The White Dress

When I was booking dress shopping appointments, I knew I wanted to go to The White Dress from all of the rave reviews, choice designers, and beautiful facility, so it was appointment number 1 in a two day span of appointments. My mom and maid of honor flew in from across the country to be with me, so I had multiple lined up to be ready!
I tried on many beautiful dresses that I loved there, but was anxious to say yes to one in my very first appointment, so I left to go at least check out other shops. In hindsight, I wish I would have gone elsewhere first to shake out the nerves of finding such a big deal item, just because I ended up coming back to The White Dress and getting the one I loved anyway!
Felisha was my consultant and she was GREAT. Listened to me, was patient as it was my first ever appointment and I was feeling a bit overwhelmed because I like EVERYTHING and didn’t know how I’d choose, and understood when I said I needed to leave and think on it. When I did call the next day and say I wanted to come back and try it on again to be sure, she worked me in right away and I was able to come back and say yes with her!
The shop itself is absolutely gorgeous and definitely makes for an upscale experience, complete with champagne and private bridal rooms for you and your entourage.
The only thing I would mention as a forewarning is that they have a no taking pictures until you pick your dress policy, which made it hard for me after I left to remember what I looked like in the dress. Like I said, I ended up remembering the feeling I had while wearing it and coming back for it, but the other shops I went to before returning did let us take as many pictures in as many dresses as we liked.
Since I know not everyone buys their dress right away and sometimes like to «sleep on it» (like me), it’s just something to consider. In my opinion, not a reason to stray from this store because everything else you’ll experience with The White Dress is top notch… just something to be aware of going in that their policy is different than some others in the area.
But this was just the stores policy, and Felisha was just doing her job in enforcing it so she definitely deserves nothing less than 5 stars! :)
I would absolutely recommend The White Dress and Felisha especially. She’s wonderful, and I can’t wait for my dress to come in!!!

This was the first dress shop that I visited. It is a beautiful, picturesque bridal boutique. My appointment was made for right when the shop opened. We arrived a couple of minutes early and it did not feel like the staff was ready for us and the other group that was there at the same time. I filled out an information sheet with things like what styles I liked and what my budget was. The sheet listed fairly large ranges when it asked about budget. My consultant did not ask about my specific budget and instead went off of the range I had circled. In hindsight, I should have written the specific number. As a result, I was shown dresses that were quite out of my budget.
To start the appointment my consultant took us to the room where the dresses were hanging and explained how they were organized. We were then left on our own to pick the ones that we wanted to try on. As this was my first appointment, it would have been nice to have some direction on what she thought I would like based on what I had told her. It was also frustrating to be looking through dresses, finding ones I liked, then having to check the price tag and be disappointed when it was far too expensive for me.
After not finding anything I liked in the first run of dresses, my consultant pulled a dress from the back for me to try on. It was wonderful and I really appreciate her being willing to do that for me. It was a beautiful dress and one that I thought could be my dress. However, this was my first time trying on dresses so I wanted to go home, think about it, and try on dresses at other places just to be sure. My consultant was more forceful than I was expecting when pushing for me to buy the dress right there. She even pulled the «I took this out of the back for you» card. I ended up finding my dress at a shop with a much larger selection of dresses and friendlier staff.

The White Dress is amazing! Carly was so helpful and professional — she really listened to what I wanted and found me the perfect dress! My friends and I had so much fun and Carly made the experience very special. She is wonderful.

I was super impressed with The White Dress. All of their employees were helpful and nice. They truly appreciated what a big deal this was and made an effort to create an atmosphere and experience for my engaged friend. There were individual ‘living room’ spaces for each party, with a white pillowy couch and elegant grey chairs. There was a large mirror so that all party members had a great view.
But what really made our appointment amazing was Carly. She listened, had great suggestions and was incredibly helpful. We all loved her.
My pal found her dress and with Carly’s help, had lots of help on how to modify it to fit her vision.
I highly recommend Carly and The White Dress!

