Bridesmaid Dresses at David's Bridal

I'm sure that if you're planning a wedding, you've taken notice of all the commercials advertising summer specials and other great deals on bridesmaid dresses. If you're like me, you want your girls to look great, but you don't want them to spend a ton of money on a dress they're likely only going to wear once. Some of the most prevalent commercials you'll see are for David's Bridal.

David's Bridal does offer a large collection of dresses in a variety of colors and styles. The dresses offered by this company are often $100 cheaper than what you can find in other places. But beware. When you buy a "new" dress, for the full sticker price, you're not necessarily getting a brand new, unworn dress (even though that's exactly what you've paid for).

When you select the style of the dress you want, you'll send your girls in to the store to get fitted. Someone at the store will take and record their measurements, which should assure you that they're going to make the dress according to those specifications. But it doesn't.

When I got married, I chose a ¾ length merlot red dress for my matron of honor and two bridesmaids. They all got fitted and ordered their dresses, and when the dresses arrived, they all took meticulous care of them to make sure nothing could ruin the dresses before the wedding.

But on my wedding day, we discovered that two of the dresses were not up to par. My sister's dress had pit stains. My friend's dress was altered to where one boob was hanging lower than the other (and she's not disproportionate). She had to adjust numerous times in the night so she didn't feel like a total jackass.

Each of us called or visited the stores to complain, and what we were met with was unexpected and uninspiring. They indicated that these dresses are not made new and special for the orders, but that they can be used in the store as samples as often as they feel like using them.

That would be fine to me if they advertised it that way, as in, a sale on a dress that had been tried on numerous times in the store. That way, I wouldn't expect everything to be tailored to each person's proportions and specifications. But trying to convince me that full-fledged armpit and deodorant stains can happen just from people trying on a dress in the store is not gonna happen. What, did the girls who tried it on run laps throughout the store in an effort to lose those last few pounds? How could they possibly think consumers are stupid enough to believe that that dress hadn't been worn for an entire evening's festivities and then returned to the store?

They also said that it was our responsibility to check on that kind of stuff and not theirs. How is it our responsibility to ensure that a dress we paid full price for doesn't have sweat stains? I understand that they think you should want to see the finished product, but if you've ever been in a wedding, you know just as well as I do that there's a certain amount of paranoia about even opening the garment bag...you're scared of staining, scratching, or ruining the dress, so you leave it in your closet until the day it's supposed to be worn.

Anyway, if you're getting married, congratulations! If you're looking at David's Bridal for dresses, you'll likely find some nice looking items at a reasonable price. But learn from our mistakes. Make sure you get the exact dress you wanted and paid for.