Bridal Alterations by Anahit

Hi ladies. I am going to try my best to clear up the Anahit confusion with an educated Unilocal post, drafted from my own personal experience paired with a very good analytic mind. Here’s the deal: Most likely, your wedding gown/​dress/​whatever will end up looking fantastic for your big day. However, the road to this finality might be a long one. Anahit is a hardcore businesswoman who could use about 6 more employees. You will show up to her shop at your designated time, along with about 4 other brides who need shit done to their gown/​dress/​whatever. She will be yelling/​rushing/​joking and you will wonder, «Do I love her? Do I hate her? What is happening?» I loved her, then I hated her, then I didn’t care anymore. Aside from the fact that my dress ripped at the end of my wedding reception (someone must’ve stepped on it whilst dancing), I was happy with the results and the results only. Bridal Alterations by Anahit is my own personal hell, as a memory. I cried in front of her like I was a 4 year old school-​girl and I’m a 29 year-​old self-​proclaimed bad-​ass. She is rushing all the time and the way her shop is run is perfunctory, at best. Now, with all of that said, you could be the one who walks in there and has the best experience of your life — this is because the shop is a subversive vortex that goes beyond space and time and no one really knows what the outcome will be. That is why her reviews are so mixed-​up. Best of luck to you. I hope your pockets are deep.

Like many others, I bought my dress at Vows and was referred to Anahit for the detail work. She was able to get me in for my first appointment within a couple of days which was a wonderful start. As a little background… I was so excited to be getting married but so nervous about how I would look in my dress. I felt like I would never look like the idea I had in my mind. Typical girl issue, I know, but still very stressful. Once I found the dress I still wasn’t confident about my body. That was until I went to Anahit. She is a straight forward, honest woman who can work magic on even the simplest of dresses. My dress fit perfectly when I bought it but was covered top to bottom with lace and bead work that needed a lot of TLC. Anahit made me feel like a princess from the moment I walked out of the dressing room. The woman might seem brisk and opinionated but it is because she sees the magic even before the bride can. She doesn’t waste time with the ooh’s and ahh’s like others but she tells you you are beautiful in her own way. You just need to breathe and listen to her. She went through every bit of bead and lace work which was incredible onto itself but she also made a double bustle that was almost invisible. At the second appointment she had my friend videotape the bustling so that anyone in the group can help me… which is what ended up happening.
Long story short… Anaheim and her team are amazing. Wedding planning is stressful but if you allow her to work her magic, she will make your dress look better than you could have imagined.

She was always double and triple booking which is VERY frustrating for a customer. She is very blunt and to the point that she is rude at times. She does not give you any idea as to what you are going to end up paying for alterations which will leave you feeling blindsided when you see the final receipt. I went in the winter and she required everyone with you to take off their shoes before entering. All of this aside, she does absolutely amazing work.

I bought my dress at Vows and was referred to Anahit for alterations. Before diving into my experience, I want to say upfront that my dress was PERFECT. That’s because Anahit’s skill and taste is undeniable.
I went to my first fitting with my sister (and maid of honor) 6 months before the wedding. As you’ll see in other reviews, Anahit is very opinionated and set in her ways, but that’s part of why she’s so good at what she does. Go in knowing what you want, but keep an open mind too. In my case, I really wanted to add sleeves or straps to the gown, but Anahit disagreed with the style I preferred. I quickly wilted under her insistence, but my sister stepped in and calmly explained and prodded Anahit to rethink it. Within moments Anahait came up with a way to make it all work together. The point being: don’t fight her, work with her.
A few months before the wedding I returned for my second fitting. The length, train and belt had been completed, but we still needed to fit the sleeves. We waited around a bit as she is extremely busy and usually sees 2 – 3 brides simultaneously. But in the end, we quickly finalized the dress and she promised it a week later with a matching veil.
So yes, Anahit will cut your dress before confirming you’d like to use her. She will tell you EXACTLY what she’s thinking. And she will cost you! But in my own case, it was 100% worth it and I have no regrets.

Not very friendly and quite rude. She didn’t want to waste her time helping me because I just needed something small done to my dress. She told me to go to another seamstress down the street. I’m giving her two stars instead of one, because the other woman down the street was fantastic! Alla, down the street took my dress in at the bust and added boning for $ 50! I’d advise others to go to her as well.