Fantastic experience!
Comfortable, relaxed, and got all the help I needed.
Carly was very easy to talk to and was always ready to answer questions. She is very professional and went above and beyond! :)

After visiting multiple bridal dress stores, I finally found my dress at The White Dress! All the staff from the initial call to schedule a fitting, to the fitting itself, and the final dress pick-​up were extremely friendly and helpful!
PROs
— Very clean, and organized store
— Private rooms for you and your guests (privacy from other brides-​to-​be)
— Ability to walk through and select your own dresses from the racks
— Great staff!
— Timely — received my dress over one month from original delivery date
— Champagne, tea, water
— Garage parking across the street
CON
— No in-​house alterations, but they have a recommended seamstress in Portland

I live in Seattle, and was down in Portland for a family event (I’m from Salem), and decided to make an appt at The White Dress. After visiting four boutiques in Seattle (including Nordstrom), it was refreshing to step into The White Dress and see some new, unique designs. I tried on 4 – 5 different gowns but was drawn to one beaded gown that was just breathtaking. I actually tried it on twice, because my mom and I loved it so much — it was unlike any other gown I had tried on. We went over the allotted appt. time but, Katrina, our sales woman did not rush us. Because the dress was over my budget, I couldn’t make a decision right on the spot — I asked if I could think about it overnight and come back the next day. They were super accommodating and squeezed me in. We came back the next day, and after wearing the dress for at least 1.5 hours, I again went well over the time — I decided to pull the trigger and purchase the gown.
We were cutting it close in terms of the delivery time for the wedding, but Amanda, the owner was able to put a rush order to ensure it made it on time. And, they were able to work with the designer to get me a belt that was featured on the designer’s website (but didn’t come with the gown) — which I was so happy about, because the belt was my favorite part. All in all, it was a lovely experience in what can be a super stressful time.
The only thing I would say: if I could take ½ star off, I would, only because when I went to pick-​up my dress and have my fitting, they were running late and kept us waiting for 45 minutes. But, because they were off-​schedule, Amanda helped us and did a great job taking care of us — so again, everything turned out wonderfully.

Went to their One Year Anniversary Bridal Event and it was lovely!
They had the best vendors to accommodate the event. Was welcomed with champagne and pretty white swag bag filled with lots of brochures and goodies. The event also takes you to the 5^th floor to enjoy the cocktail room with food and drinks and the Elysian Ballroom next door for the fashion runway. Love the décor and set up everywhere. Staffs were super friendly. Will have to come back for an appointment to find a perfect dress.

Wow! After a couple of disappointing visits elsewhere, I met Carly, and she made an enormous effort to make sure I found the dress of my dreams.
I was greeted with champagne and a warm welcome in their bright showroom. It’s clean, modern, and FULL of pretty dresses.
We went to one of their three private suites that had lovely chandelier lighting, cozy couches, and a spacious changing area.
Carly talked to me about my dream dress, helped me to pick out some to try on, and patiently pulled on dress after dress.
I didn’t find it on my first visit, but after an invite to a trunk show, we found it!
A huge thank you to Carly for sticking it out with me! I can’t wait to wear it on my big day!

I had a lovely experience in this shop, with Felicia helping me out.
I went to quite a few bridal shops in the area, with this as my last one. This is definitely the place to go if you want the full experience: the space is beautiful, changing rooms are spacious and cute, champagne is delicious, and the staff are helpful and pleasant. Surprisingly, their dresses are lovely and in a reasonable price range in addition to all of that. My budget was high and I went to more expensive salons where the experience wasn’t nearly as enjoyable — and I ended up with a dress from here none the less, for less than half my budget! I think this speaks to the quality of the dresses here, and the well curated collection with tons of options. This salon should definitely be a stop on any bride’s journey to finding a dress!
Thank you Felicia!!!

Wedding dress shopping was so much fun with Katrina! I came down from Seattle, and had three appointments in the Portland area. I was nervous about finding a beautiful, affordable dress in a larger size, but Katrina made me feel comfortable and put my mind at ease. She listened to what I wanted, and when I told her my vision for the wedding, she helped me find the perfect dress (Yay!) It was a great experience, and I’m so glad I visited The White Dress.
Just something to note, although they say they have dresses for every budget, be aware that most of their gowns are a bit pricey. It’s something to be aware of if you are on a strict budget.

This shop is amazing! They have only been in business since January 2015 but they are killing it!
–First of, the location is great!
–Second, the shop itself is perfect, every girls dream. It is the kind of shop you see in movies or walk by and hope that one day you can go in there and try on a dress. You get your own personal fitting room for you & your guests.
–Champagne, tea, water, etc. provided to you.
I see some comments that say they are pushy, and try to make the sale. I did not experience that at all with any of the ladies I dealt with. I had Katrina the store manager help select dresses, and she acknowledged all my concerns about what I wanted in a dress, which styles I liked (I had already tried on different styles at a different shop). & she was super awesome about finding dresses that she thought I would like.
I had actually found a dress I loved at a different shop, this was my 4^th wedding dress boutique. I came in just for fun to see their selection & saw a dress that I really loved so I made an appointment to try it on, and LOVED it, ended up buying it there!
–Also regarding photos, if you have ever been wedding dress shopping, the NO PHOTOS rules apply to most shops and that is because of the designers. You are only allowed to take photos of the dress if you are buying it. Not sure why people are appalled by that, that is usually standard practice. I have been a bridesmaid 7 times & been to multiple stores & they are always very strict about photography.
The point is, if you are getting married come in & try on some dresses. Even if you don’t find anything you love, the experience is super fun & honestly the dresses are all beautiful!
Thank you White Dress team for being such wonderful people!

