Bridal Connection

I was very impressed with the level of service we received. And honestly, most of it came from the owner! She picked out a few dresses and sat in to see how they looked on and what we thought.
I thought she was very nice and knowledgeable!
The dresses are a little costly, as to be expected. But the dresses are beautiful! Some places charge way more for dresses. They had a wide selection!

Sales staff was great! They were very helpful in finding a gown for the military ball. I couldn’t find something quite appropriate that was off of the rack but I can’t wait to go back when I have more time to order for next year!
They have a nice selection Ina wide variety of colors! Their is no pressure sales and the shop is clean and very pretty.
I would recommend for any formal gowns, bridal dresses, tuxedos, or prom dresses!

I bought my dress here in December of 2011 (at their old location, which was also beautiful) and had the most amazing experience! I was a plus size bride, and not ONCE did they make me feel like I had fewer options or that I couldn’t wear something because of my size — which is probably one of the biggest reasons why I loved my experience so much. At my dress appointment and all of my fittings, they always made me feel beautiful and special — like a princess! I never had any issues with the alterations department — in fact they downsized my dress (because I had lost quite a bit of weight after purchasing the dress) three sizes, shortened it and fitted a jacket to me for a very reasonable price and did a wonderful job. Also, just to follow up on some other reviews I’ve seen, never once when either I went there or my friend went there did they not have our alterations done. They were also complete and they were very accommodating to anything that wasn’t quite right — it was always fixed at the next appointment.
This past winter, I had the honor of going with one of my dear friends to their new location — and she bought her dress there as well! Lara made sure the day was all about the bride and made sure she felt comfortable and beautiful through the whole process. Lara also followed us into the bridesmaid section to help us all select a dress and color that worked for all of us. She was so knowledgeable and made the whole day wonderful. Plus — the new location is gorgeous! The dresses are displayed beautifully, there is a wonderful selection, there’s so much space and every bride has her own little area. Unlike some of the other stores we went to with my friend beforehand, the dresses are not all crammed together so you have to pull them out to see them — they are in clear plastic bags (so the samples are in great condition), and they have a wide range of styles and prices without having a thousand dresses.
At all of our appointments — as a bride with my own dress experience and as a friend of the bride’s these couple months — every thing was very personal, special and all about the bride! Not once in any appointment did we feel rushed to finish an appointment or pressured into making a decision. The staff is friendly, accommodating, knowledgable and just wonderful! I would (and do!) highly suggest The Bridal Connection to all bride-​to-​bes!

This little unassuming store looks a little run down and has a smallish selection, but the service was top notch! I originally chose this place because they were the only store in the area that carried the dress I was obsessed with. I thought I would just go in, see that dress on me, and walk out with it. Unfortunately it didn’t look great on me, and we proceeded with trying on a couple others.
Hailey was awesome and patient, seemed genuinely interested in my wedding style and what I was looking for, and gave me honest feedback about what was working and what wasn’t. She helped me with undergarments, changing in and out of dresses, and pairing shoes and accessories with each dress. Also she was not pushy at all! The one I chose was the least expensive of the bunch and I thought she might try to upsell me, but she agreed it was the best. I found THE ONE much faster than I thought I would!
One last perk, since I decided to buy the dress the same day as the appt. they gave me 10% off up front!

After shopping for wedding dresses at a few stores in California, I decided to look in Iowa while I was home visiting my family. I have to say that this experience was not nearly as positive as my experience at the 2 stores I visited in California. It started off very well: we showed up 10 minutes early for our appointment, but someone was ready to help us immediately and she began by asking details about my wedding and the type of dress and price point. She assured me they had lots of dresses in my price range (under $ 1000) and she said she would pull a few and also welcomed us to look through the racks ourselves, which was cool (other salons I’ve been to have not invited us to just browse like that). Style-​wise, she did a great job picking dresses that matched my selection. Browsing through the racks, I did not find anything else that appealed to me that she hadn’t already grabbed or mentioned.

