Carolina Bridal World

I am a bride to be and I, along with several of my bridesmaids, visited several bridal stores from lexington to burlington to greensboro to cary to my last stop in Smithfield at Carolina Bridal World. I was so upset by the time i reached CBW because i could not find a dress, never had assistance at the stores about which was a good fit for me and mostly just all around bad service. I went into CBW with a positive attitude that I would find my dress here! A good friend had recommended this place so i drove the 1 1/2 hours to Smithfield with my maid of honor and we looked for well over an hour. Had great help, wonderful assistance.. but still couldnt find a dress. Finally, a very sweet lady asked if she could offer a suggestion--- she told me that the dresses i was looking at, i would never be happy with because of my very small, petite stature, she then suggested other styles and my maid of honor came back with THE dress.. as soon as i put it on, i was done, i knew i had finally found MY dress.. you really do get a different feeling when you find the one. I had them write down several styles so i could come back with my dearest friend (my adopted mother) in 2 weeks. When i came back in 2 weeks, they got the dress, had it ready for me to try on with the veil i had chosen. They took my measurements and gave me an ETA on my dress arrival. I ordered in July and my dress came in november--a whole month early! Which was fabulous for me!!!!! I made another trip down and when i put my dress on, it fit like a GLOVE.. no alterations needed!! They kept it there to do a french bussle for me and will bring it to my town to save me another trip. I was treated wonderfully every single visit. They were professional and patient and always there to offer any assistance needed. I wish i would have came here first and saved myself the turmoil of the other shops. I couldnt have been any happier with my decision to visit Carolina Bridal World.. and i think everyone should give them a try. The 3 ladies that own the store go above and beyond to make every bride feel special. I definitely give them a 100%!! Thanks for everything!!!! You guys made my wedding dress experience wonderful! more

My daughter, Hayley, was married on Saturday and Carolina Bridal World made it happen. In one visit we selected and ordered Hayley's gown and veil and her bridesmaids dresses. A week later we returned and I ordered my dress. A few weeks later we ordered shoes for the bridesmaids. Our service could not have been better. We made a return visit after her gown was ordered just to try on the dress Hayley had chosen so that we could match accessories. Each visit was so enjoyable. We never went anywhere else to look for bridal attire. Why should we? It was one stop shopping. It was amazing how Amanda, one of the owners, was able to be so attentive to us and to her other customers at the same time and never become addled. She was most helpful in guiding our decision processes. I have a niece that will hopefully be marrying in the near future. I will be taking her to Carolina Bridal World to purchase bridal attire. Oh yeah, the prices were most reasonable! Pros: Great Service, Very Helpful, Reasonable Prices. more

After reading mixed reviews, I went here with caution. This was my second wedding dress purchase and I didn't want another poorly made ""David's Bridal"" dress. There was no pressure, we could pick out 5 dresses at a time and try them on. A friend and my mom were with me, so we put them on ourselves but Mandy was there to help us clip it and show us what it really looks like in the right size. There were several brides there while I was there and all of them had great salespeople. You will probably have to order your dress since they only stock each style in 1 size. They are great about measuring you correctly for the dress style you pick and gave me some great pointers. I ordered my dress on Saturday and called on Tuesday and was given an ETA. I will go here again to order my flower girl's dress. They were great. They do not do alterations on-site so you will have to find someone to do that for you but they have recommendations. Pros: Customer service, prices Cons: Only stock dress in 1 size more

