Calvet Couture Bridal — Local services in Winter Park

Words cannot describe how unbelievably disappointed, disgusted, and furious I am with Calvet Couture Bridal.

In September, I proposed to my fiancee. The following weekend, she and her mother visited Calvet Couture Bridal to look at wedding dresses. There were positive reviews on Instagram, and it seemed like a classy, respectable business with a great selection of dresses. My fiancee and her mother had a pleasant first visit. My fiancee tried on several dresses, and one of the employees offered champagne.

The 1st issue we had with the business was in the discrepancy between what was told to us at the actual store, and what was said to us afterwards. For example, we agreed upon a payment plan for the dress. Upon making the first down-payment, the employee said that they would place the order for the dress right away. The following month, when I called them in order to pay for the second portion, they told me that they were waiting on me to pay the 2nd payment before ordering the dress. This was a direct contradiction from what was communicated to us in person at the store. My fiancee spoke to the employee, and the employee implied that we were lying and that we misunderstood. Either way, I made the second payment, and that was that. I was told that the last payment only needed to be made when the dress arrived.

In January, my fiancee called to see the status of the dress. They told her that the dress wouldn't arrive until early February, and that they would call her once the dress came in. Today, on February 12, pushing the midpoint of the month, my fiancee called the business, only to find out that they have had the dress since January 31st, and there was not a single call or email notifying us of this important fact. So, my fiancee went to the store to talk to them directly, and she mentioned that she was troubled by all of the miscommunication issues we have had since the fall. The older woman associate did not seem to care one bit and offered no apology on behalf of herself or the wider business. The associate said, "Let me get the dress, since it did come in last month."

The moment the woman opened the bag, my fiancee immediately knew that Calvet Couture ordered the dress in the wrong color. The color that my fiancee ordered was white. The dress that came out of the bag was blush. My fiancee said "This is the wrong color," and the woman associate said she would go in the back and check the order. Apparently, there was "nothing notated" that it was ordered in white, even though we did order the dress, in white. The associate said she would call someone, and we assume she was calling the employee who ordered the dress back in the fall. She asked the coworker if the dress came in white, and then the associate got off the phone and told my fiancee that the dress is "not made in all-white." The associate goes on to say "Well the dress will look all-white in the photos", and my fiancee argued with her, reminding her that she ordered the dress in white, and was told it comes in all-white. Never was there any indication otherwise. The associate then offered a few suggestions: first, she told my fiancee that the all-white dress came with a shorter train and it had no beading on it. My fiancee told her that particular dress was not what she wanted, and it was not what she ordered, either. The associate suggested that my fiancee didn't even know what kind of dress she ordered. She then said that the blush fabric could be removed and replaced with the white fabric so that it is an all-white dress. "I can set an appointment with the seamstress to have the correct fabric hemmed into the dress." However, she told my fiancee that they would cover for the replacing of the fabric, but that my fiancee was responsible for paying for the alterations. My fiancee then asked for a refund, and the associate said they can’t offer one because we signed a contract. Except, here’s the thing— we didn’t. And our binder proved us right. Then she tried to guilt her into keeping the dress, saying that they would have a dress on their...