I am so happy that The White Dress was my first stop. Not only is the shop beautiful, clean, lovely décor, etc… they have really nice private rooms which makes the shopping experience so much better, in my opinion. I brought my Mom with me and we had a great experience from the moment we walked in. My salesperson was Felisha and I cannot say enough great things about her. I had actually emailed her back and forth a few times, months before my appointment, and she was always friendly and informative. When we were together picking out dresses, I felt she was genuine and really cared about finding exactly what I was looking for. She felt like an old friend! I didn’t feel pushed or pressured AT ALL to buy a dress that day. I thought the entire experience was very relaxing and personal. I ended up purchasing the first dress I tried on (after trying on about 7 dresses) and I love it so much! I cannot wait until it comes in. I would highly recommend this dress shop and my salesperson. The experience lived up to everything I wanted when I went shopping for my wedding gown.
Update: 11/​30/​2015 — When I was at the store and fell in love with my dress, I ordered it in a different color than what I tried on. Once I got home, I freaked out because I felt as though that was a big mistake. The next day I emailed and called the store (before they even opened) and Felisha promptly returned my email and said she would be happy to switch my order to the original color. It may not seem like a big deal but it totally was. The customer service was exceptional from the very beginning. I truly appreciated that they worked with me!

The White Dress creates a very special experience for the bride AND all who are there to help her find the dress! It came down to our experience with our assistant that left it at less than 5 stars.
{PROS}
–water, tea or champagne upon arrival
–private suite for trying and showing
–beautiful selection of dresses under $ 3k
–great space
{CONS}
–the sales push. Our bride got really tired and that felt over looked & unheard in the push to get her to choose between two dresses THAT HOUR so she could save the 10%
–our assistant felt disingenuous with exaggerated compliments, stories of her self trying on the SAME dress the bride was standing in front of her in (which doesn’t sell that special moment or the dress being special!)
–our assistant said NO PHOTOS yet the other bride and her entourage were openly photographing

After my original review, I was contacted by the store manager whose email really made my day. She was super understanding. And even though we couldn’t cancel the order, she did reach out to the designer directly on my behalf in an effort to try.
Below is my original review (in which I gave two stars), but please take it with a grain of salt considering my own buyers remorse.
…
It’s a pretty store. There’s a private dressing room. But they make you sign a contract right then and there so that you can’t change your mind.
The sales lady kept saying «Are you saying ‘yes’ to the dress?» It was a bit pushy. I felt rushed and like I didn’t have time to think it through.
My advice: By all means check them out. (Be sure they fit your budget.) But before you commit to anything, drown out the sales lady (and your mother) and be ABSOLUTELY sure you want that dress. Otherwise you’ll be hoping you can sell it on Ebay to get your money back.
I get it, they’re a business, but not my style — I much prefer David’s Bridal where you schedule a come-​back appointment when you think you’ve found the dress you want.

Let me begin by telling you that I am very much your classic «type A» personality. I am a complete perfectionist and was totally nervous about shopping for the PERFECT gown. I was immediately impressed by Amanda and her staff and couldn’t have asked for a better experience. The prices: so affordable for ANY budget!
Carly, my personal stylist was so inviting and put me immediately at ease (being fully undressed, after having had a baby) with her charming and intuitive personality. It was almost like she could read my mind! She was very professional, but matched my personality and put all of my nerves to rest. Everyone was wonderful to my family and friends that attended and I couldn’t be more grateful. Thank you so much, girls! I’m forever grateful.

