worldof20something

My search for the perfect bridal looks for my wedding happened mostly at two stores: David’s Bridal and Alfred Angelo.  These stores are very similar in terms of their price range and wide variety of dresses to choose from.  But there are differences, and it helps to be aware of them if you are about to start shopping for your wedding wear.

 BRIDAL GOWNS: Alfred Angelo wins!  I tried on dress after dress at David’s Bridal and was always left less than impressed.  At Alfred Angelo, on the other hand, I fell in love with every single dress I tried on.  While the dresses at David’s Bridal were affordable, I noticed that Alfred Angelo offered a higher quality for a lower price.

BRIDESMAID DRESSES: It’s a tie.  Both David’s Bridal and Alfred Angelo have a wide variety of bridesmaid dresses at affordable prices.  They both offer dresses of different lengths and styles, separates, and lots of trendy colors.

MEN’S FORMALWEAR: David’s Bridal wins!  David’s Bridal partners with a number of different men’s formalwear company to bring their customers closer to finding all of their bridal party’s needs.  Alfred Angelo, on the contrary, only covers the women’s looks.  You will find no men’s formalwear there.

CUSTOMER SERVICE: Alfred Angelo wins!  Everyone there was friendly, smiling, and extremely helpful.  The lady working with me helped me put on those tricky undergarments and dresses, took notes about what I liked or disliked about each dress, made suggestions, explained about the different types of fabrics, and encouraged my mom to take pictures.  My experience at David’s Bridal was a disaster.  I was sent around a corner to pick out shoes, then was shown to my dressing room where they expected me to figure out how to put on the bustier and dress.  The lady working with me hardly had any suggestions, other than, “Well… are you in love with it, or not?”  Then some other lady came over and started arguing with her about which dresses she thought would look good on me.  Lady #2 told me she would get me a certain dress but never came back with it.  Every time I was ready to move on to another dress, I had to wait 10 minutes for them to go get one.  Ridiculous.

LOCATION: David’s Bridal wins!  There’s more of them, so most of the time you’ll be able to find one much closer than Alfred Angelo.  If you’re lucky enough to live at least somewhat close to both, it’s probably worth the extra effort to go to both.

ONLINE SHOPPING: David’s Bridal wins, but Alfred Angelo still rates highly.  The feature that puts David’s Bridal over the top is something called “Dress Your Wedding.”  You get to create the people in your wedding, line them up next to each other, and pick out the exact outfits you think you would like them to wear.  You can change the dresses, the tuxes, the hairdos, the accessories, the shoes, and the colors.  It’s really helpful to see it all together before you make your final decision.

 So who wins overall?  That’s up for you to decide!  I will forever be inclined toward Alfred Angelo, where I found my perfect wedding dress… but for you, it might be different.

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