Kinsley Couture Bridal — Local services in Walnut Creek

Update: The owner called me apologetically and offered to cover my alterations cost minus fabric ($1800). I deliberated for a day before accepting. I would have appreciated them doing some level of this earlier. My initial response was "too little, too late". Past the initial stage, it was never about financial compensation. But the phone call and compensation does make me feel better about the entire situation, so I decided to accept. I don't want my wedding to have such a sad memory.

The owner says she's committed towards making sure that other brides don't go through the same experience I did and retraining the staff. I hope that does happen, so no bride ever goes through an adversarial negotiation. Wedding dresses are big part of an important day to a couple, and this is not the extra stress that any bride should have to endure.

Original Review:

They messed up my measurements, refused to bear the cost of their mistake, and repeatedly broke promises to help make it better. I spent $2,200 for alterations (average cost: $150-$600). Beware if you hear: "if anything goes wrong, this can all be altered!" Why are you getting something custom to fork out 2K in alterations? If you spend $13K on a dress, you expect a luxury experience: professionalism and peace of mind.

I ordered my dress in Jan 2021. Due to shipping problems, it didn't arrive mid-Aug, but mid-Sep without any warning. I had only 1.5 months for alterations. (Google: "you should come in for your fitting two months in advance, not less than 1 month before".) There was no way that I would’ve been able to solve the subsequent fiasco if my Oct 20221 wedding had not been delayed.

Sept 2021: My measurements changed. The bust increased by 1-2 cm, and the waist increased by 4cm. But the dress was gaping open at the back 4-5 inches and wouldn't close. I insisted they measured incorrectly, since I hadn't gained weight. Apparently, the dress has no affordances: "it has to be tight or else it won't look nice". (Google: most dresses should let out 1-2 inches from seams). The initial salesperson said I had nothing to worry about. They would find a solution, and she found this case surprising.

Nov 2021: I was given 3 options: (a) The designer adds more panels for a cost cost. (b) The designer replaces the corset entirely for $3080. The owner offered to cover 20% (saves $616). (c) A seamstress adds a lace-up corset to the back for cheaper. (c) was out of the question. It changed the design of a $11K dress. I was unhappy with all choices, so they said they would keep trying to figure something out.

They spent Sept 2021 to October 2022 "discussing with the designer", only to leave me in the same position. The new idea was to have the seamstress get fabric from the designer and add the panels. This idea took a year! I felt like I was backed into a corner to pick this option, since there were still no other solutions offered.

Nov 2022: When I went to my first fitting, I was insulted by the store manager who asked me if I had lost any weight hopefully, as if that was the solution they had been searching for a year. Unhappy that a year later, I would be expected to bear the full cost, I asked them to honor the offer to cover 20% of the corset cost. This was verbally accepted. The alterations were supposed to be significantly cheaper. I wasn't necessarily looking for a discount, but some sort of acknowledgement of my frustration.

Mar 2023: After the alterations finished, they do not want to pay the 20% cost of the alterations ($360). They supposedly halved the cost of fabric, which was not communicated to me when I paid for the fabric, so I can't trust that. I paid $2218 for alterations which was not significantly cheaper than if I had picked (b) costing $2464. This was the last straw: I had so many back and forth email conversations & phone calls, drove from SF to Walnut Creek too many times, to end up with the same outcome if I had not gone through the...

