Prevue Formal & Bridal

Find a better and cleaner place where you will be treated with respect and hospitality for taking your business there. You’d think they’d be keen on giving their customers a pleasant experience because of the amount of money they charge for their dresses. If they’re making sales on these exhorbitanlty expensive garments you wouldn’t notice by this tacky, cluttered, dirty shop. They make thousands overcharging unsuspecting teens for prom attire and capitalize on their inexperience to expect top notch service. Yet they are CHEAP in return: STINGY with the look of the place & LOW staffed. They not only have horrible service but jack up their prices and pressure customers to buy! Ugh! Terrible!

This shop had more dresses than any other shop we went to in San Diego. It was overwhelming, the racks were over crowded and finding a dress was hard. The service was very good, but the dresses were way too expensive for a prom dress ($ 500) and the alterations equally pricey. We ended up finding a designer dress at Nordstroms below $ 150, and the alterations were free since I used my Nordstroms CC. This place is best for a wedding and brides maid dress or a pageant one of a kind dress. But for a prom, save $$$ and go elsewhere

Aimee was such a great help when it came to finding my prom dress and the dress is perfect. I would recommend coming here to get your dress. It’s a little pricey but it’s worth the quality. Also I had someone in the store help me (Aimee) which also made finding the perfect dress easier.

For years I have taken my daughter to the Garment District for gowns. This year she entered the Miss Vista Pageant. We didn’t have the time to scour LA. We wanted quality and the latest styles. Going to Prevue was the best decision ever! We went back to LA for shoes and crystals for the custom belt I made for the gown. We didn’t see anything that compared to what we found at Prevue. Fareeda helped us — she is amazing! She asked us what we had in mind and brought us what we we looking for and more. The gown we choose was not available in red. A few days later we decided to order it and called Fareeda, she remembered us. She also said they just received a shipment and the gown in red and the exact size was in. Prevue has layaway. I will be shopping there again. My daughter was crowned Miss Vista and will need more gowns! Fareeda was very sweet and super helpful. Great overall experience. I highly recommend her and Prevue.

My mom, sister, myself, and two high school girls went in a couple weeks ago looking for dresses for a wedding. Mother and grandmother of the bride dresses specifically, but also dresses for the rest of us. So that would’ve been 5 formal gowns. Not greeted. Tracked down someone and asked about dresses. She pointed to an area and said to look. If we had any questions to ask her and she left. The racks are so closely spaced that you can only look through them in single file fashion. Definitely not ADA, American Disability Act. By law there should be a four foot space between racks to accommodate wheelchairs. Ultimately it was a waste of time which is unfortunate for them. Having a large family of women that will eventually all need formal dresses for various dances and weddings, my get is we will go elsewhere or order online. Seriously, why can’t people working in stores actually help shoppers? Isn’t that what you’re paid for?

Came on a weekend and OMG it was packed from wall to wall with people. There was a 30 minute wait just to try on your dresses after you picked them out. I was here looking for a prom dress for my daughter and was so overwhelmed with the selection and how crowded it was but regardless we were determined to make this a good experience. So we started looking around and found a young lady I believe her name is Leah, sorry not good with names. Anyways she came to help us and WOW what a change, she was so professional, and really knew her styles, dresses and store. She helped us all the way to check out. We found the PERFECT Dress and absolutely love love love it. Thank you so much for your help and truly making the experience a great one.
** Oh forgot to mention before we purchased the dress they checked some log to make sure we didn’t buy a dress someone else at my daughters school already purchased. LOVE THAT SERVICE

My daughter and I have just walked away from one of the BEST shopping experiences EVER. We drove 2 hours after speaking to an incredibly helpful employee (I regret forgetting her name) who was wonderfully encouraging on the phone. I called seeking a very specific Sherri Hill dress that was unfortunately sold out and discontinued. She gave me a few dresses to look at online and suggested that we come by. She was certain that we would be able to find something that would make our daughter equally happy.
Not only we were impressed by the volume of dresses that were available, we we’re blessed to meet a spectacular Prevue employee named Leah. Leah spent time listening to my daughter’s vision for her dress and then the next hour and a half was nothing less than magical. She was kind, attentive, extremely knowledgeable and had exceptional taste. She was always available for our needs but never made us feel pressured to purchase a dress. (Not to mention running around and equally tending to al of her clients) There was never a moment that we didn’t feel cared for.
Do we recommend Prevue Formal? It’s an absolute yes! All of the ladies were absolutely lovely and the store had an impressive selection of beautiful gowns. In closing, I would like to note that although Prevue has rules pertaining to the number of dresses tried on, they are in no way as rigid or unwelcoming as several other stores we tried to shop in prior to this. The rules are designed to allow all customers to have an opportunity to try on dresses. Being that they are an incredibly busy store, we appreciated knowing that we would be given our opportunity too, in a reasonable amount of time.
Leah, the quality of your care tonight not only resulted in a sale to happy consumers, know you have just gained a long term clients… and next time were bringing friends:) We look forward to sending you a picture of her beautiful dress. Thank you Prevue! All Our Best, Michelle and Faith