PROS: Anahit is a professional and does high quality work. She is opinionated but has generally excellent advice. The dress alterations turned out lovely and her eye for detail was appreciated.
CONS: Lack of transparency with pricing. No quotes given. She begins work so quickly that your dress will be cut before you know it (and then you will HAVE to work with her). We were disappointed in her lack of professionalism as our price was «adjusted» when she failed to complete her work before my second visit. This was supposed to be when I picked up the dress yet it was still hanging off me. Total cost for alterations ended up twice the original budget ($ 770.00).
The last 5 minutes of the experience were marred by the new additional charges, her speaking rate increased as she attempted to show other receipts to justify that 770.00 was a «normal» charge for alterations (bust & waist size reduced, dress hemmed with lace work, and bustles). These frantic attempts to justify the price did not correct the fact that her price «adjustment» was not made clear at the second fitting.
RECOMMENDED FOR: someone with no set budget and ample money, because the work WILL be completed very well but the price set point is likely to be a mystery until the last 5 minutes of your time with her.

Anahit does wonderful work as you can see from all the cards and photographs she gets from all the happy brides she altered dressed for. She did the same for my daughter. Her work is amazing and high quality. She removed things my daughter didn’t like, added things that she did, took the gown in and more. It came out wonderful.
The only downside was the pricing. But, I believe alterations are expensive for wedding gowns probably anywhere you go. I was just shocked at how much expensive. I think my daughter’s alterations came to around $ 500 or just under.
Anahit is very outgoing and has a lot to say. She likes to share her professional opinion as well. It made me laugh at times. But, I could see how this might be a problem if you are hesitant to speak up to her if you feel differently.

I cannot celebrate Anahit’s talents enough. I purchased a blush gown at Vows that was designed, as Anahit said, for a 6-​foot tall, well-​endowed woman. She completely transformed the dress to fit my much more petite frame, suggesting improvements and alterations that I’d have never thought of myself. She brought up the embellished bottom of the dress 3 inches, removed the satin underlayer of the train to lighten it up, adjusted the neckline to modify its fit, and created a beautiful 8-​closure bustle. As someone who was initially somewhat ambivalent about the dress purchasing or alterations process, Anahit truly made me fall in love with my dress. I’ve never felt more beautiful than I did on my wedding day, in my perfectly tailored wedding gown. Yes, Anahit is frank and can be a bit pushy, but I put my trust in her and have not regretted it one bit.

Anahit did a beautiful job with the alterations to my dress. Luckily for me, I did not need any major alterations, but Anahit helped me to add extra cup sizes to the top of my dress and an added layer of petticoat for my ballgown skirt.
She was always on-​time and professional, but clients need to understand that the way she stays efficient for all of her brides/​customers is by being straightforward and quick. Anahit gives a strong, honest opinion on what needs to be done to make the dress flawless, which some brides may not like. My opinion is to let the dress pro do her job; she does great work.
I was able to dance all night in my sweetheart/​strapless dress without tripping over it or feeling like my chest was going to show. We did dips and twirls and spins and my dress felt so snug and fit to me that I didn’t have to think twice about it. That’s what you want!
Overall, pricing was very reasonable. She also made my simple veil for $ 125 and no one could tell that it wasn’t designer!
Thank you, Anahit :)

Anahit, you are the goddess of all seamstress.
Forever grateful.
Thank you so much for your wonderful advice and magic.
Enough said.
Love,
Léa

The more I reflect on my experience with Anahit, the more appalled I am. Seriously, unless you’re the type of person who likes to be bulldozed and has no opinion at all about anything ever — save yourself the frustration and disappointment.
I bought my dress at Vows and they recommended Anahit for alterations (similar to most of the reviewers here). Anahit was nice enough during the first appointment — full of promises. Then she started cutting my gown’s hem before we had discussed pricing or even agreed to move forward with her for alterations — essentially locking us in. Reading the other reviews here, it seems to be a common tactic of hers. Still, we didn’t know better at the time, so we shrugged our shoulders and went with it.
It all went downhill at the second appointment. My mother and I had some questions about how the dress was fitting and Anahit rudely dismissed our questions — she just kept saying it was «right» and we didn’t know what we were talking about. We also talked about adding straps — which I made very clear I wanted from day one — and Anahit flat-​out refused to do them because she didn’t agree with the aesthetic we wanted. She told us, word for word, «I won’t do it. If you want to do it, go somewhere else.»
So, that’s exactly what we did — after paying in full to get the dress back in our hands, despite only half the work being complete. It was by far the worst customer service experience I have EVER had. I can’t even fathom how someone running a business can think it’s OK to get into a customer’s face, wag her finger at me and blatantly refuse to accommodate my request, especially after having agreed to it previously.
Despite everything — we dodged a major bullet by getting out early. No bride should be made to feel the way I felt in Anahit’s shop. I found a new alterations vendor who made nips and tucks to the dress that made all the difference, especially in the bust area — changes Anahit never even suggested. This leads me to question the quality of her work in addition to her unacceptable attitude.
I can’t emphasize enough — stay far, far away from Anahit. She’s not the best out there, by a LONG shot — she’s just related to the Vows owners.

