Pearl's Place are fantastic!

Just wanted to let everyone know that I had wonderful service from Fred & co at Pearl's Place. I live in London, but got married in Australia so I ordered my dress early to make sure there was plenty of time if there were any delays. My dress arrived a month earlier than expected, and fit perfectly. I also ordered my 3 bridesmaids dresses from Pearl's Place - all 3 girls lived in different parts of Australia, which made it very difficult to get them together to get measured etc. However they were able to send all their measurements to me and I gave the details to Pearl's Place. These dresses also turned up about a month earlier than expected, which was fantastic.
I was very nervous about ordering my dress from so far away, but had the most wonderful experience - very stress-free, and everything turned out just as I wanted, at a much cheaper price than I could have bought anywhere in London or Australia. I have recommended them to everyone I know!

I'm happy for you that you received such good service. When my daughter, Christy, became engaged 3 years ago, she asked me to look for some dresses for her and tell her what I found. (She lives in Alabama and I live in La). I took my sister and my niece, who had also just gotten engaged and we drove to New Orleans. We had a terrible experience at Pearl's Place. Since my niece is my daughter's size and same body type, she agreed to try on a Maggie Sottero dress for Christy.

The salespeople and the store owner would not allow her to try the dress on for Christy. My sister and I asked why she couldn't do that and especially since she was also looking for dresses. They said that Christy would have to come in and try the gown on herself. I tried to explain that she lived in AL. but they absolutely refused to allow
Kathryn to try the gown on. It wasn't like she was going to try on a lot of gowns, it was just one: Maggie's "Royal Romance".

We told them in a polite way that we didn't agree with their policy and began to leave the store. Just as we were all out the door, the owner ran behind us outside with a gown in her hand and yelled at us that she'd PLANNED to give us a discount, but wouldn't now.

My sister, niece and I got into our car with our mouths wide open. It was the most shocking thing we'd ever experienced!

Another time my best friend went to buy her MOB gown for her daughter's wedding. Sue found the dress she wanted and was to have it altered. When she went back to try the dress on, it was not altered
correctly. She left the store and drove all the way back home (90 miles away). A few weeks later, she again drove to NO to pick up her dress. This time she realized they'd messed up the hem so again she left and drove home. A couple of weeks after that, she went back again. This time not only was the hem STILL wrong, they'd taken the side seams in and she hadn't even requested that.

I have one other daughter who may be getting married in a year or so but I would NEVER go to Pearl's Place. NEVER!

You are about the only person I have ever heard of that had a positive experience with Pearl's Place. It is amazing to me that this store has been able to remain in business for so long. They are truly the worst when it comes to customer service. Four years ago when my sister was getting married, we went there. The place was a zoo, there was no one to help us, and she was told to sign in and a bridal consultant would be with her shortly. That, of course never happened and we left without her trying on a single dress.
I was able to forgive them, and just last month, I went to give them another chance. I drove in from Lafayette, LA ( a two hour drive), and when I walked into the store was ignored by all staff members. After about ten minutes, one girl finally acknowledged us but told us she couldn't help us because she was not a bridal specialist. I was free to look at the dresses just as long as I didn't touch any of them. And, of course, sign in (giving them all my personal info - a la David's Bridal). After 30 minutes (there were probably two other women there trying on dresses), my mother and I finally gave up, and once again left without trying on a single dress. The group of four or five employees congregated at the front register gossiping didn't even say goodbye as we walked out the door. Presumably, they were not bridal specialists, and were therefore, incapable of carrying a dress to a fitting room.

My advice to anyone thinking of going to Pearl's Place: DON'T!!!!!

Well obviously I haven't had a good experience either (see 21Flipper21Swim comment below), but perhaps online is better, but I have heard nothing but horror stories out of this store. The personnel there were not kind to me definately. I will never go back and have told me friends not to go there if they want to have a pleasant bridal shopping experience.

