I so agree. But that's the current practice here. BUT I guaranteed that when the Ellebud girls and boy get married (if we are providing the flowers) I will make sure that we can take the flowers and give it to whom we please. I will make sure the contract says that. If I have to I will purchase the urns/vases myself.

Exactly what I was doing lol...the sales manager actually discounted nearly $10,000 off the dress so the parents would quit haggling :eek: Still, $15,000 for a dress is stilll waaaaay too much!

Say Yes to the Dress:Atlanta?!?

I just saw the commercial!
THis is an article I found on google:

http://www.stylelist.com/2010/03/24/...idal-spin-off/

Saw that too! The things they were saying about the bride and her budget in the commercial were really mean!

Actually some people do haggle in dept stores with some success. And you do haggle over other big ticket items, cars, houses, *is at a loss for things that cost 10k or more*
But then, I suck at haggling.

Totally not interested. No one can replace that Kleinfeld's crew.

There's a wedding dress show on WE I think that takes place down in Texas. The saleswomen are rude. They don't ask the girls what their budget is (first thing Kleinfeld's ask) and I always see them putting them in dresses that they can't afford, but somehow end up buying anyways. I also never see them asking what style dress they want. They just take a look at them, and pick out whatever they want.

I went to Bridals by Lori (the location where they're filming the Atlanta version of the show) back when I was doing my wedding dress shopping. The sales staff were what I'd describe as cold. Everywhere else I went the sales staff were warm and friendly. It was almost as though the staff at Bridals by Lori felt that it was a pleasure for you to serve them.

It was a nice selection of dresses but the store is definitely not for the budget-conscious bride. Also, I told my sales associate what my budget was and she seemed to completely ignore it. She brought me some dresses that were more than $1,000 outside my budget. Luckily, I wasn't a fan of them but a friend of mine who shopped there fell in love with a dress that was $2500 outside her budget. I felt bad because nothing she tried on at other stores could even match how she felt in the dress at Bridals by Lori.

If I ever end up picking out a wedding dress I'm going to lay down the law: Bring me a dress over budget and I shop somewhere else. On the show it seems like one of two things happens when they do this: either the bride buys a dress she cannot actually afford (which I will not do, hands down, end of story) or she leaves obsessing over the dress that can't be topped.

When I got married in 1989, my parents, who paid for everything, gave me a budget of $5000. Anything more than that I had to pay for myself, but anything left over, we got to keep. So I shopped carefully. My dress was a discontinued sample that cost about $300 with alterations. It needed to be cleaned, which the bridal salon did at no charge. I put it on and loved it, my mom loved it and that was it. A crafty friend made my veil as a wedding gift, and another friend did my bouquets with silk flowers. We had our reception at our parish hall (which was more like a hotel ballroom than a typical church hall with basketball hoops and a bingo board.) We ended up keeping about $500 and spent it on furniture which we still have. You can watch your spending and still have a lovely wedding - and 20-year and counting marriage!

My best friend had the most gorgeous and unique dress of all my friends getting married. Price? $600. I was amazed when she told me.

Exactly, and when it comes to money, people should have no problem being firm.

Plus, I find it hard to believe that it is NECESSARY to spends thousands on a wedding gown. It might take a little more time and effort to shop around and find the perfect dress with a smaller budget, but reasonably priced dresses that aren't horrible are there. I have a formal dress that I joke will be my wedding dress...it won't really, but it was a $600 dress from a popular designer and was meant to be an evening gown, but really could be a wedding dress just as well. Now I know to think outside the box.

My daughter's Presents dress (The Reluctant PNM) was a bridal gown. That, or a deb gpwm. Quite frankly, I would go back to this designer when DDs get engaged. And trust me, the dress with seed pearls and some glitz was NOWHERE near the thousand dollar mark, although on sale. When I married I borrowed a dress (big mistake...at the last minute the first bride, who wore the dress for her vows and then changed out of it saying, "Get this hideous thing off me!!!! I never want to see it again!!!!", said that she didn't want me to wear it. This was four days before the wedding.

Today I would just go to a store and buy an evening dress and be done with it. At the time I was overwhelmed, so I wore "that dress." But the dress I wore was the same dress that Grace Kelly wore for her wedding, alencon lace and all. (not Grace Kelly's dress itself, but the same designer, fabric etc.) ANd the "owner" took it back and threw it out. She threw it out not only because I had worn it, but because it reminded her of her mother, the last being the most importent. Thirty three years ago that dress was $1,500. OMG.

From watching this show you'd think it was normal for wedding gowns to be $5000 and up. It's not. In 2/3 of the shops I went to, almost every gown was less than $1,500. The only ones that are thousands of dollars are designer/couture dresses. You can find hundreds/thousands of beautiful dresses - in nice fabrics, I might add - for a fraction of the price of a designer dress. I would never pay a designer price tag for a dress I'm going to wear once, even if it is my wedding gown.

It's also the only place where you can buy one, so I'm sure they figure that if they sell a lot of them, the designer will keep the exclusivity there. If they don't sell well at that store, she'll pick up and run.

It might also be about getting them on TV more than it is about getting them on those specific brides we see. That is, the bride can't afford it, but its willing to try it on for the sake of being in a designer gown and boom, free advertising for the name.. which you can only find at Kleinfelds. Positive feedback cycle.

