Please be careful of this vendor!

[mdesign]

I know how hard it can be to find a reliable vendor for gowns - so I wanted to put the word out to beware of Kaufman's Bridal ( www.weddingworld.com ) . They are based in PA, and my mother went there to order her mother of the bride gown. She deposited the $350 and was told that it would be in the store in 7 weeks. As a safety precaution (buffer zone), she told the sales lady that my wedding was on 10/17 , so that it would be in on-time. In reality, my wedding is on 10/24. The gown never came, and my poor mom is driving around town this weekend at all of the department stores trying to find a gown in time. Plus - she's really tiny and will definitely need to get whatever she gets altered and only has a day or two for that! I found this out through my dad - I think that my mom is so upset about it, she hasn't even told me about it yet! :(

With all of the stresses of a wedding, that's the last thing she needed. Kaufman's was pretty laidback about the whole thing- they didn't offer to try to put a rush on a new gown at their expense, and she even spoke to Mrs. Kaufman about the salespeople's rudeness & unprofessionalism.

Not to diminish the importance of a mother of the bride gown, but what if this had been my Bridal Gown! I myself ordered a gown and decided I wanted a different one, so I had to put a rush on it (I ordered it through a different vendor - not Kaufman's)...but we all get in situations where we might need to order something in a rush...and this vendor, even with the added time, proved unreliable & poorly managed.

Hope this helps someone. I think this vendor has stores all over the place - MD, VA, etc...but their main store is in PA where my mom actually went & ordered it - eek! :(

[bridezmom]

this chain is the WORST!!!!! It ALWAYS has had a horrid reputation.......I could tell you TONS of horror stories. AVOID AT ALL COST!!!!

[mtolady]

I'm sorry you folks had a bad time there. I visited some other stores in the Altoona area and wasn't incredibly impressed. My fiance' and i went to Johnstown one sunday for a concert I was playing in and because we were early, we stopped just to look.

Brenda was our salesperson and she was very very pleasant. I told her i was looking specifically for halter style gowns because i have very wide shoulders. As we were looking through the selections, she pulled a gown that had a portrait neck. I loved the poet sleeves but said i doubted the neck would work. She didn't push, but said we'd save that one for last if I still had time to try it. I think it was actually the third i tried on that day, and after that, nothing compared.

Sometimes you run across a dress that is absolutely perfect - i need no alterations (i have done extensive costuming) and could not believe how great this neckline looked.

Knowing the games that are played, another sales girl said she called Mr. Kaufman to see if he could discount it for me. They pulled it back to almost 1/2 the ticket price - if i took it with me. I said I can't do that, i don't spend money that way, but if I could come back after my concert, i'd be in a better frame of mind. We did walk out of the store minus the gown, but about 30 min later i went back and purchased.

I originally intended to make my gown, but between the beading, the yards of fabric, and the other details....this was well worth it for my peace of mind.

Two years ago, my niece had her dress made from them and was happy with the work as well. Perhaps my situation of having the right size is rather unique, but it was definitely to my benefit. Cheers!