However, budget-​wise, I wasn’t presented with a single dress under $ 1000 and she tried to get me to try on many that were significantly more expensive. I didn’t appreciate this sales tactic, which seemed pushy. Although she encouraged me they could «work with me» to negotiate a price, it seemed pretty clear to me that they were hoping I’d try on a much more expensive dress, fall in love with it, and beg «mummy dearest» to buy it for me… but I don’t work like that. I also felt like she was not very upfront about the fact that the dresses she was showing me were way out of budget. She told me she wanted me to try on one dress with spaghetti straps, which I decided to skip because that’s not the style I’m looking for. I later glanced at the price tag and saw that one was over $ 1600, although there was no mention of that to me. She also encouraged me to try on a dress that she said was just perfect but «slightly» out of my budget. It was $ 1700+!! I wouldn’t call «70% more than the budget», «slightly out of the budget». I found this distracting and I was surprised, because at the places I’ve been before this the consultants were much better at bringing me things that were in my budget or at least very close (I would consider $ 1100 or $ 1200 pretty close but certainly nothing over $ 1500 as close). I ended up trying on only two dresses, one of which was $ 1300 (again presented to us as within our budget… um, not really!) and one that was just over $ 1000. They were very similar styles and I liked them both, although the cheaper one probably slightly more so. Again, no dresses technically within my budget — just one that was very close and one that was fairly close.
I realize that I’ve contradicted myself somewhat — on the one hand I’m saying there were no dresses in my budget given to me, but I’ve also acknowledged that there were no dresses in my chosen style (lacy and not strapless) that I didn’t see. So by that logic, there were no dresses in my chosen style within my budget. I understand that not every store has every dress ever made, but I would much rather they have been upfront about that fact and then offered me a couple dresses in my chosen style near my budget and a couple dresses in my budget that weren’t quite the right style. Basically I felt they were trying to trick me, which I did not appreciate.
I was also very disappointed when I was trying on dresses that they did not allow me to take photographs of the dresses. I realize this is fairly common, although I hadn’t experienced it yet. However, this is an absolute dealbreaker for me, and I will not buy a dress, especially the most important/​most expensive dress I’m ever going to buy, without seeing photos of it. If there’s anything I’ve learned from previous dress-​shopping trips, its that you can love a dress on and then realize it doesn’t photograph well or is more revealing or less flattering than you thought. I’m spending thousands of dollars to have someone take thousands of photos of me on my wedding day and I want a dress that photographs well. So if that is their policy, fine, I respect it, but I’m not going to buy from them.
She was also less open about providing brand/​style number than other stores I’ve been to (to be fair, I didn’t press for style number because I knew I could easily find it online knowing the brand). But it wasn’t offered to me like it was at other places.
Bottom line: Although the staff was friendly and competent, I did not appreciate what I perceived as secrecy about price/​brand/​style number and the upselling tactics. I also feel very strongly about their no-​photos policy, which I realize is not unique to them. I don’t know that I would have come here had I known about the no-​photos policy (one of many reasons I wish Unilocal had more of a presence in the midwest!) Overall they had some nice dresses, although (like many stores) not a large inventory of lace dresses that aren’t strapless, but the policies & sales tactics put me off.

I was a bridesmaid in a wedding earlier this month, and all the dresses and tuxes came from Bridal Connection.
As a bridesmaid, this experience couldn’t have been easier for me. Lara and her staff were so pleasant to work with — chatting with me about the wedding every time I came in, oohing and aahing over the dress when I picked it up, and always friendly and helpful.
The bride knew exactly what she wanted, and even though they didn’t have it there on the floor, they made it very easy for us to feel confident ordering the dresses sight unseen — showing us other samples from the same designer, approximating the fabric color, and describing the fit. Even though we’d chosen them out of a catalog, our bridesmaid’s dresses came in and fit each of us perfectly — no alterations needed.
It’s a small store with lots to see — but it was certainly among the most pleasant places we visited in our dress hunt.
I would certainly recommend Bridal Connection to any of my friends with upcoming weddings.