David's Bridal - Cautions

Caution: Their latest trick is to charge customers for the garment bag to take the dress(es) home in - at a cost of $10 each! We didn't find any department stores that charged for a bag. To add insult to injury David's puts their name on the bag for free advertising, which limits usefulness of the bag to you later. Consider taking dry cleaner bags with you for the bridesmaid's dresses at least.

Also, check to see if they'll have time to alter your dresses, we found they can be booked for a month and then charge a rush fee in addition to really high alteration expenses. We found if you keep calling back and talking to different salespeople (in a one-hour period) you got different stories of when there were alteration times available. The book recommended telling them the wedding was one month sooner than the real date. A great idea.

Well, lemme tell you - it's not just David's that pulls this little stunt. When I picked up my dress from Lasting Impressions in Addison,TX (DFW area), the lady says, "Oh, and that will be $13.25 for the garment bag." I'm just standing there a little shocked - but I paid for it (stupid, in retrospect - shoulda told them they could keep it).

Oh, yeah - the idea of telling them your wedding date is 1 month earlier - I'd even go so far as 2 months earlier. My photographer recommended this and I thought he was crazy - turns out it took one extra month for my dress to come in, and now it's taking 3 weeks on the alterations because the seamstress is so backed up.