It’s prom season! My girls and I went to a lot of stores and Prevue had the best selection! And they have a better selection of plus size dresses! We left happy.
I took one star away bc of the dressing room situation and not enough seats.
I don’t remember who helped us; she was great though!

Do your research before purchasing a gown from this store. I purchased a gown for close to $ 1000 from Prevue. Despite it being a size bigger than I needed, the sales lady encouraged me to buy it and get it altered. Because I loved the dress and had a hard time finding something I liked, I felt it was worth it. However, a few days later (just my luck), I found the exact same gown at a different retailer for $ 400.
I went here and bought my gown because of a friend’s recommendation and Unilocal reviews trusting that it was going to be a good deal. I didn’t realize they mark up their dresses double what other places sell them for.

I had an amazing experience at Prevue thanks to Araceli! She was fantastic, I came in because my now sister in-​law recommended Prevue because it is where she bought her wedding dress.
I came in not expecting much since it was only the second place I visited. But Araceli was so kind and helpful. She understood exactly what I was looking for and was considerate of my budget. She wasn’t pushy like the other sales reps at other stores I had visited.
We found a few dresses that I liked that fit my budget but I didn’t make snap decision this time and told her I appreciated her help and would come back. I was definitely surprised by the quality of the dresses, the fabric, prices and construction was much better than at David’s Bridal. She gave me her card and told me if I wanted to call and see when she was in so we could continue looking.
When I came back she had set aside a few dresses for me that I really considered however she really wanted me to try on another dress she had in mind. It wasn’t the style I was imagining for my wedding dress but she insisted. I tried it on and was blown away! It was the one! I am so thankful to have met her and have her help in picking my wedding dress. She is super sweet and just so easy to work with. Everyone at my wedding raved about my dress and I thank Araceli for that. =)

If you are ready for a ARM WORK OUT this place is for you.
I came to this place twice in one weekend and did order a dress. If you want to feel rushed or if you have all day to sit and wait to try on a dress this place is for you. All the dresses are stuffed in bags and all the racks are over stuffed. If you are a size 2 – 4 finding a dress will be cake! On both days I handed the sales associate my dress to try on and they lost my dress both times. I sat and watched over 2 dozen high school girls try on prom gowns and stand in front of the mirror and take endless selfies. While, a line of women sit and wait to try on dresses as well. The reason I say «arm work out» is because you have to fit your way through dresses to find one in your size or to get around overall. I think the place would be VERY successful if they had a bigger location and maybe more training on the customer service side for their sale associates.
Also, no refunds or exchanges for any dresses. So make sure you are happy with the gown you pick.

