The first thing you should know is that, if you decide to shop at David's Bridal for your wedding dress, you are voluntarily foregoing the "bridal boutique" experience that a lot of brides value, for the hope that you might save some money. I say "the hope" because that's just what it is. You think you're being super budget conscious by coming to a bridal superstore such as this, but the truth is you have to be vigilant and ready to counter each and every curveball they try to throw at you that little by little will cause you to pay a lot more than you expected.
The 3 stars is mostly for the designer dresses - the Vera Wang, Zac Posen, Oleg Cassini, and some of the Galina Signature dresses are truly breathtaking and IMO worth every penny of the sale price you will try to get on them. The second your saleslady latches onto the idea that you may like the dress you're wearing, she will use lots of manipulative tactics that she has obviously been taught in training to try to convince you to buy the dress. When I was trying to defend (!!) my decision to hold off on my dress and look at other stores, my saleslady said something like, "When you knew your man was The One, you knew you no longer had to keep looking. If this dress is The One, why would you need to keep looking?" I responded, "... umm, I think that finding a life partner is a little different than finding a wedding dress..." She was silent, lol.
When I did decide to buy the dress after all (coming to my OWN decision without the "help" of sales pressure, thank you very much), the sales pitches began. If I buy a dress preservation kit now, I'll save $80. If I buy my accessories TODAY (from their selection of overpriced costume jewelry) I'll save 10%. If I buy a gown cover now, it'll only cost $10. (Shouldn't a gown cover be complimentary? Oh well...) When I asked about my size, she assured me that the size 10 fit me since she didn't need to use clips, and I should not under any circumstances buy anything smaller, even though their size chart put me squarely at a size 6. Even though she didn't even measure me, I trusted her judgement, accepted that I was 4 sizes bigger than I thought I was, ordered the dress, and was on my way.
Fast forward a few weeks later (the dress came quickly - no docked stars for speedy manufacturing and shipping from whatever foreign country their dresses are made). I picked up the dress and brought it home. (It's absolutely no refunds/exchanges anyway, and I was already scared #@%$less from the horrendous Yelp reviews of their alterations department, so I knew that there was literally no point in trying on the dress in the store lest they try to hard sell me on their alterations lady as well!) I brought the dress home and tried it on with the undergarments I plan to use. Major major FAIL. The dress is at least 3 sizes too big. Not just one or two sizes. If only they had used their own size chart... oh wait, then they might not have had the opportunity to squeeze more money out of me.
Edit: I decided to push the rating up from 2 stars to 3 because, the truth is, despite the unpleasantness I described above, I've used David's Bridal for nearly everything for my wedding, from invitations to bridesmaids dresses to MY dress to reception favors. I've made it one of my toolbar favorites so the second I get an idea I can jump on the website and find out if David's has it. Hopefully on sale. read more