Alfred Angelo

One of my best friends is getting married. Yay, for her. What does this mean for me? I have to drop money I don’t care to spend on a dress that will make me look like hell and that I can probably only wear once. Do I go in with a bad attitude? No, because just maybe, I’ll be lucky and she’ll choose one that isn’t awful. And overall I was just generally glad to be there with her, and to be a big part of her wedding.
Let me start by saying, we had an appointment. Did that end up mattering in the end? No. I waited a lot of the times I put on a dress, for the lady to come and lace it up. I’d open the door and look around, and she was nowhere to be seen. She apologized once for some «consultants» coming into the store, and another time for walk-​ins. She said they are trying to make everyone happy. I got an idea, how about taking care of the people who have the appointment? Her words said that because we made an appointment, we were made first priority. Her actions did not say the same thing.
Also, when I first arrived and she started picking dresses out for me, she didn’t bother to ask my size. I walked up to her and asked if she needed to know it, and she said no, she’s been doing this a while and she can tell. Really?! Can you? (She had a dress two sizes TOO BIG in her hand for me.) At some point during the appointment, she volunteered the info that she was a size 0. Maybe she was hoping I would be impressed. But really, I just thought, you need to put on some weight. I could break you over my knee. Get a look at Kim Kardashian or Beyonce. Beautiful, curvy women. And I was thinking, lady, you’d do a better job impressing me if you were at least a size 4, with some boobs and a butt. Aside from that, she was nice enough, and seemed patient throughout the appt, even though my friend didn’t immediately decide on the first dress she liked 15 minutes in, as we could tell the sales lady had hoped she would.
She brought dresses with beading coming off and just generally not in the greatest shape. And don’t get me started about how much they overprice the dresses. Oh, and just in case you didn’t think you spent enough on the dress, no worries, you’ll be paying more to have it altered later. Long dresses need to be hemmed, and if your weight fluctuates, you’ll need to have that fixed, too. This location is just not great. The place where you try on the dresses near the fitting rooms is so small! In fact, the chairs are so close you could reach out and touch someone from another party. It was definitely not private. There was my party, and two others, and every time I walked out in a dress, other families could see and were judging, because I’d see «I like that, faces» or «It’s not my favorite, faces.» A few unsolicited opinions were expressed, too.
I’m getting married soon, and I’m definitely not returning to this location. I might try the one on Mopac if necessary, like if they have the best deals in town or something, but otherwise, I’ll pass.

Honestly didn’t go many places to look at wedding dresses, seeing as I already had a really good idea of what I wanted and my research showed that Alfred Angelo had several ones that I was really interested in.
The first time I went in was to look at bridesmaids dresses with my soon-​to-​be sister-​in-​law. We found several dresses we were interested in so she tried them on. The staff was very helpful and friendly. After finishing with her dresses, we started looking at wedding dresses. I found a couple that I thought I might like and asked if I could try them on. Even though that’s not what the appointment was far, they were very accommodating and got me in to a dressing room right away.
A couple of weeks later, I went back with my parents to try on wedding dresses. Again, the staff was very friendly and came over to start helping as soon as we were in the store. They asked a few questions and got a dressing room set up for me right away. They also allowed me time to walk through and look at all the dresses, which I really appreciated. While I was trying on dresses, they told me their thoughts on the style and how it looked on me. At the end of the day, I had found one I really liked, but wanted time to think about it. A week later, I took another friend back with me to try that particular dress on, just to make sure I still like it. Even though the trip was quick, as I only tried on 2 or 3 dresses I think, they were still friendly and helpful as ever.
Finally, I went back to order that dress. The consultant I had been working with, Sarah, was very helpful when it came to deciding what size to order. She measured me and found out what size I was, then had me try on a dress in that size. We both thought it was a bit big, so we went down a size. Even though she told me the sample dresses have been stretched out, the next size down fit great. I have already lost weight for the wedding and plan on loosing more, so we both felt confident that the next size down would end up being perfect. She also pointed out that it had a lace up back, so that would give me room to adjust either way.
I also went back with all my bridesmaids to look for their dress. We were in the store quite a while since I had three girls with me and they all tried on the 5 dresses we had pulled. Again, the staff was really helpful and patient. After narrowing down the search to 2 of the dresses, I wanted to make sure my dress would look good with it. So they pulled that for me and had me put it on to see how everything would look together.
Overall, I had a great experience at Alfred Angelo. The staff was always really friendly, helpful, and patient. By the end of this, I think they all knew me by name! All their dresses are gorgeous, well made, and reasonably priced. Plus, they have great sales pretty regularly. And my girls get an even bigger discount since I got me dress there. I would highly recommend Alfred Angelo!

