Hannelore's Bridal Boutique

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106 N Lee St (at Conveniently located in beautiful historic Old Town Alexandria)
Alexandria, VA 22314

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(703) 549-0387
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Hannelore's Bridal Boutique - Alexandria, VA
Hannelore's Bridal Boutique - Alexandria, VA
Hannelore's Bridal Boutique - Alexandria, VA
Hannelore's Bridal Boutique - Alexandria, VA
Hannelore's Bridal Boutique - Alexandria, VA
Hannelore's Bridal Boutique - Alexandria, VA
Hannelore's Bridal Boutique - Alexandria, VA
Reviews
( 23 )
( 6 )
( 2 )
( 10 )
( 31 )

Best

I'm a middle-aged male who stumbled through the door at Hannelores in sandles, shorts, and a t-shirt in search of a vest and bow tie for my tux. The owner, Pamela, was a delight ...

Worst

My mother, my aunt, and I went to Alexandria to search for a bridal gown. We entered Hannelores to make an appointment (which I'll admit, is unorthodox.) Of course we were asked p...

Misleading regarding alterations 5/22/2009

As the mother of the groom looking for an outfit, my initial experience at Hannelore's was fine. The store manager, Kimberly was very friendly the first visit and let me in without an appointment 10 minutes before closing. I was impressed with that, and amazed to find a beautiful outfit, not the stuffy mother of the groom typical dowdy thing I expected. \r My husband was with me when I purchased the outfit- we paid the down payment. It was absolutely our understanding that the alterations were to be included with the purchase. (way over my limit- 950.00) Kimberly worded it in such a way, that we were in total shock when they charged me an extra 200.00 when I came for my first fitting!! There was nothing in my contract saying a word about the alteration fee. Only the balance left on the outfit was included. I came back to the store, and let the management know that I thought they should be more truthful with their customers regarding the alterations, and took my outfit from them to anot more
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bad management plus bad customer service 3/10/2009

I would not recommend Hannelore's. All this reviews are so true, they pretend to be soo nice to you but in reality you have to work around their schedules. The raised voices, their snobby tones, the rudeness with this place is beyond crazy!! Sadly it starts with the Store Manager to most of the sales people who feel that they have the right to treat you like that. I have had to ask them and tone down their voices in a number of situations when I call. The only reason I gave them 2 starts is because of one of the sales consultant, Patricia, she is great! If it wasn't for her, I would not have survived in this place. She really does try to help you, recommend, and give you her time. She is def busy, probably bc everyone wants to speak directly to her. more
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No Customer Service 12/1/2008

There is no customer service at Hannelores. They are so nice when you first come in, but after you order with them, they change. My bridesmaid dress came in. I went for 4 fittings. Every time I went in, there was a problem....from having stains on the dress, to snags, an alterations issues. They blamed ME for the snags on the dress. They blamed ME for the alterations saying my body was crooked. Come to find out, not only do I supposedly have a crooked body, but 2 other bridesmaid do to! WOW! They are all about the money. That is all they care about. Please don't give this shop the honor of your business. more
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Don't waste your time 11/6/2008

I went to a number of bridal shops in the DC area and found this store to have the most rude employees. Before looking at the dresses, I showed the sales associate pictures of dresses I liked and told her the cost range I would like to stay in. Apparently they have nothing under $2000. After that, she was not interested in helping me at all and didn't want me try on any dresses. She then proceeded to tell me I was too large for any of the dresses to try on. Please keep in mind i am a size 6. So, if you have lots of money to spend on a dress and are either a size 0 or 2, feel free to visit the store. If not, don't bother. There are too many other shops with just as wide of a selection in this great city. I would never recommend them to anyone. And, when I talked to friends about my appointment, they all said they had similar experiences or knew someone who had. I am surprised this company is still in business. more
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Hannelore's Ruined My Wedding Dress! 11/3/2008