I've waited a long time to write this review but I think brides like me should be warned before going to this place. The stylist name was James I think, don't ever request him (picture attached). Communication with them via email about my appt was terrible. Everything felt automated with a little personal information. I specifically asked if they carried all the dresses shown online & I was told they did & to let them which ones I was interested in. I also asked if they could steer me toward the dresses that were within my budget. From their initial email they stated their dresses ranged from 3k-10k. So I really wanted to make sure I didn't choose out of price range. Again, all I got back was to just look online followed by more automated emails. I finally just sent them a list that I liked prior also confirming that they were within my price range. They totally disregarded my price range question and said they will add these to my appt. When they called to confirm my appt they asked if I had a preference of a woman stylist or man. I immediately asked for a woman. I never at any point said I wanted a man. When I got there, they were nice but I was only with my mom because at this point of my dress shopping, I have already been to 5 places and I knew what I was looking for so I just wanted my mom. They seemed to belittle me only because I had one person. This guy checked me in and got our champagne. I thought ok, he must just be getting us ready for my actual stylist to come over! But NOPE I was wrong! They put me with a guy. And sadly I didn't feel like I wanted to make a scene and ask for a girl as there weren't many people working there that day. So I was already extremely uncomfortable being NAKED in a room with this guy! My fault for not speaking up but their fault for not listening to my request. He asked me about my budget and what I was looking for and I told him specifically what I wanted & the highest I would go for my budget. Mind you I wanted to look at their 3k-4k dresses. Nothing higher. He went to grab a ton of dresses to try on. Great! Again, extremely uncomfortable having to get naked with him in the room and how he helped me put on my dress was in no way like how any other place I've been to felt. I honestly felt violated. He finally put me in a dress that I fell in love with. I was about to say yes and FaceTime my girls when my mom just simply asked how much it was... that's when he said 7K!!!! 7K!?!? No offense, BUT WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU! You put me in a dress WAY above my price range!? For them to do this to a bride is completely unacceptable. I immediately told him no and I needed to get out of this dress. So then I proceeded to ask about the 7 dresses I emailed them about. He said he only had maybe 3 in stock and 2 were above my price range. At this point he also started to give us attitude and that we weren't worth his time. I asked to try on the one dress they had. Mind you, I also asked about all the dresses in the 3k range. He told us that he doesn't work with those dresses very often making me feel like I'm poor and worthless. When we go back to the fitting room, he then started to ask where I lived and worked. And I very much hated him at this point and was very proud to say I work and live in Walnut Creek. I was not going to be belittled by this man. When he brought the last dress, it was in the absolute worst condition. Barely held up and he put it on me looking at it like it was trash. Kept making comments how he doesn't work with these dresses often and just acted like a snob. At that point, I just wanted to get out this place.

So we finally left and couldn't believe the experience we had. I was so thankful that I had other good experiences to know this place was absolute TRASH! I would never recommend someone going there unless your budget is 10k and you will spend all the money. They are absolute garbage and treat you terribly if you don't...

I had such a terrible experience with Nazila at Kinsley James that I almost gave up on searching for the right dress. Stylist made many micro aggressions about my weight/size being too big for the dress samples they had. Stylist was passive aggressive about my low budget ($5k) Stylist made me feel uncomfortable in fitting rooms. Was not allowed to browse dresses due to low budget. Was rushed during the whole appointment.

When I walked in, the stylist asked about my vision. She was not very warm, but I wasn't bothered by this. Not everyone loves their job, so I couldn't blame her for not being enthusiastic. When I mentioned my budget being $5k, she asked me how much higher I could go from there. She was worried about the selection they had not fitting within my budget and pushed on expanding my budget from the start. Since my budget was quite low for the shop, she didn't want me to browse. Instead, she pulled some dresses for me. They didn't go with my vision, so she made some passive aggressive comments about me being very clear on my idea (aka picky).

When it was time to try them on, she stayed in the room, which made me uncomfortable. She realized this, and made many comments through the session about not looking at me and dismissing my discomfort. At no other shop did the stylist stay in the fitting room while I had to undress. This probably would have been fine, but she made several micro aggressions about the dresses not fitting me and making me feel like I was overweight for their sample dresses. I'm 5'2" and 130 lbs for reference - not that overweight in my opinion, but it's true that the dresses wouldn't close. Her comments made me even more uncomfortable with undressing in front of her.

Since the dresses she chose weren't really within my vision, my sister and friend looked around while she helped me try on some dresses and found some they liked. Some were slightly over budget, but honestly if the stylist had been sweet and encouraging, I would've gone for one of them. I wasn't closed off, but the thing that tipped me over the edge was how unpleasant the stylist was.

In the end, we realized the only viable options would have been around $7k-$10k+ and she continued to push that it wouldn't be a problem because we could pay half now and half later. She asked me several times if I wanted to say yes to one of the dresses. In the end, I just couldn't wait to get out of there and was feeling pretty done with the dress search.

Would not recommend this shop at all!! And if you do go here and also have a terrible experience, please don't give up hope. There are many other shops and you'll find a dress without being shamed or guilted about your weight or budget! You should feel beautiful and empowered, and if you don't, don't contribute to a business that does anything...