Avoid at all costs! THEY LOST MY MAID OF HONOR'S MEASUREMENTS AND CREDIT CARD INFO AND ORDERED MY DRESSES 2 MONTHS LATE forcing me to pay a $25 rush for each dress and refusing to refund my money. The details...My wedding is in July. Luckily I bought my wedding dress from somewhere else. I told my bridesmaids to order their dresses by valentines day and called the store to verify that it had been done. When they told me that one of the bridesmaids and the maid of honor had not ordered yet I called them and they both let me know the next week when they called in their measurements and down payment info. My maid of honor's secretary called hers in on Feb. 18 and the girl that answered the phone told her that they were busy because they were having a sale and that she normally did not take measurements but the secretary insisted that someone help her since it was near my ordering deadline and the associate put her on hold several times and each time came back to retrieve a bit of the information. Apparently this info was lost due to the trend of incompetence that follows. The other bridesmaid called her info in on Feb. 18. On April 10 my maid of honor noticed that her credit card had not been charged so she called the store and was told that her secretary was a liar (reaLLy!) and they toook her info again. They assured her that the dresses would still arrive on time and there would be no problems. On April 13, I received a voicemail from a store employee who said that they needed to order my bridesmaids' dresses and that there would be a $25 fee per dress because the girls waited so long!!! I was shocked and called the store. They told me that my maid of honor called in her info the friday before and never mentioned that she had already told them of their mistake. I asked to speak with the manager and was told that I could not get their deposits back and even with the rush the dresses would only be shipped (not arrive) three weeks before my wedding. There are five bridesmaids who will all need alterations and they do not live in the area! My mother has since been trying to contact the store and its managers for a week and a half and was told by employees that I received two courtesy calls from their store (which is also a lie). It seems that they have blamed everyone but themselves for loosing my maid of honor's info and ordering the dresses so late and are now making us pay for their mistakes. I will never deal with them again! Once they have your money there seems to be nothing you can do! Please do not make the same mistake I did! I could have orderd the same dresses online for a cheaper price but I chose to go to a store so that someone could handle the details of keeping up with everyone's measurements. This is a poor excuse for a predominantly service based business. Pros: Finding it hard to think of any...nice dresses? Cons: The worst customer service ever more

I recently made two trips to CBW and both were very pleasant. The first time I was with my mother and we picked out my wedding dress. I had previously had been to several shops in the Raleigh area the previous day and had a range of customer service. could not find the dress and was frustrated with lack of desire to help. At CBW, they were very helpful, let me pull from the racks what I wanted as they stacked them in the room. They even let me pick a few extra (usually a 5 limit at a time) as I was so happy and excited. They gave me just enough help, they were not pushy but stepped in when ever I needed a hand in and out of the dress. They fluffed the dress as we looked at it and answered all my questions. It was a very pleasant experience. The offered opinions in a helpful and non pushy way. The second time I went with MIL and a bridesmaid to try on dresses. They were busier this time but let us take as long as we wanted. They even let me stay in my wedding dress quite a while as we matched up bridesmaid dresses to it, very politely asking twice if they may have it for another bride ""when your done with it, no rush"". And even better, they let you take pictures. I was able to go home and continue to see me in my dress and compare to bridesmaid dresses we found. They were so helpful and very nice. And their prices were even better than other stores in Raleigh where I had seen the same dress. I only just ordered the dress so I will write again at the end to see how the service continues. Pros: Let you take pictures, excellent customer service, huge selection Cons: tad far more

As a former employee of Carolina Bridal World, I would like to encourage prospective customers to check out the store for themselves. No business can ever meet everyone's expectations, but add in the emotional rollercoaster of planning a wedding, and small issues can seem HUGE to a prospective bride..I truly think that the show Bridezillas has given many future brides the idea that everything can be dealt with rudely and in a demanding way. Many times, I watched the owners of the store belittled for things that were truly out of their hands...often these things were actually the fault of the bride. I am unaware of the situatuions that were referred to from other reviewers, but I absolutely can speak to the professionalism and genuine care these three owners have for their brides. Likely, if a situation ended ""badly"", it was a lack of understanding on the part of the customer. Ultimately, they are not miracle workers, but they often do go above and beyond to help make each bride happy. Any problems that ever arise from a sale are always dealt with kindly, and I guarantee that there are many more HAPPY customers than the 3 who wrote bad reviews. The bridal experience can be very emotional for the customers, so be careful whose stories you are listening to. more

