Claudia Hanlin’s Wedding Library

I ordered 5 bridesmaids dresses for my bridal party from here. Everyone I worked with was helpful and responsive. The dresses came in way earlier than expected and they were able to recommend tailors. We went with Amsale but they have a vast selection of other designers. They also were able to walk through different color and style options with me. We went during the trunk show and were able to receive a discount. Great experience and everybody looked beautiful the day of my wedding!

I would recommend this place to any bride who is looking for a great selection of variety, quality, exceptional customer service, and anything in between. This was a step in my wedding experience that I wanted perfect and the Wedding Library did just that! The director, Chelsea, was wonderful to work with. She was very helpful, as I did have several questions which I bombarded her with. Any question of mine or my bridesmaids regarding sizing, rush fees, delivery times, shipping– they’re on it. The staff at the Wedding Library was responsive and extremely time efficient at getting back to me with questions via emails from either me or my bridesmaids.
Their selections were perfect for any bride. I went in wanting Amsale and wanted to play around with color and they assisted me and I found the perfect styles and color for my wedding.
I am extremely pleased and satisfied with my experience at the Wedding Library. I have recommended all my friends here for their bridesmaids dresses, and I’m sure their planning and stationary department meet all the standards any bride could want.

I recently got a Donna Morgan bridesmaid dress from the Wedding Library for a wedding that I am in. The ladies that worked there – Kate and Chelsea — were so nice, helpful, and most of all, respectful of the limited amount of time I had to select my dress. The dress itself arrived in just a week and was exactly the size, color and style they had promised. Overall, this was a really pleasant and easy experience for me.

I had such a great experience and noticed that there were a lot of negative reviews from previous years, so thought to include my more recent experience.
The Wedding Library carries most of the Joanna August line which I was interested in for my bridesmaids! It was very easy to book an appointment, and Chelsea was incredibly helpful and attentive. Their selection is just the right amount and very well curated, which means it’s not overwhelming and you can easily find exactly what you’re looking for. We came away with the perfect options for my six bridesmaids and have already placed the order!
She also worked out the timing for us to order during a trunk sale so we got an additional discount, and was very responsive on emails for ordering.
The only downside is shipping, as I live abroad along with a few of my bridesmaids, and international shipping was incredibly expensive (about 50% of the cost of the dress), so the dresses will be shipped to my parents house and then I will have to coordinate delivery. If you live in the US this would not be a problem though, and other than this everything else was perfect. Looking forward to receiving!

My sister picked out the dress for her bridesmaids, but I am not visiting NYC anytime before her wedding. Kate from the Wedding Library sent me an order form and information about the dress, and all I had to do was get my measurements and pick out my size based on the dress’ sizing chart. It was very easy! Kate took care of everything, so now I’ll just wait for my dress to arrive! It looks beautiful in pictures, and I can’t wait to get it! Thank you to Kate at the Wedding Library!

The place is fairly small, but cute. The staff is super nice and helpful. My only complaint is that when I got to my appointment, another LARGE group came in. Those customers did not have an appointment, yet they were able to take over the entire area that was supposed to be for my appointment and the consultant helping them did nothing to contain their large group. So my appointment, which I booked weeks beforehand, was literally ruined and unproductive because of another unscheduled group’s appointment. It was a waste of time for us. And many of the dresses we saw were pricey compared to the same dresses seen at other shops.

I was a summer intern for The Wedding Library and I honestly can say that the staff is great! Everyone welcomes you like you’re family. It’s also a great place to find stationary and accessories for your wedding day!

I found the Wedding Library because they carried a large selection of Dessy and Lela Rose dresses, which my bridesmaids were most interested in after doing some research online. Making an appointment was very easy, and when I arrived I was impressed with the wide range of designers available in a boutique setting. Chelsea was absolutely amazing! She was helpful and informative, and let us know which styles and designers were available in which shade of grey I was looking for. We were her last appointment of the night and she at no point rushed us when we were debating between two styles, rather she pulled up each style online to show us how they looked on models, as well as pulled similar style dresses to make the decision easier. I couldn’t believe that we found bridesmaid dresses at the first store we visited! The prices were comparable to what I saw online and what I’ve experienced in the past being a bridesmaid myself. I would definitely recommend the Wedding Library to friends looking for dresses, and I am so excited to see the Joanna August dresses on my bridesmaids in October! Thank you Chelsea!

After an unpleasant experience at Bella Bridesmaid, we came across the Wedding Library and loved it. We had a bridal party of 6 and we all found and ordered our dresses in an hour. We had already narrowed down the designers we were looking for but the Wedding Library made us all feel more at ease. They didn’t rush us through our hour time slot like they did at Bell and they were much more informed on all of the questions we had. We worked with Chelsea Campbell who was so nice! I would definitely recomend the Wedding Library for any bridal party!

I was hoping to have a great experience here. I came in a few weeks ago with a bridesmaid and found several bridesmaids’ dresses in a color that’s a bit unusual and that I really like. I’ve really struggled to find shades or styles I liked or that would work for my bridesmaids in other salons, and after a lot of searching was glad to finally be able to make a decision. I emailed and called the Wedding Library this past week to confirm that they have the dress and color in stock, and they said yes. I scheduled an appointment at their salon to try it on one more time and finalize things.
When I arrived, I was informed that, «oh by the way, the designer discontinued the color over a month ago.» Needless to say, it would have been great if they had told me this during the hour that I spent at the salon for my first appointment trying on only dresses in this color, or in ANY of our subsequent interactions instead of seriously wasting my time. They blamed the miscommunication on «the interns.» Sorry ladies, but that’s a poor excuse.