Brides to be– beware! In case you don’t read this entire review, here’s a summary of my thoughts on this place:
Overall it was a bad experience. If you are shopping for a dress that you will wear on the most important day of your life, you don’t want to feel rushed or completely ignored. You also don’t want your poor mom having to hang a bunch of heavy dresses and then getting yelled at for not hanging them in the right spot!!! And while they have a wide selection of dresses, so do a lot of other stores in San Diego and the prices are the same.
Now, on to the story…
First, I arrived on time for my appointment and had to wait about 20 minutes for the sales lady. She was nice but right off the bat I could tell she was overwhelmed by customers and that I would not be a priority. She informed me that she would be helping other people, which confused me because I thought the point of the appointment was for her to reserve time to help me. After listening to the type of dress I had in mind, she directed me to the waaaay overstuffed racks and told me to pick out the ones I like. The racks were so heavily packed that it was very hard to browse. Plus, all the dresses are in bags so you can’t even see what the bottom looks like!
We grabbed a lot and hunted down the sales lady. BTW we were in the racks for a good 20 – 30 minutes and she never checked to see how we were doing. She took all of my dresses and literally stuffed me in a tiny dressing room with them. My mom asked, «Isn’t there a larger room for brides?» And then I was put on a waiting list to get a larger room. WHY DID I HAVE AN APPOINTMENT? If the salesperson is busy helping everyone but me and there’s not even an appropriately sized dressing room reserved, then what was the point of my appointment? Later, they did move me to a larger room so I’m glad we spoke up.
From there on, the sales lady would run by my room about every 20 minutes and yell, «How’s it going?» Usually she would leave before I even had time to answer. I asked THREE times for long sleeved dresses to try on and she never brought any.
Then the real kicker — so this whole time my mom and friend are having to help me into/​out of dresses and hang them back up and into their zipped bags. This was a lot of work and it was like 85 degrees in there. They were placing the bagged dresses over the dressing room because there was no other place to put them and that way the salesperson would know we were done with those. Randomly we hear this blond lady yell, «What are these?!! You need to hang them up!!» My mom said, «They are on hangers but they’re the ones she doesn’t want and there’s no rack to hang them on.» The saleslady said, «Well put them on the hook in the dressing room!» (which by the way was already full of dresses I had yet to try on). We were stunned she would talk to customers that way! My mom and friend were trying to help the staff by making sure all the dresses were back in their bags and on hangers, which is completely unheard of when it comes to bridal dress shops. I have been to many bridal shops since and every time the salesperson hands you the dress to try on and takes it from you as soon as you take it off. NOT HERE! You get yelled at for helping them!

Terri was great!!! She was so helpful, my sisters got just what they wanted and left very happy. I will be coming back to this place and see Terri for my next big event. thank Terri!!!

I went to Prevue searching for a prom dress. They have an amazing selection of dresses, but the customer service is terrible and the dresses are crowded.
I went in two different days. The first day, there were hardly any people in the store and no one came to help my friend and I. I finally asked for help from someone, but she essentially ignored me and told me she would find someone for me later. We decided to leave after waiting several minutes for assistance.
The second day was extremely crowded. There were many young women searching for prom or wedding dresses and it was almost impossible to get ahold of a salesperson. When I found one and asked for a dressing room, she gave a short and somewhat rude answer and then walked away. We had to wait half an hour to try on a dress. There was a family who told my friend and I that they had experienced the same terrible customer service.
The salespeople seemed to only take interest in skinny girls who had parents with them. As an additional note, the dresses were so close together that multiple people were tripping while trying to maneuver through them.
I really want to say that the selection was great and I can excuse the customer service issue, but it was honestly a bad experience. I was fully prepared to spend several hundred dollars on a prom dress, but I will definitely not be purchasing from here.

All I can say is WOW we where the first ones in the store and they treated us like Queens thank you so much. And if you can’t find a prom dress here I think you would be out of luck. They have the biggest selection of dresses I have ever seen in my life. My daughter and her friend must’ve tried on 30or 40 dresses today and we came home with one each. Sad to say they’re seniors we switch and your store last year when they were juniors. They even offered me a job for helping if I ever move to San Diego. Thank you again

Caitlin was so knowledgeable and helpful! I came in for a formal dress for a work event. She knew exactly what I was looking for and got right down to work. She checked on me just at the right times, she wasn’t overly intrusive but I never felt ignored even though the store was vey busy. It’s like she read my mind when I needed help :)
I was probably buying one of the cheaper dresses in the store, and she have me the same type of attention regardless of what I was spending. She gave me her honest opinion and I ended up selecting a dress I loved! No pressure, no salesy garbage — just straightforward, helpful and honest. A customers dream.
Outside of her service, there’s a a huge selection in a variety of prices. Love love love!

I should have written this review a long time ago, just haven’t got around to it! I got married in July, Prevue was the first dress shop I stopped at. On my first visit I had Dominique help me. I tried on about 10 different dresses of ALL styles. Not knowing what was going to look good so why not try a bunch of different options! I didn’t like any of them. Dominique saw that I was a little bummed that I didn’t like any of them. After all this was the most important day of my life. She began clearing out the dressing room and told me «Hold on, I might have one more dress that you might like.» She came back with a beautiful princess gown. I knew it when I saw it, it was THE ONE! I put it on. It was the perfect. everything! Size, length, perfect train. So thank you SO SO much Dominique, you’re awesome!