HORRIBLE experience. Practically ruined my wedding. I paid extra to have my dress rushed by April 15 and then even more money to have it 2 day shipped.
My ceremony was on April 29 in Spain and our reception was on May 15. My dress arrived on May 9, THREE WEEKS LATE!!! So I didn’t even get to take my dress with me to Spain for the ceremony. Absolutely horrible.
It is too bad you only buy a wedding dress once because I would NEVER give them business again. I wish there could be some repercussion for making it the worst part of my wedding experience.

I found a Vera Wang dress that I adored, but wasn’t willing to spend the money. I was trying to find something close by googling random combinations of words when I came across a very close dress at Alfred Angelo.
I went in and tried it on. I always dislike having to try on a sample because it is typically too big or too small. (Most dress stores carry one or two sizes for each style.) That being said, they had my dress size on hand — it was the first dress I tried on and it fit well. I asked if I needed to go up a size (typically their dresses in that cut run small and you need to go up one dress size from your typical size), but they recommended against it. They told me that dresses don’t stretch — that it’s an old wives tale.
I bought the dress a tad early for a February 2011 wedding, I know, but I didn’t want the dress to be discontinued (plus they had a CRAZY sale).
Once I tried it on, it didn’t fit. I could get it zipped if I didn’t breathe. I didn’t gain any weight — my measurements were the same. I checked them when I couldn’t zip the dress myself. Actually, I lost some weight.
I went to the North location and asked them what I should do. They told me the sample was fairly old (that both they and the South store had) and had been tried on by everyone size 8 through 18, so it must’ve been fairly stretched. They told me the South store lied to me when they told me the dress wasn’t stretched. They took my measurements and said the chart even showed I should’ve gone one size up from what they sold me. I was forced to get alterations done, but they waived my rush fee and were beyond courteous.
They did the cleaning and pressing of my bridesmaids dresses for free as a courtesy, for the trouble, as well.
When I brought my Nanny to the South location to pick a Mother-​of-​the-​Bride outfit, we made an appointment. When we got there, we told them we were there for our appointment. The girl we spoke to never responded to us or acknowledged us. We sat there waiting and 15 minutes later, we still weren’t acknowledged. After 20 minutes, we left. And thank goodness we did because we found the PERFECT suit at JCPenney’s of all places.
If you need to go to Alfred Angelo, go to the North location.
If you go to the South store, you’ll regret it.

Even though I haven’t yet purchased a dress from this store, I wanted to let people know that the service and choice of dresses are amazing! Compared to other stores, the bridal specialists were MUCH more helpful (without being pushy), attentive and really really nice. There are dresses of all different shapes, colors, and styles for all sorts of preferences. I highly recommend going to Alfred Angelo for all your bridal needs!

The idea of spending $ 1000+ on a wedding dress you wear for one day had always baffled me. Sure, they are pretty and silky, but even if I had the budget for a dress that expensive, I’d rather spend it on something else. But with that said, I still wanted a wedding dress — you only get the excuse to dress up like a bride once (we hope).
Alfred Angelo is great for LOTS of reasons:
1. They have TONS of dresses — long dresses, short dresses, poufy dresses, slinky dresses, colorful dresses… a Dr. Seuss variety of wedding dresses (I realize that this comment makes it sound like they are all tacky… I won’t lie, some of them are (or to me they are), but most of them are not. Again, your tastes may vary.)
2. Most of these dresses are under $ 1000 — I think most of them are in the $ 500-​$ 700 range, but I think some of them are as low as $ 300 (maybe lower). Some may argue that with cheapness comes cheap quality. Maybe. But my dress withstood the day I wore it in one piece and really, do I need it for more?
3. They have sales ALL THE TIME — if there is not one going on while you are there, ask about the next sale — you may get lucky and get a discount anyway (I did).
4. They have dresses in more than one size! Seriously, why must everyone from a 2 to a 20 try on a size 8? While Alfred Angelo might not have a specific dress is a specific size, they probably have one in a size or two up (or down). Despite what other bridal places say, it is very difficult to tell what you will look like in a dress if you’re swimming in it or can’t zip it up. This alone gets the store big praise in my book.
I made several trips to Alfred Angelo (both this one, the location in Lincoln Village before it closed and one in Houston) as I had a hard time committing to «the dress». Service was always helpful. Even when I took forever making up my mind, I never felt pressured into buying a dress. My dress required minimal alterations (just a bustle!) so i had it done there and I was happy with the work.
I also got my bridesmaid dresses from Alfred Angelo. They have a GREAT selection of colors for dresses — like 42 or something. I really liked the colors. And all their bridesmaids dresses can come in any color — some can even have a second accent color. So I picked a color and let my bridesmaids pick whatever dress they wanted. It turned out great.
While Alfred Angelo may not be the place for the most discriminating bride, I was very happy with their selection, price and service. I definitely recommend any bride-​to-​be at least check it out — and if not for her, check it out for her bridesmaids.