Bridal & Formal

Reviews 3

A

A Private User

As a bride, I did some browsing online at bridesmaid dresses and found a few that I was interested in. I took 2 options to Bridal & Formal (both styles Bill Levkoff- great dresses by the way). The first style that they had to show me had a cinched empire waist and it was sagging on the dress. I asked if it was supposed to do that because it was not displayed that way online. She told me thats how it was supposed to be. I later looked the dress back up and confirmed that the it should have fit snug, not sagging The 2nd style is the one I decided to purchase (Bill Levkoff style 874 color Indigo). Here is how the rest of my experience has gone: 1- After I had confirmed the dress selection my associate told me that they will match any price that I find, so I should look online, find the best price and bring it with me when purchasing the dresses. I brought 2 different online site prices with me when returning and was only then told that they must be able to confirm the site in which the price was found or they cannot honor the price. (Make sure you take more than 1 site price with you, just in case!) 2- When I asked the associate how the shoulder straps were styled to sit, she said snugly over the shoulder (like where a bra strap would be). In reality, they sit on the outer edge of the shoulder loosely and most girls will need them altered to keep from falling down the arm. 3- She measured 2 of my girls and told one they were a size 6 and another a size 8... I had the girls try on the dress available in the store (size 10) and both girls ended up needing the size 10 (one girl was is 52 and the other 60... but needed a size 10 for the hip section of the dress. Bridal and Formal makes you sign a waiver stating they are not responsible for incorrect dress sizes that are ordered and you are responsible for any corrections to be made. When I asked the girls to try on the dress just to see how close it was in sizing the associate said Theres no need to do that. Ive got their measurements, thats my job and were trained to measure. I am CERTAINLY glad I had them do it anyway. 4- The color swatch I was given (blue/purple iridescent) was not exactly the color that I had imagined so I asked to see an entire dress. The associate told me Oh, dont worry, that is just a discolored piece of fabric and thats why they use it for a color swatch. Your dresses will be this color (and showed me a slate blue dress). Definitely dont get yourself stressed out, they will be the color you wanted. I picked my dresses up yesterday and they are blue/purple iridescent as I first feared (the INSIDE of the dress is the slate blue I was promised). I now have flowers, jewelry, and groomsmen vest/ties that dont match the dresses that have been purchased. I will be contacting whoever necessary to share this experience as we have paid almost $1000 total for the dresses and I am now stuck trying to decide what needs to be done to rearrange colors, decorations, flowers etc with only 2 months left until the wedding. Bridal and formals selection is among the best Ive seen, but definitely be careful and assertive when shopping. Do not be overly trusting and ask as many questions as you need to ensure youre getting exactly what you are paying for!

KA

Kara Evans

When I walked into Bridal & Formal it was like every brides dream. The staff was very friendly and I had a great experience. I purchased my dress and signed their contract which basically says your wedding dress can take anywhere from 6-8 months to arrive and they are not liable if your dress doesnt even arrive in time for your event. Of course, the friendly staff assured me that it never takes that long for dresses to come in and the fact that I was ordering my dress 9 months before my wedding would make for a hassle free transaction. Turns out, there was nothing hassle free about it. I was given an estimate of when my dress would arrive, approximately 6 months after I ordered it. My dress arrived today, 7 months later. In the time I have waited for my dress to arrive, I called Bridal & Formal 6 times to check on the progress of my dress. Why did I call so many times, you may be asking. Because every time I called, not one single person I ever spoke to could give me any sort of a definitive answer about my dress. One call I made, I was told my dress had shipped two days prior, but when I called a few days after to get an arrival date, I was told that my dress had in fact not shipped yet at all. Another time, a sales associate told me the manufacturer was running behind and since my wedding wasnt for a few more months, they most likely pushed my dress off to complete other orders. Yet another time I called, I was told, Your dress will arrive via UPS on Thursday." Thursday came and went. Oh sure, UPS delivered that day, but my dress wasnt in the delivery. It amazes me. This is a bridal shop. All they do all day long is sell dresses to new brides. Brides, who by the way, already have ENOUGH on their plates to worry and stress about. All I wanted, each time I called was for someone to say, Your dress will be here on this date yet no one could ever do that. Its a real shame that my experience had to end this way because it started off so hopeful and wonderful. My advice to any bride out there, lie about your wedding date and say it is at least one month sooner than it actually is. Oh Yeah, and unless you buy off the rack or pay to have your dress rushed, dont expect your dress for a long, long time. At least not if you order from Bridal and Formal. I chose to give them 2 stars as opposed to 1 because I did have such a pleasant experience when I went to buy the dress. Just a shame that as soon as they had my money they seemed to stop caring. And another thing, when they tagged my picture on Facebook, they got my name wrong. Ive decided to lower my rating of Bridal and Formal because Ive now had 11 phone conversations with them regarding the arrival of my wedding dress and 6 bridesmaid dresses. I was told three days ago that all 6 of my dresses would arrive to the store the next day and I would receive a phone call. I never got that phone call telling me the dresses were in fact in the store, and when my sister went to pick up her dress, IT WASNT IN! Turns out only 4 of the 6 dresses came in. All Bridal and Formal had to offer me was an apology and to refer to their contract. NEVER WASTE SUCH AN IMPORTANT DECISION ON THIS PLACE!

ER

Erica Walker

My sister is getting married so we decided to take a day trip from Louisville to Cincinnati to check out the stores in the Cincinnati Bridal District. Wed been to several other bridal stores before this trip. Everyone was always very nice and proper with a hint of the pushy sales person or fake enthusiasm. But our experience at Bridal and Formal was quite different. We walked in to a very nice front desk area that separated the wedding dress area from the bridesmaid area. They were very warm with greeting us and immediately started setting up my sister with a consultant even though we didnt have an appointment. The first store wed walked into that day had ignored us for a good 10 minutes while we stood by the front desk. So it was refreshing to see that even though Bridal and Formal was busy with other customers, they recognized us immediately. The woman who checked us told us our consultant would be with us shortly and while we were waiting she showed us to where the dresses were and showed us where to hang the dresses we selected. She even pointed out which aisles of dresses to ignore based on the dress description my sister had given. The room with the wedding dresses was sorted by designer, with everything in plastic bags. But the big thing was that the racks were set up so that there was enough space for multiple people to get through and you could actually look at something without having to take it off the rack. Our consultant showed up shortly after we started digging into the dresses. She focused on my sister and talked to her a bit before she tried on dresses. So we gather up the 6 dresses we selected and went back to the dressing room. The consultant was very quick about getting my sister into the dresses and gave good opinions. My sister put on the dress she would end up selecting and just loved it. The consultant brought a veil for her and then took her into "the sparkle room" that had better lighting. My sister loved it so much that the consultant recommended we go outside to see what it looked like in the sun since her ceremony is going to be outside. All the while the entire staff would pop by and fawn over my sister and how amazing the dress was. On the way outside she got to parade through the entire store with everyone admiring her. It really made the experience special. My sister had never gotten this much attention at any of the other bridal stores. After going outside there was yet another "sparkle room" to see the dress in. This was the classier area off the reception room that had luxurious furniture and floor-to-ceiling mirrors. They also had a showcase or hair combs which the consultant picked from and placed in my sisters hair to finish off the look. It was absolutely stunning. So after this wonderful experience my sister chose the dress. And they gave us 20% off the veil and any bridesmaid dresses we might purchase from them in the future. I cant say enough how wonderful the staff was. They were professional but casual and fun at the same time. My sister got the perfect dress for a real deal of a price and we couldnt be happier. Anyone visiting the Cincinnati Bridal District definitely needs to make a stop here.