Brides Beware: this was the WORST EXPERIENCE EVER! I emailed this store to see if they carried a specific gown that I was unable to find elsewhere. I live out of state and specified that I would be traveling to Florida just to try on this gown and wanted to make sure it was available before I made travel arrangements. I was delighted to receive a response that they did have the dress and to “please let us know which location you would prefer to visit and we can make sure that specific style is available for you to try”. I scheduled my appointment for two weeks later, bought plane tickets and flew from New Orleans to Orlando.Upon arrival, I was told that the dress was not there but “was coming”. It had been sent out to a photo shoot the day before and was supposed to be back by now, but the assistant had not returned. It was VERY apparent that they had completely disregarded my appointment to try on THIS dress. It was suggested to me to start trying on other dresses and they were going to track down the assistant with the dress. After I put on a second dress, the consultant informed me that they still could not get in touch with the assistant and maybe they could “ship it to me or schedule another appointment”. I reminded them that I contacted someone at the store prior to booking my appointment 2 weeks ago, and that I had traveled specifically for this dress and was told it would be here. Naturally, I was very upset and stressed at this point and was unable to focus on any other dresses. When the consultant realized how upset I was getting, she said it was unlikely the dress was going to make it and that I should just leave and reschedule. I was only in the state for 4 days and was staying with my mother who lived 2 hours outside of Orlando. I explained that I would rather wait awhile until they can reach the assistant. She said the manager apologizes (the manager never spoke to me and left the store during all of this) and that they didn’t want to make me wait. I reemphasized that I didn’t mind waiting a few hours since I was already there and coming back was a greater inconvenience, since I did not live there. The consultant went to the back to try the assistant again, but at this point it was clear they did not want me in the store. We could hear her on the phone with the manager, and when she came back, she miraculously had a story that they finally got in touch with the assistant and that she had been in a car accident, was in the hospital, and maybe the photographer could get the dress from the car. If that dress was in a car accident so bad that someone was in the hospital, how was it possibly in any shape to try on? I’m not saying they lied, but it just seemed really unlikely. If that is the truth, I truly hope everyone involved is okay! However, it just seemed really convenient to have an excuse to get me to leave (which was the impression they were giving me the minute I started to get upset about the dress not being there). Accident or not, the bottom line is that if you know you have a customer FLYING from out of state (during a pandemic) to try on a specific dress, WHY on earth would you send it out on a photoshoot the day before?! If the shoot was already scheduled, WHY would you promise “to have that specific style available for you” two weeks prior to the appointment? The entire situation was shady and ruined what is supposed to be one of the best days of wedding planning. The day of the second appointment, Calvet called to let me know that the dress was back in the store and ready for my appointment! Again, pretty amazing that it was in try on shape after a car accident. If that was what really happened, I am sorry the assistant went through that and hope all is well now. Given the way it was handled, I obviously did not return. I did not want to give my business to a store that treated customers so poorly. Truth or not to the story, it was handled VERY inadequately.

Reply to the response from the owner: I visited the Winter Park, FL store at 520 N Orlando Ave #105...

I have been dreading writing this review because I have never actually written a bad review before, but I felt that the women considering buying a wedding dress from Calvet Couture should know and learn from my experience.

The experience when you go in to look or purchase a dress is very pleasant, once they make the sale, it is absolutely terrible. I have never experienced such terrible customer service and it is something you should never have to deal with as a bride with 1000 other things going on.

When my dress came in I went to pick it up and it was so tight that they could not get it up and we had to fight to zipper it. I could not breathe and could not walk correctly. The girl helping me was not the girl that sold me the dress. When I asked her what we should do because it is too tight she said "well you signed the contract so we can't do anything." I saved for months to buy my dress and that really broke my heart that they could care less that it clearly did not fit. (I have always been between a size 2-4 and actually lost weight in the time that they ordered my dress.) They were insistent on ordering me a 0 according to my measurements for that designer and assured me that it could be let out in the thigh area where I measured bigger. I of course trusted them because they are supposed to be the experts.

I called for 3 weeks trying to get the girl that sold me my dress (Emily) on the phone and she said that since I took the dress there is nothing they can do (the first girl told me I had to take it from the store), but Emily assured me that it could be taken out up to a size 4 in that area. So I altered it and still, it was too small.

We tried again to get Emily on the phone, spoke with other people such as Frances who made my mom cry on the phone because she was so nasty about the situation. Never once did the owner of the store reach out to see if there was anything that could be done even though I emailed her and called the store many times.

They only offered me fabric to try making the dress bigger once I contacted the designer. The designer's office also wondered why Calvet did not just order my a 0 in the top and a 2 or 4 on the bottom if I had measured that way since that is something the designer could have done. Or why they did not just send it back since they would have taken it if it was not altered.

At the end of the day, they offered no help, dodged my calls, and were flat out rude and stuck up. They only offered after I called the designer when it was WAY too late and show zero dignity or compassion in the work that they do.

They had the audacity to blame my seamstress when this whole problem could have been resolved right when I picked up my dress in the first place. I could go on and on about the series of events that happened to lead me to writing such a review, but I honestly just want other brides to know so that this does not happen to them.

I wish I read the reviews because there are so many other women that said the same thing about Calvet; they make the sale, then do. not. care. about. you.

There are so many shops out there that care about the customer and in this day and age that is what makes the difference. If I could go back in time I would go any of the other 100+ stores in the Orlando area and would never want anyone to go through what I did. If everything goes perfectly, great. If it doesn't, you are 100% on your own resulting in so much extra stress and money. Do not buy your...