Andrea's Bridal — Local services in Portland

I went to Andrea's Bridal on Saturday, and I was very excited to shop for wedding dresses. To me, shopping for a wedding dress with your bridesmaids is all part of the wonderful experience of getting married. Andrea's was nothing but a disappointment in this regard.

1. Our consultant was 10 minutes late for our appointment. We were very understanding of this, but she began by spending the first five minutes talking smack about the bride she worked with just before. This was not only very unprofessional, but it also took the focus away from me as a bride and my experience of finding the perfect dress.

2. The consultant asked what my budget was. I told her that I could afford to pay a lot for a dress, but would rather not pay a ton. Translate that to - if the dress was a $1,000.00 dress and wowed me, I would buy it. But I'd be much happier if it cost less and wowed me. The consultant immediately launched into assuming that I could not afford any of their price points going on a long speech about how their dresses ranged from $700-$5,000.00.

3. I described to the consultant that I would like something that was fitted and showed off my figure, but was classically simple and elegant. She proceeded to tell me "Stay away from that section of the store - everything like that is right here." Queue her pointing to a rack of plastic wrapped dresses that were entirely lace or bead-work...translate that to "too gaudy for my tastes." In fact the majority of the dresses at Andrea's looked very much alike, and the only ones at all like what I described were in the exact section she instructed us to stay away from.

4. I tried on a couple dresses anyway - but was sorely disappointed in that all of the sample sizes were street size 14 and above (meaning they tried to clip it down to my size 8 ...and none of them gave me any remote idea of what it would look like on me). AND the consultant insisted that she should be in the dressing room with me as I was changing because they were "full service."

All in all, Andrea's did not make me feel comfortable shopping, did not have focus on the customer experience, and by the time I tried on my third dress, I decided to leave my appointment and take my business elsewhere.

Andrea's may have some designation from The Knot as one of the best bridal boutiques in Maine, but I have a feeling that is more political and purchased than driven by customer reference. Take your business elsewhere because they care not for your experience, only for...

I went into Andrea's twice looking for a gown for my wedding coming up in June. The first was for their sample sale in November where I found a dress I loved but was too small and I didn't want to have to pay to take it out. The staff was super helpful and attentive the whole time though and was very helpful with my questions!

The second time I went in, I made an appointment to try on the regular dresses. My appointment was with Julia and she was very friendly and in tune with what I was looking for. I told her I would like to try the original dress I loved from the sample sale in my size so she brought it out, along with a few other selections. She ended up bringing out one that she thought I would love, and I tried it on and she, my mom, and myself all loved it more than the first one, so that's the one I ended up buying! I couldn't believe I would end up with something different than that first dress, since I had been searching high and low for that EXACT style and shape. Tonight, a few weeks after my purchase, I received a hand written card from Julia thanking me for my business, telling me it was a pleasure working with me, and complimenting my dress selection. I thought that was really great and made my experience with them that much better.

I had a much better experience here than at David's Bridal when I went in there a couple of times to try on dresses. At David's it felt more rushed and impersonal, like they were just trying to get a sale out of me and didn't like when I dismissed dresses too quickly. I also hated the selection at Davids, as all of the dresses seemed like the same old selection you can find at any mass retailer, and the dresses all seemed too expensive for the quality of the materials they...

I had a fantastic experience working with my bridal consultant, Emily, at Andrea's. My first appointment with them was over the summer, and the whole experience was great- a little private seating area and champagne for both me and my Mom was provided. Emily listened to what I had seen online and tried previously and pulled about 7 dresses, and we worked our way through. She was a great guidepost, reminding me about how I reacted to other ones and asking guided questions. We got down to two frontrunners that I could not pick between, and Emily was great about not putting pressure on it- she said I should think on the two favorites and come back for another appt in a month to decide. That's what I did- and when I came back, I was also still thinking about a third dress from an appt with another bridal salon and asked her to pull something that would be similar so I could check that box in my mind. She pulled a dress that had arrived in between my two appointments- and that was my dress! Emily was fantastic and put the exact right amount of pressure on- not letting me waffle too much or doubt myself and my gut, but also letting me make that important "Say Yes" decision unprompted. She also kept me under budget by $1000! I am in love with my dress, and would recommend shopping...