PANACHE BRIDALS OF PASADENA — Local services in Pasadena

My dress didn't fit. I could barely breathe. I couldn't sit. My dress was altered too much!!!

My dress ended being too small to the point my bridesmaids were afraid they couldn't zip up my dress on the wedding day. The staff explained there's no way my body size would fluctuate within a month, however, my dress seems to have been altered by the seamstress more than requested.

You will absolutely go over your budget given alterations + customizations + surprise fees. Stressful, discouraging experience Staff are always in a rush in answering calls to existing brides. Gowns are not even reasonably affordable. My dress was ready for pick up the Friday right before my Saturday wedding. The store manager is surprisingly rude and inconsiderate considering she is the "manager".

Do not trust anything Cecy says. She is a salesperson who will say anything to get your money. She is only "nice" to you until you buy your dress. Once she has your money, you are locked in and she does not give two sh!!ts about you as a bride, your family/friends, your wedding, your "big day" or you as a breathing human being. NOTHING! Though I met Cecy at my initial appointment in November, she did not acknowledge me (and lacked the eye contact) when she was sitting right behind the counter as I was waiting to be helped at before my first fitting in July!!

During that July fitting, she said directly to me that I "lost a lot of weight, honey" to support her reasons I needed to pay additional for alterations. First of all, it was only 5lbs, however, due to my small frame, apparently, it is more noticeable. Second, Cecy, you are not one to refer to me as "honey". Third, the reason I intended to have a wedding in Los Angeles was for my grandmother who, unfortunately and unexpectedly, passed away between my initial November appointment and my July fitting appointment. With that said, though I greatly despise how you made my family and I feel while we were at the bridal salon. I had to experience being with grandma in her final hours on her deathbed. Cecy's attitude was no excuse to say what she did and treat a customer as she did with me and my mother.

At the end of my fitting in July, it was communicated to my family and me that my dresses would be ready for pick up on August 17. With that expectation, my family and I arrived to Panache on August 17 with the intention of taking the dresses home with us. Of course, issues arose. My first dress was not ready to be taken home as there was miscommunication with seamstress and employees and my request to add drop sleeves was not completed. For an establishment that explicitly said they write everything on the invoice, the request which was already paid for was excluded from the invoice. Furious and disappointed, tears started coming down my face out of anger and frustration this shop has caused me.

Unfortunately, I purchased a second dress from this establishment and upon questioning where the second dress was, the seamstress had no recollection of the dress, which she did make adjustments for alterations during my July appointment. For thirty minutes, I sat waiting for my second dress only to realize they misplaced it and made no communication with me during this time. Luckily, Jonathan found it after thirty long minutes of wondering why they're running in and out of the alterations room.

With the stress of wedding planning along with the added severe heartache of losing my only grandma (and other unforeseen saddening family events within nine months of wedding planning), I did not want to waste my time and energy arguing with an ignorant and inconsiderate humans who seems to have only her best interests in mind. I hope you and your supervisor are happy with my money/business.

BRIDES! To save you time/money, I strongly suggest you visit other bridal shops for your dress. Panache is not worth the stress I miserably endured during my wedding planning process, which was completely discouraging to say the least. Clearly, this establishment DOES NOT take their...

