first place. Once they got their sale you’re not their priority anymore and it’s very upsetting. I’m sure there are dresses there that are more expensive than the one I purchased, but that shouldn’t matter. I chose to buy my wedding dress from you when I could have went to hundreds of other bridal shops to buy a dress. I work in the wedding industry and will not recommend Lovely Bride to any of my...

I would not recommend Lovely bride at all if it can be avoided. I purchased my dress from them back in September last year. I had never heard about the boutique before but it was the only store in the city that carried a designer/dress I knew would suit my style perfectly so I was stuck with them if I wanted the dress.

I can’t speak for other selections because I went in knowing exactly which styles I wanted to try on, but I will agree the associates had to take turns with the dresses and the pieces were quite worn. There is no champagne or drinks provided, the appointments are short, the seating areas are cramped (“intimate”). Overall the location is kinda run down.

For me, the worst part began with the stylist up selling me on “split sizing” for $800. She said it was the right call because I was so close to the sizing it would make alterations a breeze. Do NOT do this. DO NOT GET THE SPLIT SIZING. They measured me and ordered a size up from the actual size I wore “because the sample I tried on was saggy and would have stretched from all the trying on”. Mind you- Lovely bride has an ‘exclusive’ relationship with Sew Elegant (you can look up the reviews of unhappy brides on Google Maps) and your alterations will invariably cost $1,200. It doesn’t matter if all they have to do is hem your dress and take it in from the extra size your Lovely Bride associate ordered!!! (my case). Not to mention, they request tips for their service. Girl, your compensation is based on commission. The nerve to ask for a tip crosses the line.

When I went to pick up my dress, the front desk was unattended and I had to wait for 10 minutes (seriously- I considered if there had been an emergency because it seemed unsafe to leave the door unlocked and unattended for such an extended period of time). The associates are low touch and just hand you over your dress and you’re on your way (they tell you not to try on your dress until you get to Sew Elegant because they are counting on it being ill fitting).

So all in, my $2,700 dress is costing me $4,700 after the “mandatory” lovely treatment. Nothing lovely about the predatory fees.

I think the dress shopping experience is stressful and lots of brides find relief in finally finding a dress style that suits them at Lovely- the boutique has more modern/contemporary styles under $10K which is obviously a huge market in NYC that the traditional boutiques don’t quite cater to (lots of out of towners shop at Kleinfeld, etc). But the service level is very low, and you have to be extremely on your toes to avoid getting completely ripped off. Best of luck to you if you’ve found this review because you’re half way through...