I would not go back here.
Anahit is very talented, there is no question there, but it’s her assumptions /​opinions that caused me to give her 2 stars.
My first two fittings were fine… not great, but fine. It was when I went back for (what I thought would be) my final fitting. She’d measured my dress during my 2^nd fitting and took it in, but took it in waaayyy too much. She said that she did that because she figured I’d lose weight. Anahit… thanks for your opinion, but I actually don’t need to lose any weight… and, have weighed the same (normal weight) since graduating form high school. So, the week of my wedding I had to go back for THREE more fittings so she could take it out to exactly where it should have been from the start.
So…she earns 2 stars because my dress did look beautiful on the day of, but could have earned 4 or 5 if she hadn’t wasted so much of my time and caused me unnecessary stress during the week of my wedding.
Take my advice, don’t go here.

I was told about Anahit by my aunt. She did an amazing job. My dress was perfect and fit like a glove. I couldn’t even wear spanks with them because it was fitted perfectly! She is obviously talented, but can be pushy about which bustle to use. But she has an eye and priced well. If you need an alteration, don’t go anywhere else. She is worth every penny!

As other reviewers have pointed out, Anahit is opininated, no-​nonsense, and yes, she will cut the gown in front of you while you’re wearing it. However, if you can handle those things? Go to her!
I enjoyed that she was opinionated because I was waffling on a few decisions, and her opinions ALWAYS turned out beautifully. If I said I didn’t want something she suggested, however, she was very willing to do what I wanted. Most importantly, her work was PERFECT. My dress has a very complicated and fragile-​looking hemline, and when I came in a month before the wedding for the final fitting, the work was completely invisible and the hemline was perfect (which is the point of her cutting it while it’s on you — the dress barely brushes the ground but never trips me up).
During my fitting, a few other brides came in as she is always busy, and everybody seemed very pleased with her work, and it turned into a fun little party as me and the other brides offered encouragement and opinions to each other. Anahit is fun to work with and SKILLED. Awesome job :)

For those of you saying she’s opinionated… She’s a professional. Why don’t you just listen to her input? She always has amazing ideas. If you don’t like it, just tell her that’s not what you want and she’ll listen! She’s only trying to help.
My experience with Anahit was amazing. She completely redesigned my dress. She took it in like 10 sizes, repositioned the lace to where I wanted it, fixed the neckline, made a stunning bustle, and hemmed it from the waist line all for a reasonable price. She suggested a few things to me, I told her to go for it. If it’s her idea, she doesn’t charge you. For example, she cut the silk from my train so it was transparent and accentuated the lace. I wasn’t thinking about that at all, and didn’t ask for it, but she promised it would be stunning so I let her do it. Best idea ever.
My dress is the wedding dress of my dreams. Thank you Anahit! You are AMAZING!

Rude, opinionated and unprofessional is how I would describe Anahit. I agree with the other commentators: do yourself a favor and never ever, ever set foot in Anahit’s shop.
After my daughter bought her dress at Vows, we took it to Anahit, who was highly recommended by Vows. However, we too, did not know that she was the owner’s sister — so complaining to Vows won’t get you anywhere.
What started as a nice visit full of promises such as «I want to make you happy», «I will work with your schedule», turned into a nightmare. If you dare disagree with Anahit, be prepared to meet her dark side. She was rude, loud, pointed her finger in my face refusing to make the alterations my daughter wanted (even though we had told her at our very first meeting, what we wanted).
We ended up leaving in tears and having to take the dress to someone else, in order to get the alterations my daughter needed. We had to pay in full in order to get the dress out of her hands. We too, are fuming about the way she treated us and we too, would say that it’s one of the worst «customer service» experiences we have experienced.
DO NOT SUPPORT THIS WOMAN — SAVE YOURSELVES A BRUTAL EXPERIENCE!!!