My bridesmaids and I had a great experience using the Wedding Library for bridesmaid dresses. Not only did they have a vast selection of Amsale gowns, but Kate and the rest of the staff were wonderful to work with! Thank you for making the otherwise stressful/​overwhelming experience a breeze! :)

They have great selection and the space is nice. However, they take forever to get back to you, and they gave some of my bridesmaids mixed messages. For example they asked one of them 5x what her dress size was and for her credit card information. This held my order up. They also sent me the wrong purchase order, which is sort of a big deal. This is Manhattan and there are plenty of other stores. I would not recommend them.

I was married in the fall and went to The Wedding Library for all of my needs. I couldn’t have enjoyed my day without the day of planning they offer. Victoria in the stationery department was so knowledgable and helped me create the invitations, save the dates and programs exactly as we imagined them. And then we got all 12 of my bridesmaids dresses there. The staff is so welcoming and knowledgable, I’m sending all of my girlfriends there!

My experience being a bridesmaid in my friend’s wedding was wonderful — despite my experience at the Wedding Library, which was nothing but extremely annoying.
The salesgirl took my measurements wrong (too big) and when I told her the measuring tape was too loose, she basically told me I didn’t know what I was talking about because I had «never been a bridesmaid before.» What?! I don’t have to have been a bridesmaid to know how clothes fit me. Incredibly rude and way off the mark. Then, she and her colleague insisted I must purchase extra long fabric for an additional cost because I was tall. Again, I said I thought the dress was long enough, but they insisted.
Sure enough, when my dress arrived, it was too large and way too long. Thanks a lot Wedding Library. Not only did you not listen to me, but you were totally wrong. I had to spend an additional $ 75 getting the dress taken in.
I highly recommend going someplace else.

I didn’t have a good experience at all the consultant was not helpful or engaging at all

We used the Wedding Library for our «Day Of» coordination as we had done almost all of the heavy lifting planning ourselves.
The service was outstanding and well worth the (premium) price. We worked with Matthew, who had just joined the Wedding Library after many years as Managing Director at the St. Regis (our reception venue). He and his team were absolutely indispensable on our big day and made everything run absolutely smoothly. There are literally hundreds of tasks that I didn’t know needed to be taken care of and Matthew and his team delivered. A hallmark moment was when my bride asked Matthew if he knew where here welcome speech was. He smiled and — pointing to his coat pocket — said «I have it right here and there is a copy of it on your sweetheart table.» That’s the kind of wedding Zen Master you want on your side… he knew she’d ask and also knew to have a plan and a backup plan.
Highly recommended!

This place was awful. Options were limited and service was poor. I wouldn’t recommend this place to anyone. I should have listened to the reviews before wasting my time.

Absolutely appalling customer service. Yes, the wedding industry can be stressful, gauging, and a bit hectic for everyone, but the Wedding Library takes this to new heights. The story: Bride made an appointment for her bridesmaids (including myself) a month and a half ago. All the bridesmaids were to travel and meet at the Wedding Library for the appointment — nothing unusual. The day before, there is no confirmation call, so the bride calls to confirm. They claim to have no record of the appointment, and offer no apologies. In fact, the receptionist takes a snotty tone saying that they are «too booked up» and if they were to honor the appointment, they could only offer «inferior service» to the group.
Its a shame that Lela Rose, Amsale and other companies use them as their exclusive dealer of bridesmaid dresses. These corporations should seriously consider using another vendor since it seems as though the Wedding Library has no interest in being professional or giving good customer service. Look elsewhere brides and maids!

I am so mixed about reviewing this place. For awhile, we thought it was out of business because no one ever picks up the phone. And the voicemail states to dial «300» to leave a message and then just loops the message. You feel like you’re slowly going insane before you finally book an appointment.
Pros:
— The selection is great
— The dresses are in fairly good condition
— It’s not the most spacious, but it was clean and easily accessible
— The sales woman was knowledgeable and well, not exactly professional in her over-​the-​knee– leather boots, but she was helpful
Cons:
— They DO NOT answer their phones
— They DO NOT answer their email (
)
Persistence is needed to get in contact, but I thought it was somewhat worth the effort.

Although it’s a little nicer space than some of the other places we tried on dresses, this place was staffed by two complete airheads.
Not only were they useless in trying to find the style numbers we had brought, but when they did start helping us pick things, they picked super ugly dresses (ok, matter of taste) but ones that did not come in the color/​fabric the bride requested for us. So, a waste of time to even try them on.
It took a few weeks in advance to get an appointment and you should know before going that almost all of their samples are a size 2 in the Amsale and Lela Rose lines. This makes it a little hard to tell how a dress will look on you if you are a bigger size than this.
One of our girls did find a dress there and no where else carries it, so I will update with her experience of the dress being delivered/​fitted, etc.
And just FYI, Sarah B. is mistaken, they are not the exclusive vendor of Lela Rose. I can think of at least two other places off the top of my head that carry them.