iCON Bridal & Formal — Local services in North Bethesda

NEVER AGAIN! My brother got married just this past weekend and I bought my dress, my two daughters dresses and rented a tuxedo for my son and husband as well . They all needed alterations which was to be expected (approximately $100-165 per dress for alterations by the way). When I went to pick up my dress after 3 visits, I tried it on "one last time". First off, although she said the alterations were done it looked and felt exactly the same from when I tried it on initially. So the dress had to stay again to get it re-altered, FINE! My daughter tried her dress as well and it was still too long (another dress that needs to stay). It gets even better. It's the guys turns to try it on, as I was helping my son try his suit on we noticed the pants were missing, there goes that. He tried on the blazer, shirt and suspenders and he was literally swimming in it (like 3 sizes too big). Connie, had to re-order his tux to a smaller size and make sure we were receiving the pants with it too. My husband order a suit from Michael Kors, well for the records- only the blazer was MK and the pants/shirts/vest was a non-brand, the vest was too big so they had to re-order the correct size for that too. So long story short we all left with nothing.

The day before the wedding, we are told that its all ready and we can pick up (I mean duh... the wedding is tomorrow) do we have a choice? My dress still felt big on the skirt (but whatever, I took it just like that), the girls dresses were fine after it was fixed (but wait I have a surprise for you towards the end). My sons blazer was super big and she said nothing can be done. She offered to order a smaller size AGAIN and have it shipped overnight and deliver to the house before we left for the wedding, however the tuxedo company didn't even have it in stock. She kept on reiterating that its a rental and it cannot have any hemming done, I was so upset that unfortunately the bride had to get involved. apparently 10 tuxedos were rented from Icon bridal and only 2 of the ten had no problem. Well after arguing with her, she fixed my sons blazer, replace my husbands vest and I left so upset. Connie is one unprofessional, money hungry owner who had the audacity to blame everyone else about the problem and not once was she apologetic or acknowledge the blame at all. But whatever, I left and made it clear that I will not use her service EVER again!

The day of the wedding- One button was missing on my sons shirt, my dad (father of the groom) sleeve was so short and blazer/ pants was wrinkled (was not steamed) and here goes the big surprise for my daughters dress. So she put the dress on and it looked beautiful on her.. but she was complaining that something was stabbing her on her armpit... Well guess what I found? A thread attached to a needle that was never removed after alterations was sure stabbing my daughters skin....

As a rule I usually only give reviews if something is AMAZING, because I love to give credit where credit is due. This however, is a new one for me. I have to review this shop because it was beyond TERRIBLE. And as a measure- when I am reading reviews, I like to see how a company handles an issue, not just the everyday easy sale. The "manager", Connie, is by far the worst customer service representative I have ever come across. Not only did she 100% order me the incorrect Bridesmaids dress, she tried to place the blame on me, offer me the most insane solutions- such as "wear a dress in the same color but two sizes smaller, we can make it work." And "send me a picture of you in the dress, send the dress back here, and I'll alter it and make it into something else.", and she didn't want to refund my money for a mistake that was on her. She has zero common sense, and runs around like a chicken with her head cut off. She said there are "no refunds after 60 days", however our dresses didn't even show up until almost 5 months after the sale, so I am unclear how anyone would ever be able to know if there was a problem and that they would need a refund. She left zero time for any errors. So there was absolutely no chance of me getting the correct dress for the wedding. She offers 10,000 excuses about why it's not her fault, and no solutions to help the situation. I finally got her to refund my money, but she couldn't send it back to my card- the way I paid, she couldn't send it PayPal and wanted me to call them to verify the story she was telling me, and she told me she would mail me a check and about 8 days later there is still no check because - and these are her words- "I don't walk the mail to the mailbox." This all began in November, and here we are 2 days before the wedding and I have an incorrect dress and she still has my money. My word of advice is PLEASE GO SOMEWHERE - ANYWHERE- ELSE!!! This dress shop could be fine if you don't have any problems AT ALL. But what if you...

My original review posted three weeks ago: During my entire bridal appointment, the woman helping me was answering the phone and running around the store. I was not pleased with the lack of attentive customer service, nor was I pleased with the gown selection.

Updated review: I was contacted a week ago by Connie from Icon Bridal and Formal about my first review. I had family coming in two weekends in a row to view dresses so I had made two appointments (one on 3/5 and one on 3/12). I went to the first appointment with my mother and one of my bridesmaids. After not finding a dress I liked there, and have a negative experience, I cancelled my appointment scheduled for the following weekend. When Connie called me on April 1st, she stated that she saw my review and told me that I had her boutique confused with another as I never came to either of my appointments and told me to take my review down. While I tried explaining the situation and that I had indeed come to my first appointment on Saturday, March 5, 2016, she argued with me and kept interrupting me. After I hung up with her, I looked at my calendar to confirm the dates/locations of my appointments that day, and called back to speak with someone else because of Connie's poor customer service. The lady who answered the phone gave the phone straight to Connie and I explained that I had in fact come in, they must have cancelled both appointments which is why the original showed I never came in, and that they should be focusing more on the fact that I had a negative experience . She proceeded to argue with me again and I told her that I would be editing my review as she was calling to harass me about a review rather than apologizing for the poor customer service I received in the first place. Brides, I HIGHLY recommend going with another boutique. Your wedding planning experience is worth more than the terrible customer service experience you will find with Connie and...