Let-Down

Soo...you know how I posted yesterday about how I was so excited to go look at wedding dresses with Krystina??? Yea, that didn't really work out. We went, yes, but I was flabbergasted (yes, I did just use that word) at how extremely low-quality the place was. It wasn't just that I got myself worked up about it (to the point where I was expecting grandeur), it was mainly that I'd heard from several different sources that it was supposed to be one of the best wedding (slash quinceanera) places in Phoenix. Some of the products/services they offer: wedding dresses, bridesmaid/flower girl dresses, quinceanera dresses, tux rental/sale, wedding accessories, and quinceanera accessories. If done well, all that stuff together could turn out to be a great business! In practice, however, the place was very lacking.
Consider this my review of their location, and be forewarned if you plan on going there: The woman at the front desk was friendly, greeted us, and told us who our consultant would be (after checking if we'd like to share a consultant or each have our own, to which we told her sharing would be fine). We waited in the dress area for a few minutes for our consultant, but then it went downhill from there. First, she told Krystina that since her wedding is so far in the future (2010, I think), the dress style trends will change, so she should wait until closer to the wedding to shop for a dress (I guess because she has to buy something simply for the fact that everyone else likes it? And heaven forbid it might go out of style before the wedding!). That, in itself, was rude. Also, she didn't speak English extremely well, so she didn't seem to understand us at times, and it was very difficult for us to understand her. We knew which collection (designer) we wanted to look at, and she did point out where those ones were, but beyond that, she wasn't really any help at all. I wanted to see colored dresses (not white), and she just said that some of the (white) dresses they have come in other colors, so they could order the color I wanted. Meaning I had to look at each tag to see if it came in any other color or not. After some looking, she showed us a book of that collection, and (without her offering to do this) we wrote down style numbers we liked and asked her to check if they had those in stock. Out of about 15 dresses we wrote down, they had 3 in stock. That was extremely discouraging, but then on top of that, she just gave us the number for each dress they had, what size and color it was, and told us we could find it by looking at the tags. Again, needle in a haystack (when there's hundreds of dresses and you have to find one by looking at each tag, it's kind of futile). On top of that, the ones I liked turned out to be quinceanera dresses, and at first she acted like that ruled them out for me, but when I got her to tell me where they were and told her I wanted to try them on, I guess she realized I was serious about liking them (They look just like wedding dresses!!! What's the difference?!?). Apparently she couldn't (or didn't want to) leave the wedding section, because she sent me on my own over to the quinceanera section. The one and only attendent there? She spoke NO English. Excuse me? Did I just suddenly teleport to Mexico? I'm at a large business, in the middle of America, and the only person who can help me speaks Spanish exclusively. Very helpful. So, needless to say, I helped myself with those dresses, since she couldn't really help me at all. The quinceanera department seemed to have no air conditioning...with how fast I got sweaty (pardon the graphic image I just gave you, haha), I really wondered how many other girls' sweat was on these dresses from trying them on. Gross!

On a lighter note, we're going to "I Do, I Do Bridal" this coming Monday. They also have dresses from the collection we like, so I'm crossing my fingers for better luck there! The only other places we've been are David's Bridal (top-notch service and facilities, but sky-high prices), and the Arizona Bridal Warehouse area at the Bridal Expo this past June, which is where I bought the dress I currently have. Can't wait for I Do I Do!!!