I had an absolutely wonderful experience at Vows and would recommend it for anyone who meets any of the following criteria: 1) doesn't mind buying off the rack, 2) has a very limited budget, 3) wants the boutique experience without the boutique prices, 4) might be a little bit picky, and 5) is indecisive.
1) Most of Vows' dresses are buy-as-they-are, i.e. they don't have them in other sizes and you don't order them. They have about a dozen dresses that you can order, but 95% of the store is off-the-rack. Most of the dresses are probably a few years old, which is why they are now being sold at Vows at a big discount.
2) If you want a quality dress on-the-cheap, this is the place. I am not a bride that has been fantasizing about my dress for years and years, and thus didn't want to spend a fortune on it. I set my budget at $1000 (pre-alterations) and went to a few places that sold dresses within this range, and Vows definitely had the highest quality dresses. It can be tough to find dresses that don't feel/look cheap for less than $1,000, but the Vows dresses are all discounted substantially, so for example my dress cost $999 but was originally ~$4000. 75% discount...don't mind if I do!
3) I didn't think I cared about having a boutique experience before I went shopping, but given the range of consultants I met at various places, trust me it makes a big difference. I went to one place where the lady was very nice, but not particularly knowledgeable about wedding dresses and not good at simulating what a dress would look like after alterations. (I'm 5'1"", so basically no sample dress fits me, so a proper simulation is key); at another place the consultant seemed to just want to sell me a dress ASAP and be done with it. At Vows, they treated us like the only customers (side note: for a while, we were. It's worth taking a morning/afternoon off of work and going on a weekday morning/afternoon. We had the place almost to ourselves for 4 hours, but they said on Saturdays they can have 60+ brides in there at once. Gross. The peace and quiet
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