I went shopping here with a girlfriend recently for her wedding dress. The White Dress was the second shop we visited that day. I’ve also been to a handful of other shops over the past few years when I searched for my own wedding dress and went shopping with friends for theirs.
I’ll start by telling you that this bridal shop is very, very pretty. Aesthetically, it’s probably one of, if not the nicest shop I’ve been to. They’re kind and polite here and they bring you champagne and you have your own private room (which some other shops don’t provide). The place feels high end, but not stuffy. So that’s all good.
The selection is decent. They have a much smaller selection than many other shops, but they carry a few brands that are exclusive to their shop (at least in Portland) so that’s pretty cool. The dresses they do carry, for the most part, are lovely. Quality over quantity, I suppose.
But honestly, I probably wouldn’t really bother with this place if your budget is under $ 1200, because there are not many options at all. Supposedly there are a few, but when we were pulling dresses I didn’t actually come across any at all. (There are tons of other shops in town where you’ll have a large selection if your budget is closer to $ 1000. You won’t have many options here.)
My friend had a fairly large budget for her dress, so there were a good amount of options. About a third of the store was within her price range. But like any bride, my friend was trying to stay in budget. And the saleslady didn’t really seem to care about that. The saleslady barely paid attention to prices at all, so it was our job, and my friend’s, to check the price of every dress.
At every other bridal shop I’ve been to, the bride has told the saleslady her budget the type of dress she’s looking for and the saleslady goes and pulls options for the bride. This keeps the chaos down and also ensures that the bride is staying in her budget. (The cost of wedding dresses range dramatically so this is important.)
This was the first shop I’ve been to where the saleslady didn’t seem to take the bride’s budget into account. The cost of dresses was barely a conversation, which I thought was a little crazy. And she also didn’t really pull dresses for my friend — she let the bride and her friends do it. That’s all well and good but it gets a little chaotic and by eyeballing the dresses we have no idea their price so we end up grabbing dresses that are not within budget. We ended up having to to weed through the dresses to find them. I know that’s what you do when you shop for clothes, but usually wedding dress shopping is different.
My other issue I had with this place was how pushy the saleslady was. She was perfectly nice, but she was really, really selling my friend hard. I won’t get into it, but it was a little annoying. This is a HUGE purchase for a bride. Not only is it expensive, but it’s a big deal because it’s their freaking wedding. It’s emotional. It’s PERSONAL. My friend clearly wanted to think about it without the saleslady hovering over her, and she didn’t get that opportunity.
Yes, I understand that all salespeople are pushy — I get that. It’s their job. But this was on another level.
Anyway, it ended up working out fine and we found more than a couple of dresses that were absolutely perfect on my friend and also within budget. She choose her dream dress, and she bought it. So no complaints there. I’m confident she would have bought the dress whether or not she was being pushed to do it, it’s just frustrating that the pushiness made making her decision more stressful than it needed to be.
I’m not trying to bash the saleslady — she was actually very nice. And fairly helpful. I just didn’t really agree with her sales tactics/​style for selling dresses.

I went down to Portland on Tuesday with my sister. Stopped by around 4:30pm and by 5:30pm, I purchased my wedding dress. We were greeted and Carly had me fill out a questionnaire so she help me find the right dress. They had dresses ranging from $ 500-​$ 3200.
I thought the individual bridal suite dressing rooms made it seem like you had the entire store to yourself.
After Carly and I talked about the style and price range that I liked, we walked over to the dresses and picked out 6 dresses.
Tried on the first dress and fell in love with it. Tried on the 5 others, but it wasn’t for me. Carly was super helpful when I was trying on the dresses, she was never pushy. She’s absolutely amazing.
Since it was my first time stopping by and I said yes to the dress! I got a 10% discount and it was exactly $ 1500. The dress will be arriving sometime in March 2016.
This is the best shopping experience I’ve had in a long time.

GORGEOUS bridal boutique conveniently located in the middle of downtown, easily accessible by MAX or car with a Smart Park nearby.
The staff is friendly and knowledgeable and the owner Amanda is especially sweet and kind. Their selection of gowns are to die for and they have nice bridal suites.
Be sure to call ahead to schedule an appt.

I had such a great experience yesterday that I had to write a review right away. I am so glad I found out about this place. This place was above and beyond my expectations when it came to shopping for a dress. Their showroom is absolutely gorgeous!
I was such a nervous wreck coming in here trying to find the perfect dress because walking in, I felt like there was no way I’d find something within my price range because of how gorgeous this place was. But Felisha (my stylist) did a great job trying to keep me calm and knowing exactly what to look for. I showed her a picture of what I wanted and boom she finds a dress like it but even better! I tried it on, fell in love, but of course had to try on a few more. After the 3^rd and 5^th dress, I knew I wanted to try the first one again. After putting on the first dress again, that was it. I found THE one. I saw myself walking down the aisle in that dress. In that moment, the tears just came flowing because I couldn’t believe how beautiful I felt. The best part … I was amazingly shocked at how good the price was! This dress seemed like it should be hundreds of dollars more and way out of my budget.
We celebrated with a glass of champagne for saying YES TO THE DRESS! I highly recommend this place to any future bride, you will not regret it. I was impressed by and really appreciated the owner coming over and congratulating me. Everyone was just super nice and sweet. I’m already looking forward to picking up my dress in January and seeing the look on my groom’s face on our wedding day. Thank you everyone for an incredible experience!