My bridesmaids dresses came from Bridals by Lori because I was told they were THE bridal place in Atlanta/the South. I figured it didn't matter where I ordered them from because I only had 2 attendants and one live in Atlanta and the other was in NJ and I don't even live in the country. I had such a terrible experience with them. I walked in the store in July, dresses were supposed to be in the store October. January comes around, they never placed the order because supposedly my matron of honor (who lives in Atlanta) never officially gave them a size. In between, I get an email about new swatches. I ignore, because hey I ordered my dresses in July. Orders get placed in Jan. I get an email in Feb. My maid is too large for the style I picked..and they tell me her size in an email and cc on it. I pick another style for her, after she is devastated about the situation. The dresses finally come in, look great, but are not navy anymore. The color can best be described as ink blue. I saw the ads for Say Yes to the Dress at Bridals by Lori and started laughing.

That sounds about right for that store! I've heard from other people that they had similar experiences. My husband had to go there last year since because he was in the wedding party of a groom who did his tuxedo rentals through the store. He told me that the sales associates were complaining about some of the brides the whole time he was getting measured. He asked me if all bridal salons are like that. I told him that it was probably just Bridals by Lori!

The bridal consultant who helped me there was Sandra. I'm curious to see if she'll be featured on the show.

I had a similar situation at the store where two of my bridesmaids ordered. First they gave one of them the wrong style numbers to choose from, so she picked a dress that shouldn't have even been a choice. Then they actually put a DIFFERENT number in the computer. Then they listed the wrong color. Thank GOD I called the store to check up on status. We finally got everything sorted out, then they called me a week later and left a voicemail telling me the sizes of the dresses that the girls were ordering, style numbers, etc. Frankly, I thought it was rude to tell me the sizes the girls were ordering, given how self-conscious many women are about bridalwear sizing. After all, it was none of my business what size they were ordering, and I wasn't with them when they got measured anyway, so I'm not sure what they thought my response was going to be to them telling me the sizes.

I had this sort of experience as a bridesmaid with David's Bridal before...twice. They ordered the wrong dress TWICE. The first time they managed to type in the wrong number and when I came to pick it up I pointed out it wasn't even close to the correct dress...they looked up the bride in the computer and realized they're managed to order the wrong dress. They then told me the correct order was placed and to come back again. I came back and it was a DIFFERENT wrong dress. Apparently the bride had changed her mind about a week before I tried to order the dress the first time and they didn't save the correct number in the computer. They then refused to order the correct, third, dress unless I paid for the second one, saying it was the bride's fault. How it could possibly be HER fault I can't imagine, but it was so close to the wedding I didn't have a choice but to pay for both dresses. The wrong one was both ugly and the wrong size. I pray that if I'm in a wedding again they will not use David's Bridal.

Did anyone catch the sneak preview of the Atlanta show this evening? I don't know about it ... Bridals by Lori just doesn't have the warmth and personality that Kleinfeld has. And the consultants don't seem to be as likeable. But I'll give it a chance ...

I've only seen a commercial for it, but I swore the Atlanta guy who was talking sounded just like Randy from Kleinfeld. He even looked vaguely like him. I'm still not sure if it was just in my head or not.

The American Chopper people? (Watching now)
I'm going with it being the TLC cross-promotion as the main reason.

WTF with the other people in the episode not having that excuse.... At least she's already bought the gown...

I fell sleep during last nights episode so I didn't get to see the crazy entourage with the bride going in for the fitting.
Did Rachel end up finding a dress at Kleinfelds? I hope so!

You know, I don't get the Pnina thing. 9/10 times I think the Pnina dresses they bring out are too-too.

^^^ we (the girls and I) could so shop with you! Her dresses are tasteless, overused and trite, especially the wedding gown with the lace bodice.

Now shall I tell you how I really feel?

Haha...I'm glad someone agrees. I really think people get wrapped up in the designer name and forget famous doesn't equal taste.

Plus Pnina likes see through bodices on wedding gowns. Shudder.

I didn't like the Pnina she chose (no surprise there) I'm not usually a fan of the really chunky metallic beading.

I guess it's just what you're going for. When (if) I get married I want to look beautiful and elegant...not like I'm dying to be the showstopper. But that's personal.

The Atlanta version bothers me.
It's just not the show I have came to love. I think the too boutiques are very different in style/taste as well. But I mean that always seems to happen with North/South

Some of the girls they've had on the show have material put in so it's not see-through. I like the lace bodice but with the material put in.

Thank God...I'm glad it's not just me on those Pnina dresses...they are just so tacky. Did you all see the one with the girl who had the velcro-ey type bottom part that came off and it cost more than a car? God-awful.

http://www.kleinfeldbridal.com/pics/...2398-large.jpg

This is the $27,000 monstrosity I think.

I guess if you buy one of these, you're the type of person who is looking for dramatics and people to say "OMG look at that." All the girls who bought the see-through dress seemed to be looking for that.

SO glad I'm not the only one.

As for the Atlanta preview show, sorry, but they're trying too hard on the Southern belle thing, whatever that is. And I'm a Southerner!

That is so heinous!

http://thumb.storeofdress.com/PNI-BR-B200933.jpg

This one?

WTF.