Wedding planning is already stressful enough, so the last thing any bride needs is additional added stress. I would recommend that any bride looking for a stress free dress shopping experience look elsewhere for their dream wedding gown. The staff is helpful, the boutique is beautiful and the gowns are to die for. But I honestly spent a pretty penny on a dress from this location. I spent over 12,000.00 ( custom gown ) on my gown and accessories and let’s admit there’s tons of other gowns and bridal boutiques that have reasonable prices however the customer service was initially one of many reasons we selected this boutique. My family and I had gone to at least 6 other stores but settled on this location because the manager , Imelda seemed to be attentive and cared about my specific needs. Everything went well during the shopping phase and once I selected my dress and paid my deposit there was plenty communication between the store and myself on details of the dress and when and how to pay for the gown. When my gown came in a year later Imelda called to notify me and collect the balance. She said the balance of the gown had to be received immediately after the dress came in. Everything was fine while they wanted my payment but once the money was paid things changed with the service Imelda was providing. My dress and veil are both now paid in full and I had no issues making payments on time in full however now that they’ve been paid in full I receive piss poor service from Imelda. I made (2) appointments to meet with her to discuss concerns about my wedding gown, she called to reschedule one meeting because she “ wouldn’t be available that day “ even though her staff said she would be in that day, the next meeting was one that she scheduled herself for this past Monday but never showed up or even called to say she wasn’t going to make it. I live over an hour from Pasadena and make the drive just to meet and she leaves me hanging on more than one occurrence. She will not return calls or texts. I feel so horrible that I’ve invested thousands of dollars into this once in a life time experience only to be treated like trash. This is a brides worse nightmare . I’ve cried non stop since Monday. Took the day off work and drove hours just for her to stand me up. Imelda has still not reached out to me about not showing up to the meetings she schedules with me although I’ve voiced these concerns to her staff in her absence. I would encourage any brides thinking of choosing this bridal boutique to look elsewhere for a better customer service experience and save some money because they honestly treat you better during the entire experience at David’s Bridal. As a bride you deserve for your voice and concerns to be heard especially spending that type of money. You don’t deserve to be thrown to the side once you’ve paid while your bridal consultant moves on to make the next sale. This location is nice before you commit but once they receive payment you’re no longer a priority or concern and it’s very unprofessional and...

Zero stars.

Do NOT purchase your wedding dress from Panache!

My experience at Panache in Pasadena was horrible and one of the worst experiences of my life. Panache RUINED my wedding, caused me emotional distress, and unnecessary stress. They messed up my dress and lace leotard top and could not fulfill their contractual obligations as a business.

They have terrible customer service, are unprofessional, do not know what they are doing, and miscommunicate information. The owner doesn’t value his customers nor care about you as a person. He refuses to take the fault for Panache’s mishaps. The seamstresses are rude, inappropriate, and do a bad job with alterations.

My dress and lace leotard top arrived 3 months past the promise date and thus alterations were completed less than 24 hours before my wedding. I proactively called and followed up with Panache’s manager on the delivery of my dress and employees did not follow up with me. The only times I would get an update is when I called. This added additional time and stress to my wedding planning and to my full-time work week.

The lace leotard top I ordered that was delivered was incorrect. So they ordered a second “correct” lace leotard top and it was yet again incorrect! With weeks before my wedding, Panache said their seamstresses would “supposedly” change the incorrect top to match the in-store sample I ordered.

I waited over an hour and a half for my alteration appointment to start which was only 5 minutes long! The alterations that were supposed to be completed as part of the “alterations package” were incomplete and rushed. Their “alteration package” is overpriced and bs. I had to inconveniently come back to the store hours later (less than 24 hours before my wedding), to pick up my dress and top when there were more important things I had to take care of and think about.

When I picked up my dress and top, the top was not attached to my dress, the lace patterns on my top were misshaped, a button was missing from one of the sleeves, my built-in bra was missing, and the two pins that were on the sides of the dress were just taken out. The sides of my dress were never even altered! Only the bottom of my dress and bustle was completed even though the “alteration package” was supposed to include, “everything”. With hours away from my wedding, it was too late to make any more alterations and there were still corrections that needed to be done.

After a night of anxiety, crying, and worrying, which was the night before my wedding, I unfortunately wasn’t able to wear my lace leotard top on my wedding day. This “top” was the reason why I purchased my dress from Panache in the first place.

In conclusion, there were a lot of instances that led to such a disastrous end result of my wedding dress due to Panache’s mistakes. If I had the ability to start all over, I would NOT purchase my dress from any Panache store location. I strongly advise every newly engaged bride-to-be to purchase their wedding dress elsewhere and to not waste their time or...