Despite all the bad customer service reviews of Hannelore's, I decided to go only because a certain designer was holding a trunk show there. My experience purchasing the dress was okay because I knew pretty much what I wanted and I fell in love with my dress. After the dress came in, every experience with the store was a nightmare. I had at least four fittings and each time they could not get the alterations right. All that needed to be done to the dress was the hem and the bustle. Because of all the issues with the store not being able to get the alterations done correctly, my final fitting was pushed back to a week before my wedding. I tried it on and the dress was still an inch and a half too long - I was tripping over it. I was very frustrated at this point because I needed to take the dress that day because I was going out of town for my wedding. These people are supposed to be professionals - how could they not get something as simple as a hem right and even after numerous fittin more
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Hannelore's Saved My Wedding Day-Unparalleled Service 9/1/2008

My experience with Hannelore's was absolutely nothing like what is described in the other reviews on this site. I came to Hannelore's after accompanying a friend to the shop when she was looking for her gown. Their selection was amazing and the staff was professional and kind. When I got engaged I came back to Hannelore's after being disappointed with the selection at other local shops. \r \r I can't say enough about Hannelore's and their bridal staff. They went above and beyond to make our wedding day perfect. The day before our wedding we realized that my veil had been misplaced during my parent's home renovation. I was so upset, but my quick thinking bridesmaids gave Hannelore's a call on the off chance they had another veil exactly like mine. Amazingly they did. Sherrie, the business manger, actually drove it to FedEx herself and shipped it overnight to North Carolina where I was getting married. To top it all off, they let me borrow the veil and paid for shipping! I couldn't believe more
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I guess I got lucky 7/12/2008

I've read so many bad reviews about this place that I promised to myself that I would never-ever go in there. However, never say "never". After we've been to several salons in Alexandria on this day (and all of them had UGLY dresses with plenty of sparkling stuff as if you're a Xmas tree) my girlfriend suggested to stop by just to take a look since we had some free time before our next appointment. I do agree with all the reviewers here that the service is not the best (it's actually pretty bad). But since I'm coming from Europe I"m used to it and moreover I was ready morally to get a rude service, so I just didn't pay attention to it. First the consultant didn't want to let me look around, but I told her that I know myself what to do and she let me do it. The dress that I finally have chosen to be my wedding dress was the first one I saw. It was in the sale section and was almost 5 times less its original price. At first the consultant was quite reluctant to give it to me, but I insis more
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sub-par service 7/9/2008

I went to try on bridal gowns and Khem assisted me. Don't go here if you are modest or shy- they stay in the dressing room with you the whole time--I think they assume you will tear the dress if you put it on yourself!Emailing them is a slow process-sometimes they never respond. Also, I am getting married and taking photographs outdoors-- so I found it very odd that in order to see the accurate color of a bridal gown will look like in natural sunlight (I never knew there was so many shades of white or ivory--- true ivory, yellow-ish, gray undertones, candlelight,ect ) You need to see your gown in REAL natural sunlight, like by a window. Instead, all they have is the God-awful hideous fluorescent lights in the showroom and dressing rooms!! I asked to see this gown I loved in natural light as I am getting married outdoors and I basically had to go down a long hallway and crouch down in a back secretary's office to hold it in a glimspe of sunlight!!! What a headache! more
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Terrible! 6/23/2008

I hate, hate, hate this place. I don't understand how they can be so rude! I was so looking forward to trying on wedding dresses. It sounded like so much fun!!! It was dreadful! My sales lady was just terrible. She would not let me look at dresses and kept telling me she knew what I wanted. How does she know what I want when I have never met her and never explained what type of dress I liked. She brought me 5 dresses to try on, I hated them ALL!!! She would not listen to me. Moreover, I told her my price range and she continually brought me dresses that were thousands over it and told me I really needed to consider spending more. The worst, worst worst part is how they treated my aunt. My aunt gave blood earlier that morning and had a band-aid on her arm. They acted like she was horribly diseased and every time she would walk around the store, they would yell at her not to touch anyone! My poor aunt was so embarassed and all she had done was donated blood that day. It wa more
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Hannelore's...where they turn your dream into a nightmare. 6/17/2008

