Bridal Beginning

I went to Bridal Beginning for my wedding dress and had a wonderful experience. I will say to the previous reviewer that if you found a dress online for a much cheaper price it was probably a knock off of the real dress that you fell in love with. Personally, I would never purchase a dress online for fear that there would be a problem. Wedding gown designers do not sell their dresses on line, they all sell through an authorized vendor to protect their name and their product. Bridal Beginning was very fair with their pricing and believe me I shopped around. I found that the same dress that I fell in love with was pretty much the same price at every store I called. So lesson to those of you still shopping....be aware of cheap gowns online. Go to Bridal Beginning and get the ACTUAL dress of your dreams. Also, my seamstress Deb was wonderful...my dress looked and felt like it was made just for me after my alterations....she is excellent! I recommend her to everyone who goes there.

I found my dress in another city first and tried to find it in Pittsburgh. Bridal Beginnings was one of the 3 places that carried here. I hesitated to go there because of the horror stories I heard about Bridal Beginnings over the years. I went there anyway and the women there were all very nice and helpful. They had very few sample dresses that fit a size 14, but they tried very hard to accommodate me. My dress came in time and the sweetest woman alive did my alterations. I specifically ordered a petite length so that my shoes would show and I wouldn't have to get too many alterations but the dress still touched the ground. Despite being told an unofficial estimate of about $150-$200 for alterations, I ended up spending $500 for alterations which was a bit mind numbing for me. The bustle was hard for my bridesmaid to figure out, but at the end of the day, my dress was G O R G E O U S and I felt like a queen in it.

The staff is condescending. My dress was ridiculously expensive, after finding that I could have bought the same exact dress directly from the manufacturer online. They upcharged 200%! BUYER BEWARE they will rip you off! My dress even came in with flaws that had to be corrected by the seamstress and my dress ripped down the zipper seam about a half hour before my reception ended. Just so you know, my dress wasn't a cheap gown... it was the Marisa 839 from the 2010 collection. I paid over $3grand for it. I could have bought the same exact dress from the same exact company where they purchased it for more than half that price. In comparision of seamstress charges, it's the same everywhere.

I bought the first dress I tried on, however the sales lady measured me wrong and when my dress came in it was too small. They accused me of gaining weight (when in reality I had lost weight since i purchased the dress) Deb, the alterations manager was great, however the rest of the alterations department leaves alot to be desired.

I used Bridal Beginning for my dress and the bridesmaid dresses. The service was wonderful. The sales staff was professional and attentive- not pushy in the slightest. They helped me select beautiful dresses- for both me and the bridesmaids. Their seamstresses are magicians! I had my dress altered there, as did some of the girls, and they did a fabulous job. Would definitely recommend.

LOVED my dress, thanks to Maggie Sottero, but not happy with Bridal Beginning in Mt. Lebanon! The process started out as a pleasant one so I can't complain about my dress shopping experience and Karen was great! But that's the only good thing I have to sayand the only reason for a 2.5 for quality of service. I was told my dress would be ready within 6 months - it took 7, so it's a good thing I had plenty of time! Not long before it arrived, I tried to make an appointment 4 weeks in advance because I lived out of town. I was told that I needed to wait until it came in, so then when I tried to schedule the appointment, I was told that they could not accommodate me on a Saturday because they were busy with prom, even though I explained my situation and that I was told not to schedule several weeks before that. Somehow I made it work, although, not convenient to me or my mom. I chose to use my own seamstress after the poor reviews I read about their tailoring department. As we approached the wedding, I called to ask if I could bring my dress in a day or two before the wedding to have it steamed. You would've thought I asked them to hand sew a dress for me based on their reactions. In a weird way, I was asked if I bought the dress from them and had alterations done by them, which was yes and no. So then I was told someone else would call me back. During this phone call, I find out that it will cost me $150 to have my dress steamed by them because I did not use them for alterations and that is the only way this service is included for free! These people are VERY RUDE and they do NOT take care of their customers once they've received their money!!!

I was in love with my dress and they made it look like it was meant for me to wear. They are great to work with and very professional! I got my wedding dress, bridesmaids dresses and my flower girl dress and every step of the way, they were awesome to work with!

I had a great experience with Bridal Beginning! I came into the shop and was on crutches with a bad ankle injury, but was determined to try on dresses. The woman who was helping me was extremely helpful, friendly, and caring (especially related to my injury). They were very great with bringing me dresses that were my taste/style and price range. My dress was the 4th one I tried on! The woman allowed us to take photos so I could send a text to my mother-in-law who couldn't be there. Unlike other stores they were open about the dress designers and prices. I also felt that they gave me very honest feedback. I also brought my bridesmaids in to try dresses on. We had a great time and found beautiful bridesmaid dresses. The shop was also good about calling me with updates. I also really liked the seamstress. Alterations were pricey but she did a nice job. The bustle was great but a little complicate for my bridesmaids to figure out. Compared to other shops, the decor is older, but it didn't bother me. I had a great experience unlike many of the other reviewers - which was very surprising to me because I found all the employees to be very very nice.

