Bella Bianca Bridal Couture — Local services in Oakbrook Terrace

Avoid at all costs!!! The sales team at both locations are relatively helpful & easy to work with but that’s where the positivity ends. The alterations team & owners are beyond a nightmare. I encourage all brides to do a deep scrub of Reddit posts because you’ll see that posts there are drastically different than all the 5 star Google reviews.

It’s difficult to recap everything briefly but essentially, the alterations team ruined my dress & the owners gaslit me when I tried to address it with them versus trying to resolve things.

Lubia (my alterations person) told me she would make me a veil since I had trouble finding what I wanted. She said this 1 month prior to my wedding date & then 3 days prior to leaving for my destination wedding she told me she could no longer make my veil as retaliation for me not liking the way she had been altering my dress. Any bride knows you can’t find a veil with 3 days notice unless you want something basic. This ruined my entire dream of being able to embroider my veil with hummingbirds to honor my grandma and uncle who had passed as I no longer had a veil let alone time. Lubia ripped my illusion back & this was not addressed until my final fitting when I brought family with me to see the dress. Lubia attempted to say that was there because it was a sample dress. I had to prove with photos from the day I purchased the dress that the rip was not present. So she had to come in and redo the entire back on her day off, which probably also contributed to her being upset & not making my veil. Raychel (the salon manager) agreed that my bust did not look good the way that Lubia had altered it yet, when I emailed ownership regarding it she denied this. I did purchase a sample dress, so there are definately challenges with that however it doesn’t excuse poor alterations. Lubia glued lace on my bust that mimicked a 5 year olds crafting skills. The lace overlapped poorly and was not fully sewn down. Also, I had requested my bust to have more coverage and I wanted it to be as seamless as possible. Instead, Lubia cheaply added material on top of the bust & even literally put two different pads which made my bust look like it had an indentation. She refused to fix it the way I wanted as it would have taken too much time and effort even though it was what I had requested at the start of my appointments. I requested my entire dress to be lined so it wouldn’t be see through. The dress was lined everywhere but the bust & they refused to line it when I saw this as they said no one would notice. The boning in the dress was very loose & warped so I requested it to be replaced & tact down. None of this was done. The boning was loose and wavy upon pick up and it continued to stab me on my wedding day as well as anyone that hugged me. The boning was literally popping out of my dress so I had to pull it out eventually. It also was extremely warped so it looked like I had rolls under my bust & it made my midsection seem much larger than it was. I continually told Lubia and Raychel that my dress was too looose in the midsection. I have a very curvy figure with drastic differences between my bust/waist/hips. The dress had about 2 inches between my skin and my waist. Lubia refused to make the dress more fitted as it would have made the back too tight. This is just poor alterations skills. My back looked sausaged & my front was loose.

When I addressed all these issues with the owners, they accused me of losing drastic amounts of weight, being dishonest and having expectations that were too high. I literally proved to them that I had actually gained weight/was swollen in the week between pickup and wedding day & proof of the alterations issues with time/location stamped photos from pickup that were taken in front of staff. I hate looking at any wedding photos because of my dress - esp after spending over 5 figures on a dress and alterations. The owners will respond by saying they were limited with time and the sample dress but you can discern if thats valid by looking at the...

I keep getting requests for reviews, and I've put it off, to think long and hard about what I want to say. So I'm going to be very honest, and please know, I'm saying this as hopefully constructive criticism. I'll start with the bad section: When I first saw the Lazaro trunk show advertised, I called right away for an appt. My sister had recently moved to Chicago and it was perfect. Especially because it was said that the designer would be there. This was crucial for me as I have a very large bust and knew it was going to have to have adjustments while being made. When I called I was very specific about the dress and color I wanted. I was told they had the dress in x color, but not black, but that they would message the designer to see if he could bring it for the show. This was at least a month in advance. I never heard anything back, so I called midweek before the trunk show and was told that no, he didn't have it in black anymore to bring. Fine, I could still see it and try it in a different color. Except when I got there that Saturday, they didn't have it in any color for me to see and try. I remained calm and went along with trying on similar styles, but I honestly probably should have left and found another boutique that had the actual dress. I was very disappointed, and I honestly just kind of left my body and went along with everything and ordered it sight unseen. That is my fault for not taking a beat to think it through. I did however feel very rushed because I tried on only 2 dresses and got some measuring in before the consultant ran off to another appt. I was told I could reach out to her with further questions, given a card with info, and she rushed off. I did email her later that week and never heard back from her. I ended up calling the store to try and get answers. I also had to call to follow up on when my muslin would be in. I was also told in an email that the designer would do a drawing of us in the wedding dress we chose, and I never recieved that. Now that I'm in alterations, I just haven't been able to get excited about this dress that I never got to see before ordering, and felt a bit abandoned during the process. Every time I've gone, I feel like I'm rushed through everything, and when I leave all I feel is regret over buying the dress in the first place. Shame on me I suppose for letting it happen. It's an overall overwhelming situation, made more so by me having to drive over 5 hrs to get there. I also found it a bit wild that when I was paying for my alterations that a screen came up for tips. I've never seen that, and I used to work in the bridal industry.

The good: All the staff has been incredibly friendly, cheerful, and polite (esp accounting for how completely not excited I've been) The downtown and Oakbrook stores are both very clean, tidy, and bright. However, I wish alterations appts could be downtown, as its a bit of a pain to get to the...

This is the Kleinfeld of Chicago (at least in my opinion of the stores I went to). Obviously even before I was engaged, I've watched Say Yes to Dress and the experiences on the show matched mine at Bella Bianca. The store itself is absolutely gorgeous inside. The dresses were organized so well and the store itself was pristine.

I was greeted by the friendly staff at the front as soon as we walked in. Kiara, my consultant, greeted me after I filled out some necessary paperwork and asked who I had brought with me. I valued that she wanted to know whose opinions I'd be receiving while I was there. Kiara brought me into the big dressing room and asked about my fiancé and how we met. She then handed me a fluffy robe to get into after I picked out some dresses.

She let my family take a look at dresses and pick out their favorites, but she also picked out ones she thought I'd like. I really liked that because I valued her opinion and expertise. I kept an open mind when she picked a Tara Keely dress and asked if I liked it. I wasn't crazy about it on the hanger but said I'd try it on.

As I began trying on dresses, I found that I was loving bits and pieces of every dress I tried on. Kiara helped me get in all of them and offered her opinion and was really understanding about the whole process. As I put the Tara Keely dress on, it fit me perfectly. I came out and my family absolutely fell in in love with the dress. The owner then came over to me and was offering feedback as well. She and Kiara both were SO nice and they put a veil and belt on me and let me put on earrings and a bracelet so I could see how I'd look the day of. I really, really appreciated that aspect of getting "jacked up" so I could truly envision the whole ensemble.

Kiara then let me know that if I purchased the dress, I'd get 10% off since it was my first appointment with them. She did it in just the right way and wasn't super salesy. She knew this was a big purchase and told me to take my time. I thought about it over the next few hours and knew that the dress was "the one" so I called Bella Bianca and let them known I'd be putting my deposit down....