Vanessa's Modern Bride — Local services in Wheeling Township

To give some back story about wedding dress shopping, I had gone to one other bridal salon before going to Vanessas Modern Bride and it did not go well. The first stores dress selection was sub par and left me feeling hopeless. However all of that changed once I stepped foot Into Vanessas Modern Bride. When arriving to my appointment Lisa greeted my mother and I with such kindness and warmth I couldn’t help but feel comfortable around her. Her store was clean, organized, and so cute. After giving Lisa some details about my style preferences she pulled some dresses for me to try on.

Let me tell you every single dress she had in the store was drop dead gorgeous. The ones I tried on matched what I had described and were above and beyond my expectations. Lisa clearly listens to her customers and is an expert at what she does. She was patient and understanding as I tried on dress after dress as I loved so many of them. Eventually I narrowed it down to 3 final dresses. She let me come back a few days later in order to FaceTime my friends in because of COVID-19. After the FaceTime call I selected my dress, and was so excited!

Once my dress was selected she communicated to the designer on my behalf on some customizations I wanted done. I wanted to raise the back of the dress and line the front of the dress. I didn’t have to do a single thing. She left me feeling so taken care of and all I had to do was wait for the dress to arrive. Once the dress arrived the seamstress Dorina was able to begin the alterations I requested, the biggest being adding sleeves to my dress. Let me just say Dorina is a magician they way she effortless built custom sleeves that look like they belonged with the dress was truly amazing. Everything that Vanessas Modern Bride does is done with excellence and with Lisa guiding you the entire way there is nothing to fear. If I ever had any questions Lisa was organized, timely, and detailed oriented in her work. Every interaction I had with Lisa was amazing. My wedding was last weekend and my dress was absolutely perfect. With Lisa’s and Dorina’s guidance and expertise I feel as if my dress was truly made just for me.

I can not say enough good things about my entire experience with Vanessas Modern Bride. I encourage every bride to be to stop in this...

Although my dress was gorgeous. Unfortunately have to give 1 star due to service/experience. My dress was ordered 1 size down from my original measurements and due to that when it came in it would just barely zip- I could not even walk or move. Lisa stated that it was no issue and the Alterations lady would easily be able to take some out. The whole alterations process was by far the most challenging, stressful and difficult part of the entire wedding process. I highly recommend if you do get your dress here TAKE YOUR DRESS TO GET ALTERED ELSEWHERE! The last thing a bride needs is more dress during this time. Due to COVID alterations had to be done at the lady’s house (Dorina). Dorina was a nightmare to work with. Extremely disrespectful from the start. As soon as I walked in I pulled out my phone to show her an inspiration picture of how I wanted to add cap sleeves to my dress and she sighed in disgust calling me a “millennial” and telling me to put my phone away. I told her the dress came in too tight and asked if she could let it out a bit so I can walk/sit in the dress and she basically said no she can’t that’s how the dress is is supposed to be form fitting. After leaving the first fitting I felt so discouraged and stressed I then went on to lose 10lbs in order to just try to fit into this dress. The second fitting I had to bring my mom along as back up and support and although I lost weight, the dress was still too tight to sit down in. After me and my mom spent 30 minutes arguing with Dorina she finally agreed to take it out a little bit. The whole payment process was very sketchy as well. She quoted me one number at the first appointment then tried to say she quoted me a different number when it came to the second appointment. Everything had to be paid in cash, no receipts or paperwork. Extremely unprofessional I wouldn’t even call it a business.

My dress was beautiful and after losing 15lbs I was able to fit into it perfectly however this shouldn’t have to be the case when paying over $800 for alterations.

I would have had a better experience at a dry cleaners and it would have been less expensive with comparable quality.

Planning a wedding is stressful enough and the last thing you need is disrespectful, unprofessional vendors who won’t comply...

I've been waiting almost an entire year to give Lisa at Vanessa's my 5 star review! I was married this past weekend in the dress of my dreams. Back in November of 21, I met Lisa for the first time. Prior to my arrival, I had emailed with Lisa a few times as I was very nervous about dress shopping. I am a plus size gal (borderline mid size, whatever you consider that to be) and wanted to make sure that she knew that prior to my appointment. Lisa made me feel overwhelmingly comfortable, she had all of the dresses I wanted to try on available to me and gave me a 5 star experience with my mom and sister. I even deferred to her when I thought the dress was "too much" - she said, you deserve to be the center of attention at your own wedding. She gave me the confidence that I needed to wear that dress on that day! Her recommended seamstress, Dorina, also deserves a 5 star review. She couldn't stop telling me how beautiful I was in the dress, even on days that I didn't feel that pretty, she made sure I knew that I was a beautiful bride. Please do yourselves a favor and go to Vanessa's modern bride, for their selection, service, and friendship. I will definitely recommend Lisa to everyone I meet moving forward. Thank you Lisa and Dorina for being part of my...