Southern Bridal

I am honestly amazed with these past reviews because I have had nothing but success with this place! Southern Bridal is a wonderful shop! I went in during the sample sale and had a great experience. Jennifer, the owner, took the time to help me try about 20 dresses, even though I didn't have an appointment, until I found the perfect one! She also helped me find bridesmaid dresses for all of my girls and all of the alterations were included!! Now, in regards to the previous post about alterations, IN HOUSE ALTERATIONS are included. When a store has a in house seamstess they will include alterations with that person. That in no way implys that they will pay for me to take my dress to another shop to get it altered....kind of crazy to expect them to. When it gets closer to the day I am definitely going to send my fianc?e and the groomsmen in for their tuxedos. This is by far the best experience I have had at any bridal shop on the northshore. Not only is the staff personable and friendly but it is the most convenient one stop shop when it comes to bridal! Hats off to Southern Bridal!!! more

We would like to apologize to the reviewer if her experience at Southern Bridal was not EVERYTHING she expected it to be. We strive to make the entire process as stress-free as possible and are sorry that this was not the case for you. If there is anything we can do to repair this situation, we would be grateful for the opportunity to do so. more

When I first went in there to pick out my wedding dress, everything was great. The owner helped me, and she was very nice and patient, and I found a dress I really loved. I also liked how they told me I would have a fitting a few months before and then a couple of weeks before the wedding to make sure it fit perfectly. I liked this because David's Bridal told me the last fitting would be about a month before the wedding. However, when I went back for my first fitting, I was not pleased at all. The dress was big on me, especially in the chest area, which is not good because it needs to be tight so that I don't fall out (I have a large chest and small frame, so I'm extremely worried about this issue, and I have expressed my concern to them). When I went up on the pedestal, the dress was clearly too big because I had to hold it up with my hands. The seamstress was about 6 feet away from me and did not come near me or talk to me or anything. The salesperson was trying to get me to come down to change out of it, and so I finally said that it was too big, and I also needed a bustle. The seamstress pinned a little around the bust area and immediately walked away. I felt extremely rushed and no one seemed to care to make the dress fit me. I don't know if I had too high of expectations, but I believed that a fitting included a seamstress who worked with you to try to give you a great fit. The sales people also seemed so busy with other things that they didn't care to talk to me either. I then scheduled an appointment for what I thought was a final fitting, 2 weeks before my wedding. I just called to confirm it, and they said the appointment was ""pick up only"". Why would I get it fitted and then not try it on again to make sure it fit, especially when I don't even think the seamstress gave a crap to fix it correctly? I did change the appointment for when the seamstress was there (she is only there for an hour on Wednesdays and a couple of hours on Saturday...how convenient). I have yet to go back to try on my dress again (next week), but I don't have high hopes. I have another seamstress I talked to who said if they didn't fix it to bring it to her. I rarely complain about things, but I feel when I spend that kind of money for something as important as a wedding dress, I should be treated nicely and they should ensure that it fits appropriately and that I am happy with everything. It feels like once they get their money, they don't care if your dress fits you or not. Again, it might end up fitting correctly, but I still would recommend this place with caution. They will be nice at first, but do not expect to get good treatment when you go back. more

I'm not the type of person who normally writes reviews but I was so disappointed with the service that I had it was necessary to caution anyone who goes to Southern Bridal in Mandeville. So here goes a list of my issues. #1) I had purchased my dress but never seemed to get a phone call stating that my dress came in. As a worried bride , of course I had to call instead and ask them (Which was over 3 months!!!!). Surprisingly my dress came in that day (should I even believe that?). #2) My dress was to be bustled for the reception. I requested for a french bustle and when I came to pick it up it turns out half my dress was PERMANENTLY bustled (which is what I did not request and even if it was permanently done why would you only do half?). #3) My next trip, which they were suppose to fix the bustle was another disaster. When I got there my dress was still messed up and the bustle wasn't fixed!!!!! Are you serious? My sister-in-law had to wait with me for over an hour for them to fix it. #4) I ordered a sash to wear with my dress. When I took my bridal pictures outside at the park there was a huge difference in color between the dress and the sash. I called them the following day to see if it could be returned because I never wore it and the original tags were still on it. Their answer on the phone was ""the owner is on a trip in the bahamas now so you should call back in May"" #5) Today is May 3. I called and spoke to the owner and asked to return the sash. She said I could not return it because I used it in my pictures and already wore it! If I would have used it, of course I would have kept it!!! I told her I never wore it and still had all of the original tags and all on it. I can only get store credit. NO BRIDE ... NOBODY SHOULD EVER GO THROUGH THE EXPERIENCE THAT I HAD AT SOUTHERN BRIDAL. I AM SO DISGUSTED WITH THEIR SERVICE. more

I would love to give this place zero stars. Let's see, I to follow up with Southern Bridal about a bridesmaid's dress, and then they decide to tell me it was ready in OCTOBER (it's the end of January). After no apologies, they said they 'called' me 3 times, (it's in my file so it MUST be true) yet the only time I received a call from them and spoke to a person was when they demanded payment - and never said anything about the dress being delivered. Now, I can understand - perhaps they called when my phone was turned off, which would explain no missed call alerts. Well surprise, surprise, they left no other messages! IT'S BEEN OVER 3 MONTHS SINCE MY $$$ DRESS WAS DELIVERED - REALLY, YOU WOULDN'T TRY A LITTLE HARDER? So it gets better. At the outset, I told them that I was an out-of-towner. Only now do they proceed to tell me they can ship me the dress but those charges would be in lieu of 'traditional' alterations, no matter that they said from the get go that alterations were included in the dress price. Guess they didn't have to pay for shipping to their store? The best part is, when I ordered the dress originally, they actually CHARGED me for fit alterations, as well as getting a larger size. Now, I can understand one or the other - extra fabric means extra cost. But doubling up on charges, and then charging again, really? Now, they get one star because a) zero is not an option and b) in all fairness, the other bridesmaids got their dresses. But I'm more livid because of the culmination of everything - it wasn't one little thing, it was MULTIPLE problems from these people. I RARELY write these reviews, but I'm livid enough at this point to do so. Here's looking at you Southern Bridal. All I can say is you better be making the bride a happy lady. I know you bridesmaid's out there may not have a choice, but at least you'll know what you're getting into. I've ordered bridesmaid dresses with a snap of the fingers before - and had to pay extra charges that were understandable - but I have NEVER had this much trouble with professionalism from a store before. more