I am so thankful to have met the amazing ladies at Prevue, they are truly the best of the best! I came down from West Hollywood in August to pick out my dress for Miss California USA, and I have never been somewhere with better customer service. I worked directly with Caitlin and she had dresses pulled for me before I arrived and all of the staff helped me choose my dress. The girls have become like family, and I now find reasons just to come visit. If you are looking for a dress location with the LARGEST gown selection (prom, wedding, formal, pageant) and most helpful/​genuine/​caring staff, this is where you need to go!!! They are always there to help if you need advice or have questions so make sure to stop by! :) I will post pictures of my pageant gown, as well other gorgeous dresses I have picked up for events.

I spent about 2.5 hours at Prevue yesterday shopping for bridesmaids dresses for a friend’s wedding and as a group, we had mixed feelings about the experience.
We had an 11 AM appointment but we felt like we had little to no guidance about how to start the process of selecting a dress from the hundreds of dresses crammed onto the rack. Apparently, the salesperson just pointed the bride in the direction of the rack and left us to fend for ourselves. We found that about half of the dresses didn’t have price tags, which made it difficult to figure out if a dress was within our price range. We also found the over-​stuffed rack difficult to navigate. My friend and I felt like we were getting an arm workout just trying to separate the dresses enough to see what they looked like.
After about 30 minutes of pulling dresses off the rack, we had a good selection to start with and headed to the dressing rooms. Three of us bridesmaids took turns trying on the dresses and modeling them for the bride, the mother of the bride and the mother of the groom (as well as an assortment of other people who were there to help others pick out dresses) in the shopping area. It was quite amusing watching all the other spectators offer their opinions on everyone’s dresses. As we started to narrow down which dresses we liked, the salespeople started to be more helpful. They brought a few similar dresses into the dressing room and helped get us clipped into the dresses. Funny enough, after trying on probably 15 or so dresses, we ended up choosing one of the first dresses we tried on. I’m completely in love with the dress, which I’ll post a photo of, that we ended up ordering in the wine purple color. Love that the cap sleeves are detachable so the dress could be strapless too. Now I’ll just need to find an excuse to wear this dress again post-​wedding so I can show off the second look too and get more for the $ 200.
Then came the measuring. One of the girls took our measurements and estimated which size we would be based on the sizing chart in the catalog. Then they pulled similar dresses by the same maker in our specific sizes to try on and confirm our sizes. Oddly, three of us were in between sizes… too bad dresses don’t come in every number instead of just evens. I’m crossing my fingers that we decided on the correct sizes. The salesperson who helped us at this point was great! She made us feel much more confident in our choices, explaining to us that the sample dresses are often stretched out from being tried on so many times. This made me feel better as the size 6 that I tried on was a little loose but the size 4 was a little tight. Hopefully the 6 was just stretched out a bit and my new dress will fit perfectly!
We had a choice of paying for the dress in full or pay half now and half at pick up, which was a nice option to have. They also offered shipping (I think it was $ 18) for one of the bridesmaids who lives in Las Vegas.
Our dresses won’t be in until February but hopefully all will go well when we pick them up.

Day 3 dress shop #1
The Bridesmaid dress saga continues…
I heard about Prevue from some coworkers that live in the area, that this place had tons of super fancy formal dresses. When I walked into the store, no joke, I thought I was walking into Cinderella’s closet!
A couple of large window displays outside, and as you walk in mannequins line the entry way like a small tunnel and then opens up into a grand room with floor to ceiling gowns every single color of the rainbow! I had died and gone to Dress heaven! You can probably find any formal dress here for any occasion… Wedding, Bridesmaid, Prom, Quinceanera, and even costume gowns.
The staff is super friendly and attentive. The fitting rooms are nice and large with full walled mirrors. Unfortunately, they didn’t have anything for me… not the right color bridesmaid dress (the purple dress strikes again!) Average costs for getting dresses altered $ 60-​$ 80, and typical 4 – 6 weeks minimum on ordering. I was also looking to buy off the rack… so my selection was limited.
I might just visit to play Cinderella dress up here. A gorgeous mermaid dress caught my eye… only if I had somewhere to wear it too… Under the sea enchantment evening? Maybe my next charity event theme.