I went to Hannelore's with a friend who was getting married a few years ago. They were rude and haughty. The woman managed to insult the university that the bride and I attended before we even got started. My friend is very modest and self conscious and the woman refused to let her dress herself. I understand that a lot of places do that, which might have been okay if she hadn't driven my friend to tears by the time were leaving. My friend is very tall and somewhat full figured but not outside of the traditional size range. She had difficulty finding a dress that flattered her shape. The sales woman reassured us that my friend would find something by telling us a story about how she once had an "obese midget" come in to look for a dress...so we'd certainly find something for my friend to wear. As if this wasn't insulting enough to my friend, she went on and on about how ridiculous this other woman looked and how she couldn't imagine why this woman had even bothered to look for a weddi more
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a waste of my time 5/27/2008

Agreeing with my mother in law's comment below, if we would have read the reviews before hand, we would have not even bothered with the place. AWFUL. Far from CLASSY. STUFFY...and I could go on. I have had such great experiences dress shopping other than Hannelores. The staff has to be pretty unintelligent to be so rude to their customers...who do they think they are and who do they expect you to be? They were lucky I was in a great mood that day...and I am lucky they didn't ruin the rest of my day! more
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UNDENIABLY THE WORST EXPERIENCE EVER!!!! 5/27/2008

Had I read the reviews before our apt. I would have skipped this so called establishment altogether. This is suppose to be a wonderful joyful occasion for the bride to be and also for anyone experiencing it with her. NOT SO!!! Our sales person, Sally had such an attitude from the moment she found we were not from the surrounding area , and that the wedding was going to be out of state, and the date had not been set and a mere 2-3 thousand dollar price range!!! It was all down hill from there, but when the door to the dressing room was intentionally slammed in my face , I really should have taken my future daughter in law and simply walked out!! But we stuck around for more rude, degrading and abusive behavior!!! I continued to look around for more dresses in the style we had requested and found four which fit all requests. once again the door was slammed in my face as I approached the dressing room with dresses in hand! Needless to say it was so obvious we were not looking for the pri more
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She swatted my behind ! ! ! 5/25/2008

Every time I think of my wedding gown, I think of how Hannelore herself swatted my behind! I had snapped at her assistant who I thought was flirting with my husband to be. When I took my mother in law to pick up the dress, the saleswoman asked HER if she was going to pay for it. more
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DONT GO TO HANNELORES!!!!!! 4/14/2008

I had a horrible experience over the weekend with Hannelores!!! Khem was my consultant and she was so rude to me. I don't even know how you can act that way and still have self respect. She has no people skills and wasn't helpful at all. If you go there ask for someone else....or better yet steer clear of that horrible place!!! more
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A Horrible Experience 12/12/2007

I wish I found this site before I went for my appointment. For years I couldn't wait to step inside Hannelore's as a bride...and when I finally did, it ruined my entire day (seriously, I had a morning appointment and was in a foul mood the rest of the day). I am still so annoyed by my treatment (I, too, had Nancy) that I can't even write it all out without getting my blood pressure going. If you want someone barking "Come with me" at you every 2 seconds (when you try to look at the dresses yourself), a consultant that does not not listen to what you want, and an all-around horrible experience...this is the place. Ugh!!! Meanwhile, places with much less cache, such as Lady Hamilton's in Arlington and Jeannette's Bridal in Manassas have consultants that couldn't be more wonderful. more
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Worst customer service ever... 12/2/2007

I would like to start off by saying how horribly rude Kim and some of the employees are at this store. I have never been treated so rudely and been laughed at by a "wedding consultant" when asked simple questions regarding my price range.\r I would also like to say this is the worst customer service I have ever encountered in my entire life. If my price range was not "acceptable" to your employees, I would expect better treatment coming from people of such "high class" status. When asked what my price range was, Kim laughed in my face and remarked that you do not have any dresses in that price range even if they were 50% off. To top it off, she walked right by another employee and stated that I was "only $500" even though I was right behind her. I hope you would not want to be treated this way- degraded, belittled, inferior...insignificant. This is the type of behavior that validates your company's bad reputation, that I can reassure.\r I will make sure that my friends who are enga more
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Run as fast as you can 11/17/2007