My dress consultant Leslie was the sweetest women! She was so helpful & took all the info I gave her about my day to find me the perfect dress!! (which was the 1st dress she showed me!!) I tried several on but she was very good at placing me in a dress for my body type, I LOVE my wedding dress! My seamstress was amazing too! (B) she fit the dress to me like glove & I looked and felt so beautiful on my wedding day! :)

I had a wonderful experience at Bridal Beginning. The entire staff was nothing but friendly and helpful. Thanks for everything!

i hated this store and wouldnt tell anybody to go there!!! they were rude when i would call, they were rude to my bridesmaids, and the worst thing, i ordered my dress and they said it would be in in 6 months... THEY screwed up the order and forgot to ad the extra length to my train so i didnt get my dress for 10 months!!! they also gave alot of my bridesmaids attitude about picking up their dresses. i really dislike this place and i would never go back for anything!!!!!

I had no problem with Bridal Beginning. I changed my bridesmaids' dress colors way too much, some of them took forever to go pick them up, and Bridal Beginning was very patient with all of us. My dress was perfect and they fixed everything that was wrong very quickly. My bridesmaids had different opinions, but they treat brides like you want to be treated unless you want the whole works I guess. Yes the building's isn't perfect, but if you want chandeliers and mineral water served to you drive to New York.

oh my how i loved my dress and hair piece! i wore the lace and silk backless marissa!for my beach wedding!bridal beginning was amazing and soo helpful!lisa, your the best and my bridesmaids were beautiful too!thank you again!
Love,
Danielle and Mike Westbrook

I had an absolute amazing experience at bridal beginning. The entire staff was friendly, knowledgable and went above and beyond to make my day special. I got my dress, my bridesmaids dresses, flower girl dresses and mother of the bride dress there and everything was perfect.I couldn't say enough good things about my experience at this store! I got my alterations done there also and they turned out great. I'm not sure about prices elsewhere but I found the prices to be completely reasonable and it was definitely worth the money to have my alterations done by a store that has a ton of experience in dress alterations. Also we ordered 6 bridesmaids dresses there and they almost all fit perfectly- same with mine and my mothers, we mostly only had to get hems.

Would definitely recommend this store to others!

I loved my dress that I bought from this store, but if I could fine it another store I would have gotten it there. The girl that was helping me with my dress was not pleasant and seemed to be very unhappy to be there. The staff in itself wasn't friendly. I wasn't happy with my experience. The alteration lady was pretty nice though. My alterations were perfect and the bustle was perfect.

I went to Bridal Beginning because of a dress I saw at a bridal show. I ended up buying that very same dress from there! I know there are some reviews indicating the staff at this store is rude, but I did not have that experience. Everyone at the store was extremely kind and made me feel like the most important bride in the shop. I ended up also getting my alterations done at Bridal Beginning. The seamstress was very friendly and VERY good! My dress was quite a challenge to alter, and it was done without a flaw! I also purchased my bridesmaids' dresses from Bridal Beginning. The dresses were perfect and the they were less expensive at Bridal Beginning than they were at other places!

I bought my Maggie Sottero dress in July of 2010. I specifically went to this store b/c they had a dress that I knew they had ordered from the new line and were getting in.
Needless to say, I ordered the one that I liked from earlier in the year.
I as thrown back when one of the saleswomen told me that I made the right choice b/c I my body was too big for the other dress... I couldnt believe it.
The women behind the counter are not the friendliest and can make you uncomfortable, but they are always helpful over the phone and the seamstress who did my alterations was amazing! She also helped me pick out my headpiece! It is positive employees like her that can change your entire experience! Overall the experience was good :)

Bridal Beginning was great. I very much enjoyed the whole experience. They had a great selection of dressed and the way that they brought me dresses to try on instead of me digging through rack to pick out dresses was much better. The altering also went very smoothly and professionally.

I got lucky and was in town during the Maggie Sottero Trunk show - so I got a great deal on a new style. The woman that helped me find my dress was wonderful (however I cannot remember her name).
However, I felt that most of the women working in the shop were kind of rude and judgemental and made me feel quite uncomfortable when going in for my fitting and trying on headpieces. I ended up having my alterations done and my veil made by a family friend and the women at BB seemed very offended and they basically felt that their duty to me as a customer had been dismissed.

I am of the opinion that have this store takes advantage of their customers in terms of alterations. Two of my bridesmaids were told to order sizes much too large and were forced to have their dresses altered and to pay the associated costs. If they had simply been told to order the correct size, that expense could have been avoided but I suspect that might have been the intention. The simple alterations for my dress (a slight hem and bust adjustment), were also exorbitantly priced and we found out could have been completed elsewhere for a fraction of the cost. I also found the staff at Bridal Beginning to be stuck up and unfriendly. Each time I had to go in to look at dresses or for a fitting, I was made to feel as though I was intruding. No one smiled, or greeted us, and we were often made to wait even though we always had an appointment. The only positive experience that I had here was with the seamstress who altered my gown - she was very kind and helpful with any concerns/requests that I had. Overall, I would not recommend Bridal Beginning to other brides who are currently looking for a place to purchase their gown/bridesmaids dresses.

