Blue Bridal in The Reading Bridal District — Local services in Reading

I was very nervous about the wedding dress process and didn’t know much about wedding dresses going into my appointment at Blue Bridal. I did a lot of research on shops and wanted to support a local business. Prior to my appointment they communicated with me about what I was looking for and what my budget was, so I felt hopeful. They said they would show me dresses that fit more true to my size so that I wouldn’t need to spend much in alterations.

At the shop I felt very pressured to buy a dress that day. Really, I needed to see what looked good on me and have time to think, but I overheard a stylist say it was disrespectful to the dresses if you just try them on and don’t buy one. The dress that I liked did not fit me and was already over my budget. I raised concern about the cost of alterations, but they told me it would only need a simple let out with the fabric in the seam of the dress and a hem and wouldn’t be that expensive.

Once I consulted a seamstress, that was far from the truth. The only way for the dress to fit me is to change the way the top looks or take out the buttons of the back (which is what I really loved about the dress) - and it’s an expensive fix that doesn’t include the other alterations needed. The hem alone is expensive because the dress has a lot of layers. The alterations are going to cost at least half the price of the dress and likely more - which is way over my budget. I got several opinions from other seamstresses and contacted the shop to explain the issue. The shop sent my pictures to one of their contacts - who said the same thing. It’s an expensive alteration and on top of that at this point I’ll need to pay a rush fee.

I left the conversation with the shop feeling even worse because they didn’t really help or take responsibility for giving me misleading information. I trusted them to give me professional advice and be considerate of my budget limitations, but now feel disregarded and taken advantage of. When I picked a seamstress and got the fitting, I further learned that there is no extra fabric in the in-seam - something the shop told me the dress had. And because it is off the rack, returning it is not an option. So in this case, I feel like they should be more truthful. I would not have bought the dress had I known it needed all this work. This is not the dress I wanted - it’s caused me so much stress, extra time, and money that I don’t really have. I had to consider just buying a completely different dress and being out the money for this one because the alterations are so expensive. At the end of the day it feels like it was more about a sale to them and not about my experience in finding a wedding dress that fits my needs. I’m disappointed that what should have been a really happy thing has been extremely frustrating and stressful.

They do have a lot of beautiful dresses and I think my experience could have been an honest mistake on their part - but they did not take responsibility for it and made me feel like I should have known all these things about the technicalities of...

I made an appointment here a few weeks ago. On their website they state their gowns are averagely priced around $999. Before you visit they send you an online questionnaire that asks for your budget. They also reach out to you before your appointment through call/text. Not once was their an indication prior to my appointment that my budget would be an issue. When I arrived at the store I was again asked for my budget, and I told them around $900-1k, thinking this would be a decent budget based on their website. The sales lady immediately grimaced and said she would have to "really look hard" to find a dress for that price and said most of their dresses were in the 1.5k range. She then directed me to a sales rack. I felt like I didn't even belong in their store and my experience was soured before it even really started. I also wasn't allowed to touch the dresses on the rack, my sales lady had to pull them one by one and ask if I liked them. This made me feel a lot less involved in the dress picking process and pressured to say I liked certain dresses so as not to appear "picky." There was also an instance where another sales rep recommended a dress for me in front of my sales rep, who asked what the size was. When she said it was a size 6 she quickly dismissed her and said it wouldn't fit me and that a size 6 in bridal was like a size 2 in street clothes. (The bridal shop I went to later that day said they had never heard of this and that I would have definitely fit in a size 6 - I actually DID try on a dress in that size). While this may not have intended to be hurtful, it still left me feeling embarrassed about my size. Needless to say I felt very unwelcomed and rushed due to my budget from the moment I walked in. While I did like one of the dresses I tried on, I already decided I wouldn't be spending my money at this store. I ended up going to another shop nearby that had a plethora of dresses within my original budget, although I actually decided to spend a little extra because of how much I liked the employees. I ended up finding my perfect dress, belt, and veil! My suggestion to this shop is to list a more accurate price range on your website. If I had known 1k would limit me severely, I wouldn't have even made an appointment and saved both myself and the employees time. Again, I filled out the questionnaire and spoke with an employee before my appointment and never received any indication that my budget would be an issue. If 1.5k is your true average rather than $999, say that. That $500 difference could be huge to some brides. There's nothing wrong with only having dresses in a certain price range, just be more upfront about it to save future brides the embarrassment...

I would not recommend Blue Bridal and after reading some other reviews, I thought it was important to share my experience for other future brides to be aware! I had two appointments on a Saturday, one in the morning at a different shop and the other at Blue, in the afternoon. We finished with the first shop, had lunch, then decided to see if Blue could see us earlier (our appointment was at 2, we walked in around 1:15 just to see). When we walked in, we could see it was very busy and one of the employees said they could not accommodate us until our scheduled time, which was no problem! We thanked them and walked around, then came back at 2. It was still extremely busy, so we checked in and they asked us to wait while they tried to fix their scheduling hiccup. Again, not a problem! The only issue was, there was nowhere to wait where we weren’t in the way. We tried to stay out of the way, but as we waited 20 minutes for our scheduled appointment, we experienced a few things: staff members shoving past us and not ever saying “excuse me” or asking us to move out of the way, they often shoved past us and grabbed dresses without any words exchanged at all. Then, we decided to see if we could browse for some styles, as again we were left waiting with no communication for 20 minutes from anyone. My maid of honor and mother in law were approached by an older woman and told they were not allowed to touch the dresses or to browse, and they should just be patient and sit tight. There were no places to sit, let alone stand that were not touching dresses… but okay. Finally, our stylist was able to clear an an area and led us over. I was very clear that I had tried styles on that morning, and that I knew I didn’t like a slit, and I knew I wanted off the shoulder sleeves. She led me to the aisle of dresses, where I was again not allowed to touch or browse myself, and she continuously pulled dresses that had slits, no off the shoulder sleeves, and just did not fit what pictures I had shown her/sent in previously in the week, or that I had explicitly described to her. It felt very forced, and after the third dress my stylist said “I guess we can try one more and then if it isn’t it, you need to go back next door and buy your dress”. I had also made the comment that I hadn’t realized how heavy wedding dresses could be and she said “these are gowns, we aren’t at Dillard’s”. Myself and my party were all around very disappointed in the staff, the condition of the dresses, and the all around lack of fun and excitement that should surround such a beautiful day. I’m sure there were some beautiful dresses and I know some brides have found their perfect style there, but I unfortunately was not...