My first experience at Hannelore's was lukewarm, but I found a dress that I loved. I was told they would contact me when the dress came in...After several phone calls- I talked to an associate who said the dress had been in for 2 months! I paid for the dress in full over the phone and went to pick it up the following weekend. I had an appt for 10 am to pick up the dress. When I got there w/ my mom (who had never seen the dress) we waited for 40 min. before anyone would help us. This was after asking everyone in the shop for assistance. When they finally brought my dress in it was wrinkled into a ball. I could have cried! After inspecting the dress- there was a big dark mark on the front of the dress. When I approached the sales associate she said it was part of the silk and it was woven into the dress. As I was leaving the store 3 people were at the front desk just standing there. I didn't get a bye, thank you for spending thousands of dollars, or here let me get the door. As far as o more
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Please read if you are considering going to Hannelores! 11/7/2007

As many of the previous reviewers have said, this place is terrible. Let me start out by saying that I read these reviews before going to Hannelore's but I am one of those people who has to see for themself and I did. I actually went there twice. My first visit was a Saturday afternoon, I made and appointment and went with two of my bridesmaids and my mother. I told my consultant Nancy what I liked and she picked out all my dresses. She seemed very offended when I asked if I could look around a bit and told me there was nothing else I would like. She took us into the changing room which was very nice. The downside here is that you have NOOO privacy. She told me to get undressed and then tried to put a strapless bra on me, literally put it on me. I told her that I could handle that myself. was not offered a slip or anything. I just stood there, good thing I am pretty comfortable with myself! I stood there for several minutes half naked while Nancy slowly took the dresses out of the ba more
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Appalling Service 9/4/2007

I definitely don?t recommend this horrible place.\r I had made an appointment at Hannelore?s which they confirmed via email. My mother had come in from SC, and my future mother-in-law had come from PA. We drove down from Baltimore (about 50 miles away). When we arrived, there was a sign on the door saying that they were closed. We couldn?t believe it. I called and emailed Hannelore?s to get an explanation, and they did not return my call, but sent me an email without an apology saying that I would be receiving a call. It never came. I wouldn?t want to be a customer of theirs and have an issue before my wedding, since there?s a good chance they wouldn?t return the call.\r I honestly can?t believe that they treated me this way and hope that other people avoid them. No one deserves that. more
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An Unpleasant Experience for a Beautiful Saturday Afternoon 5/5/2007

If you are a bride with any amount of class, or respect for your bridal party, do NOT go to Hannelore's. The staff is completely rude and judgemental, and I have been told something different each time I speak to a different member of the staff. For example, I was told that I could pick up my dress during their "convenient" late hours on Thurday when they are open until 8 pm. When I showed up at 6:30, I was told that they could not find the dress, and it was not possible for me to get it. When I returned on Saturday as instructed, they had found the dress, but I was told that Bridesmaids are only fitted on Sundays. Additionally, I have to pay $65 for alterations that are minimal, at best. \r \r The shop itself is big, and they do have a good selection. Perhaps it is the bad lighting, but every bridal gown looks off-white or dark ivory. Nothing looks "crisp", if you get what I'm trying to say. If you are going to sell yourself as the premiere bridal salon in the Washingon, DC area, I'm more
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Hannelore's Bridal Boutique, established in 1984, has earned its reputation for outstanding service, selection and style. Over twenty designers' collections are represented; Gowns start at $1500+.

Owner Message

  • <p>Over twenty designers' collections are represented; many of which are exclusive in the Washington area to Hannelore's. Large spacious dressing rooms allow the bride privacy when selecting her gown. The professional staff is skilled in assisting the bride throughout her visit. Once you've experienced Hannelore's you will understand what shopping for your bridal gown should be like.</p> <p>Gowns Start at $1500+</p>

    * Accessories
    * Bridal
    * Bridesmaids
    * Flower girl
    * Mother of the Bride
    * Shoes Salon
    * Tuxedo

Additional information
  • Hours: Mon 10am-6pm ; Tue 10am-6pm ; Wed 10am-8pm ; Thu 10am-8pm ; Fri 10am-6pm ; Sat 10am-6pm ; Sun Noon-5pm
  • Neighborhoods: Old Town
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