Grace Loves Lace - San Francisco Bridal Boutique — Local services in San Francisco

I'll be getting married in a year but am starting the dress shopping process now, since that's what's recommended according to everyone and their mama. I did a Google search of local bridal shops in the Bay Area, and Grace Loves Lace stood out to me among a couple of others. I was shocked to find that all the bridal shops required a small deposit for stylings, which I'm told used to not be a thing, but Grace Loves Lace was the only place where the first appointment was free!

Grace Loves Lace is located in FiDi. We ended up parking in a lot at the Embarcadero Center, but there was plenty of street parking at the time of my appointment at 9am on a Saturday. If you do end up parking at the Embarcadero Center, it's only a 5 minutes walk to the bridal shop.

The studio is gorgeous and spacious. It has two levels, so they can accommodate a few brides at a time for their stylings. Our designated styling area was upstairs, and there was a comfy couch and loungers for my bride squad of 3.

Grace Loves Lace was the first place I went to try on dresses, and they set the bar high. I went to two more bridal shops after, but candidly the overall experience at the other places just weren't up to par.

First of all, you can't beat the customer service at Grace Loves Lace. We felt well taken cared of. They offered us complimentary beverages, including champagne. Shout out to my phenomenal stylist, Jazmynn! Prior to my appointment, she and I were corresponding with each other via email, and she was very communicative and prompt. When we met her in, my bridal party and I just instantly clicked and vibed with her. She actually helped me put on the dresses, unlike the other places where I had to put on the dresses myself.

Secondly, Grace of Lace was the first and ONLY place where I got teary eyed when I tried on one of the dresses. In fact, all the dresses I tried on were hitters! I honestly couldn't say the same at other places where I felt that the dresses were run of the mill.

Lastly, Grace Loves Lace's quality of dresses met my minimum requirements of what I was looking for in a dress. I wanted a dress that breathed and moved. Since we're doing a destination to New Orleans where it may or may not be humid during the time of the wedding, I wanted options of dresses that I could feel comfortable in unpredictable weather. We're doing a second line parade, so I wanted a dress that was not too heavy and restricting especially when we're dancing. What's cool was that there was a short runway with a mirror at the end of it, instead of platform to stand on, where I modeled around in the dresses. I really appreciated this, because it allowed me to see how I naturally walked, danced, and twirled with my dress. There was also great natural lighting in this area, which helped for picture taking.

I'm this close to saying, "Yes to the dress," and there's no doubt it's going to be from Grace Loves Lace. My top 3 dresses out of all the dresses I've tried across 3 shops are from this place. Their dresses made me feel the most beautiful, confident, and, most importantly, authentically ME! Choosing "the one" has become that more challenging, but I'm looking for my second follow-up appointment with Jazmynn to narrow it down.

As an added bonus, Grace Loves Lace offers amazing promos. I found out through their Instagram that they're offering the veil for free if you choose a dress in this month (March 2023). This could be a huge help especially if you need to keep your...

I had a wonderful and joyful experience at my shopping appointment with GLL, and happily found a dress. Jazmynn was very personable, and made the experience special and exciting!

However; I would give the brand and store a 3/5 star rating. They miscommunicated the final delivery date for my custom made dress, so I had to switch to a ready to wear dress in order to receive it with enough time for tailoring and adjustments in the appropriate window closer to the wedding date (8 weeks is recommended). That's fine with me; but the dress costs $435 less and GLL would only issue store credit. This is money I had budgeted for the dress, and a ready to wear dress will require even more tailoring work. Given their miscommunication, I thought this should warrant an exception. It took some back and forth emails until they agreed to provide a refund given the circumstances.

I'm writing this review now to make sure that future brides who shop at GLL don't run into the same issue; as new brides who have most likely not shopped for wedding dresses before, we don't know what to ask and we trust wedding industry professionals to help us along the way. My recommendation to future brides: be clear when you ask about the timeline for your dress, asking when it will be (1) completed; (2) dispatched from Australia; and (3) estimated delivery date to you.

Overall I am disappointed in this experience. I understand they are likely a small brand, but given their familiarity with wedding industry standards, I expected I could trust them to inform me of relevant details that I might not know to ask about: Does "ready" mean I'll have the dress in hand on that date? Where is it shipping from? Is it shipping by boat or air? What is the expected delivery date to me? These are all questions I wish I had...

Edit: This store's response to my review infuriates me even more. I don't expect any bridal store to carry every style in every size. That would be crazy. If that was your take away from my review then you need to get into a different line of work. All bridal stores carry only 1 sample of each dress. Usually in a smaller/medium size BUT if you are bigger than their sample size then they use straps and clips to extend the opening/zip of the dress so you can still try it on. They have alternative solutions to ensure you can still try on the smaller gowns. At Grace Loves Less they don't use any of those straps/clips to make it easier for larger bodies to try on samples. If the dress/sample they carry is not in your size then you're out of luck and they don't carry anything larger than a medium but most are extra small. They only cater to slim people and truly don't want the money of plus size people. Truly avoid this store and company at all costs!!!!

If you are plus sized don't even bother making an appointment. They only have samples in extra small or Medium for you to try on in store. And if you are bigger than that they won't let you try anything on. They don't clip/strap the smaller sample dresses like other bridal stores do when having a plus size person wear them. This store only caters to skinny women and doesn't apologize for it. They just want a brand image of beautiful petite women so the money of plus size customers doesn't matter to them. It is 2024 and you'd think all brands would welcome diversity, but this brand is stuck in the early 2000s. Avoid at...