For the love of God, please DO NOT go to Lex Bridal to buy a wedding dress or to have a dress made or altered! I made this HUGE mistake, and I can't even begin to describe the number of problems that I had with her. I'll start with this: I worked with Lex for 8 months to have my dress custom-made, and on the day that I was to pick it up -- 4 days before my wedding -- she was nowhere to be found. Turns out that she had gotten arrested earlier that morning and spent the entire weekend in jail (she herself confirmed her arrest when I spoke with her after the wedding). (I only found this out because her neighbor saw me pounding frantically on her door.) Meanwhile, I had no idea what jail she was in, when she would be getting out, I had NO way of getting my dress out of her shop (she works alone out of her house), and I wasn't even sure that Lex had finished the dress anyway. I had no choice but to go to Mary's Bridal just down the street and have her make me a new dress (which she did in just THREE days, and this dress was above and beyond more beautiful than the dress Lex had made for me!). After the wedding I did my research on Lex (full name: Samlee Thamasangvarn) and found more than FORTY entries for her and her family when I did a Maryland Judiciary Case search (look for yourself at: casesearch.courts.state.md.us/) for several types of offenses. I only wish I had the sense to do the research on her before I hired her. When I went back to her shop to try to get my money back, she flat out refused because she ""didn't have the money"". I finally got her to sign a contract that said she would pay back my money in installments, but apparently contracts mean nothing to her because when I went to pick up the first installment, she told me that she didn't have the money and that I'd have to take her to court if I wanted it. Weeks later, after another fruitless trip, I was able to finally take a few dresses off her rack as collateral, but now I'm stuck with having to sell those myself because she won't return my phone calls. Aside from the arrest drama, she is rude, pushy, will make your dress how SHE wants it rather than how YOU want it, and she will nickel-and-dime you at every chance she gets (except that in this case, it's not nickels and dimes -- it's hundreds of dollars). Don't be fooled by the sweet facade she puts on when you first meet her; she just wants your money, and as soon as she has it (oh yes, she makes you pay up front!), you're totally at her mercy. By that point, she has your money and she'll treat you horribly because she is a horrible person and because she can. Please don't let her fool you like she fooled me.
more