Anahit did an absolutely beautiful job remaking my mother’s wedding dress so that I could wear it to my rehearsal dinner. She took a 37 year old poofy-​long-​sleeved dress with a high collar neckline and a train, and redesigned it so that it became a beautiful ¾ sleeve boatneck knee-​lenght dress. Her craftmanship is incredible and she was able to keep all of the beautiful details of the dress that my mother fell in love with 37 years ago, but make the dress fit the modern style. It wasn’t cheap, but she essentially designed me a custom dress, so it was completely worth it to be able to wear my mother’s wedding dress on my wedding weekend.
I highly recommend Anahit for alterations! She is a little firecracker of a woman who has strong ideas about how wedding dresses should fit, but that’s because she knows the wedding dress industry so well so I trust her input completely! Throughout our fitting process we saw many other brides during their fittings. It is clear that with Anahit you will be guaranteed a beautifully fitting wedding dress for your wedding day.

Anahit truly is a talented, dedicated hard worker and is very passionate about what she does. You can tell that her main goal is to make the bride look as beautiful as possible. I purchased my dress at Vows that was about 2 – 3 sizes too big. Before making my purchase, Vows referred me to Anahit and assured me that this was a job she would be able to do. They even gave an approximation of how much the alterations would cost.
I made my first initial appointment 7 months before my wedding and I am really glad I read reviews before going. Once you discuss all the alterations, Anahit goes right into cutting the dress. I understand how difficult this can be for a bride since you aren’t expecting her to start working on your dress on the spot; however, it does make sense because she can clearly see how it falls when you have it on. She is very clear about what she is doing and walks you through the entire process. She also discusses different bustle options, how you would like to wear your train etc. She showed me three different bustles and gave her opinion on what she thought looked best.
I think she is very fairly priced for the work that she does. She sewed on my very expensive belt beautifully and my dress came out awesome. My reason for not rating her higher is because of her extremely strong personality and opinions. When I went in for my second fitting, the top of my dress (right in front of my armpit) was sticking out about 2 inches and you could see right into the dress. She assured me that all that needed to be done was to unsew some of the bra cup stitching and it would fix the issue. I asked her multiple times if this would really fix the issue as I had a gaping hole on top of my dress and if anyone was standing next to me, they could look down the front of my dress. I wish I tried it back on in the store because when I got home and tried it on to show my friend, the gaping hole was still there. I had to make another appointment and make the drive back to Newton to show her the same issue. At this time she then acknowledged that it needed to be fixed. I had to leave the dress and come back a week later to pick it up. Also, she instructed me how to pack my dress as I was having a destination wedding. I did as she instructed but the dress was extremely wrinkled when I unpacked it (I opened immediately when I get to the hotel). My photographer had a very difficult time steaming out the wrinkles and couldn’t get them completely out, which was disappointing.
Overall, I would highly recommend Anahit because she is very talented and will get the job done right. However, you need to be able to work around her personality and not take what she does or says offensively because her overall goal is to make you look great. It was also difficult getting to her store as it is in the heart of the city, parking can be difficult and traffic is bad. If you can deal with all that, she is a great person to handle your alterations.

Anahit is very talented; there’s no question she can get the job done. However, her pricing is not well disclosed and the location is not ideal in terms of very difficult traffic unless you live in Watertown or Newton.
After having gotten the dress at Vows, I called to ask how much would cutting the hem cost. She wouldn’t give me a quote, but instead just said to come in for an appointment. When I came in, I wore the dress and she started to cut off my hem line, without asking for approval, and without a quote. I was trapped to go forward with her service because of this. She then showed me the wonders of a bustle, which I didn’t think was great. The quote was then 130 $ for hemming, each additional lining 10 $. The bustle was an extra 100 $. I cancelled the bustle, and when I came back, she stated that cutting off the train costs 100 $, which I thought was equivalent to a regular hem. I didn’t feel it was my place to argue, so I just gave in.

I also called Anahit for an emergency fitting. I tried my dress on with 2 weeks to until the Big Day and it practically fell down (it was a strapless dress that previously fit perfect!). I wasn’t trying to lose weight but I think all the stress of wedding planning did the trick. Anahit luckily had a cancellation for the very next day which was amazing for such short notice.
She took in the dress about an inch on the sides, added cups, and finished the bustle. It was completely finished in less than 1 week — amazing! She was a pleasure to deal with and I really enjoyed watching her work because she knew exactly what she was doing. I trusted her completely to get the job done and she didn’t let me down.
Thank you a million times over! The alterations were fantastic. The price was very reasonable, maybe even low for the high quality craftsmanship. My dress fit beautifully — almost like it was custom made for me. It made me feel like a princess. At my wedding I was able to dance, and walk around, sit — even eat! It was one of the best nights of our lives, thank you for altering my dress so expertly.