I think that the store is busy, and that cannot be the fault of the store. Where do you live now? New Orleans has a real shortage of people that want to work,especially since Katrina. Have you received immediate attention in any store in New Orleans that is busy? I think not. Pearls Place is just about the most complete and excellent bridal store we have here. It bothers me, frankly, when people come in from other locations, having no intention of purchasing there and just "trying on." It does take up time from serious customers who have ordered and are ordering there. I think the store is great, it is busy and that should be an indication of their popularity. They offer a great service to our area.

I live in New Orleans and would be perfectly willing to buy from any store here, but not there after my experience. How else are you supposed to (keep in mind this was my first time trying on dresses, which I informed the sales lady as well as telling her that I may not be ready to purchase my first time out) get an idea of the different dresses out there and what may look good? You have to try them on. You have to see whether the sweetheart cut looks good or another cut looks better. I would love it if the first dress I tried on was "the one" but it wasn't. By going there, I was also trying to get an idea of the sales staff. After hearing many horror stories of bridal shop experiences, I knew that if the dress needed to be altered or changed in some way, I would be relying on this staff to do so. I wanted to get an idea how they operated, how they treated their customers, and what the general "vibe" was from the store. My problem wasn't that the store was busy, it was that the saleslady would not tell me the manufacturer of the dress (illegal) and was EXTREMELY pushy about getting an order started with her. I told her initially that this was my first time and would probably need to come in again to start an order. I just needed to start to get an idea. She wanted more than one phone number for me when I had already given her all of my contact information. She insisted on my cell phone number, which, I told her that I was not comfortable giving. I had given her a work number for me, and because I am a private person, would rather not give out my cell phone number. I think in this day and age, I don't need to give out my PERSONAL number to every sales clerk that wants it. I really think if there was more of an option of bridal shops in our area, Pearl's Place would have to clean up their act, because the state of New Orleans right now doesn't allow for much competition. Perhaps that is the reason they are busy, there just isn't much else. That being said, I don't think this gives Pearl's Place the right to act unethically, unprofessionally, or offensively.

I remember that I had to give a phone number to almost every person who I worked with in weding planning. Even at the bridal shows. I guess people want to be private and I cannot fault that but I also cannot fault Pearls for asking for that info.

I'm so sorry that most of you had a bad experience with Pearl's Place. I went to my first ever bridal salon in Plymouth MI with my sister and tried to try on at least 20 dresses, all of which were about 4 sizes too small for me, on average. Having gotten discouraged with that salon, I somehow convinced myself to go to yet one more store that day, I Do Too in Plymouth, MI. I not only tried on two dresses that fit (had to be pinned/clamped back), but the second one was my dress. I went so early in the wedding process and I had no idea how people would try to screw me in the wedding business, that I gave them my info and was completely honest with them. But their dress was out of my budget. I ended up using the bridal quote from Bridal Bargains, to receive a quote from Pearl's Place. The dress quote came back $200 less than IDT. When I called IDT to see if they could match it at least, they not only put off calling me back for two weeks, but they said horrible things about "online" bridal places and tried to scare me out of ordering it threatening telling the designer of their price reductions. I almost didn't order the dress from Pearl's, but I would never go back to IDT to order the dress from them at that cost. So, I know I'm going to hell for it but I went back to their store and asked them to measure me and have my measurements on file so that my mom could pay for the dress from NM. I memorized the size chart I'd received from Pearl's and when the size that I suspected matched the dress IDT told me they would comfortably order for me, I left happy knowing I would order the dress for $200 less and get the size that fit me. I received my designer dress for a bargain price from Pearl's in only 2 months and it fit perfectly! I am so happy with them and their service was completely fine for me. I cannot believe that a company, however badly they may be struggling would treat a very happy and excited bride as poorly as I was treated at I Do Too. They were recommended to me from two recent bride friends and I thought they would at least want my business enough to be honest and not try to sabotage my buying experience. I feel guilty about doing it that way but I'm not like every other bride and would not try to screw them in any way. I am just trying to do my wedding for under 7k and Bridal Bargains and Pearl's certainly is helping me achieve that goal. Good luck to the rest of you who try Pearl's and with your weddings!