The worst customer service I have ever experienced in a retail setting. The staff (as well as the unreachable management) clearly does not understand to operate in such a referral-based industry... I will be warning friends, family members, and other bridal association members to stay as far away as possible from Carolina Bridal World. The store refuses to accept any responsibility for their role in delivering the dresses as promised in a timely fashion when the process has not yet reached the consumer who is left helplessly waiting after Carolina Bridal World has already received their money and no longer care to offer customer service further. Cons: customer service more

One of the owners, Mandy, did contact us and returned the money. She had been away for a few days, but took care of the situation as soon as she found out what had happened. We were reimbursed and found someone locally to do alterations over. more

I think that the staff at Carolina Bridal World needs to keep their promises. Six of my bridesmaids ordered dresses through this store -- now, 10 days prior to my wedding, two of the dresses are lost. One of my bridesmaids ordered the dresses to be sent to her home, something that should have happened on May 1. However, the dresses were not shipped, rather they were put in a box and left in the store. After not receiving the dresses, the bridesmaid called back and asked to have them overnighted. Rather than go to the UPS Store on Brightleaf Blvd., the store manager, Connie, took them to the post office. She did not get a tracking number or any sort of delivery confirmation. \r When I to Connie today, I was definitely angry, and may not have been the nicest person to deal with. However, Connie's attitude was one of ""Well, I've done all I can do. This isn't my fault anyway."" SHE ACTUALLY TOLD US IT WAS OUR FAULT, since the bridesmaids had insisted on having them overnighted. Connie also told me that it would have been impossible to ship the dresses through UPS, as there is no UPS office in Smithfield. I find that odd, as I was just there two days ago. I do not like to be lied to.\r Mind you, we weren't expecting a miracle here. What we do expect, however, is to be treated with courtesy, and I do not expect that the high cost of alterations should be paid for by the customer. Carolina Bridal, however, has refused to foot the bill for the EXPENSIVE rush alterations the bridesmaids will now have to get. You'd think, since it is their fault that the alterations have to be done so quickly, that they would offer some sort of assistance; instead, I got the WORST service I have ever received in my life. I am EXTREMELY dissatisfied with the service I've received, and I will be telling every bride I know that Carolina Bridal World is the last possible place she would want to give her business to. more

My mom and I took a trip to Carolina Bridal World this past saturday afternoon and were exopecting to be herded in and out of the store like cattle, the way we had been treated at a chain bridal store the saturday before. Immediately after walking through the door, we were promptly and cheerfully attended to and sent to the section of the store which displayed the type of dress we were looking for. We picked out about 11 dresses, although we were able to take only 5 dresses into the dressing room; and as we eliminated one dress, our attendant brought another dress to take it's place. In all, we spent about 5 hours in the store; picked the top 5 dresses of the close to 30 I tried on; then our attendent wrote down the name, number and cost of each dress. The most incredible aspect of this store is that there were NO pushy salespeople, only a wonderfully capable staff that sent my mother and I off with all of the information we needed to make this exciting and important decision. I cannot stress enough how amazing my experience with Carolina Bridal World has been in comparison to other larger boutiques and chain stores. It's the only store I'll ever reccomend. Pros: The entire store is a pro...the staff, dressing rooms, organization of dresses by size and formality Cons: Only thing i can think of is that there were only 2 pedistals for viewing dresses, and on a busy day or if you're in a hurry, that might be a problem. more

My mother and I went to this shop on a Friday afternoon and were immediately greeted and pointed in the right direction. There were many beautiful dresses, and I was told that I could take five into a dressing room at a time. The dressing rooms were HUGE!! and each had a mirror inside of them. They made me feel very comfortable, helped me into the dresses (which are not always easy to get on!) and generally made me feel like a princess. I was told that the staff does not work on commission and it showed - NO sales pressure at all. They even gave me a veil to put on, shoes, a strapless bra (I forgot mine!) and a mock bouquet of flowers to get the full picture of myself in this gown. Deena, especially, was absolutely great-- Definitely worth the trip from Raleigh!!! Pros: Selection, Individual Service, Price Cons: Hard to find more