I did purchase my dress here. However the staff were not kind and were not inviting. Most all of the dresses are kept in the back and you are not able to browse. They acted as if they were better than you and were very fake. The only kind person in the building is the alterations lady. She is out of this world wonderful !!!!
My beautiful dress and the alterations lady were the only good thing about this store.

We had a pretty good experience here, although it seems to be hit-or-miss. The store doesn't look like much, but they do have a great selection of gowns and accessories. Our only real complaint was with the alterations, and that was handled pretty well. They were always nice to us and attentive, but other people I know have not had the same experience.

I got my wedding dress from bridal beginning. My sales rep was excellent. She was super kind and really listened to what type of dress I was looking for. My dress took 7 months to come in.

My alterations were also done at Bridal Beginnings. They cost so much and my dress loosened up at the night went on at my wedding. I would recommend getting the alterations elsewhere.

dress selection was good however it was hard to find dresses without salesperson right on top of you. i wanted to browse the gowns and pick out some then have the salesperson make suggestions on other gowns that are available. pricing was good however the alterations were ridiculous. the first fitting went well however the second fitting resulted in a third fitting because the alterations were not done properly.

This store is amazing. They have a wide variety of styles and designers. I purchased my wedding gown from here. I also got a matching veil and tiara from the store. They sales associates are so friendly and are great to work with. They really tell you the truth! If you're looking for bridesmaid dresses they also have a wide variety!

Huge selection of dresses. Were not willing to help the day of the wedding when the loops on my dress came undone. They wanted me to come into the shop an hour before my ceremony!

They have a decent selection of gowns and the owner is very nice, however, the sales staff is another story. The sales women are so incredibly rude and simply mean. The pricing of their dresses is very reasonable and lower than most other shops, but looking back I would have rather paid more and not have had to deal with the shop. I felt terrible having to make my bridesmaids go there because they were treated so terribly. The seamstresses are amazing, they are so friendly and do great work, for the most part. I can say that 2 out of my 5 bridesmaid dresses needed a second alteration which is a major inconvenience for out of town BM. I would not recommend this shop.

Great selection of dresses and great seamstress. However, some of the sales people are incredibly snarky and don�t necessarily appreciate your business. My first time trying on dresses was incredibly rushed and I felt pushed in to a decision. When I worked with a different consultant by experience was a little better. The seamstress is great and worked very hard to make sure the dress fit perfect.

The selection of gowns was outstanding. Alfreda found the most perfect gown for my daughter. She knew what would look good on her and brought it in. When my daughter tried on the gown, it was one of those moments that we both knew this was "the one". The gown was exquisite! She also helped to find a veil and headpiece that perfectly matched the gown. After the gown was delivered, it was up to Saida to make sure it fit like a glove. She worked so hard on it and at the last fitting, my daughter was beaming because it fit so well and she had no worries that she would have to pull it up all night (it was strapless). All the staff was wonderful throughout the whole process and I would highly recommend going here first.

My first shopping experience with this shop was great and I ended up finding and buying my dress that day! And for the most part the shop was okay. But I didn't get the service I was hoping to get for someone that purchased a very expensive dress from them. I was living in VA when I bought the dress back home in PA, so I needed them to help me out to shedule fittings, etc and they would not work with me to squeeze me in. I just wanted to continue to feel like a princess bride and get a warm fuzzy feeling everytime I did something with my dress...but i ended up disappointed feeling and was not treated like a princess. I also felt rushed to get out of the store, and felt like they were to good or to busy to just try and make a bride feel welcome or feel god about her decision. Because everytime i put on that dress it was like...oh no, did i really make the right choice and I was hoping for some encouragement, but I got very little understanding about my hesitations.

But like i said, overall the shop was okay and no major problems, just wasn't super impressed...I have better experiences with other shops while shopping, but I ended up finding my dream dress here...so thats why I bought from them.

They have a great selection of gowns, but the most unfriendly people working and the place so disgustingly run down and dirty.
I purchased my dress there and all of my 6 bridesmaids gowns and never felt my business to be so unappreciated!

When my dress came in we immediately picked it up and brought it to Clarissa's Boutique on Carson street. They were amazing! They are so friendly and helpful! They did all of my alterations, helped me to find the perfect veil and jewelry.
There selections are out of this world and so unique.

After trying another vendor, I used Bridal Beginning for my wedding gown search, selection, and purchase. I liked the idea that the salon gave privacy to the bride when trying on gowns, especially if the bride is more modest, although there is the opportunity to waltz out into the open and have other brides and familes see you in the middle of the store if you like that aspect of being a bride.

My consultant listened to the type of gown I was interested in trying on and I did show her photos. She brought those gowns to me and I tried them on but little by little I realized that what I was fantasizing about did not look good on my body. My consultant started to bring out gowns that she thought would look good on my shape and what amazed me was that she was hitting the target. She choose 5 gowns that she thought would be best on me and from those I picked my gown! She was very good at reading my body shape and knowing the inventory in the salon. The gown I choose was also one that the designer would make changes to as I wanted to make some changes to the top of the dress.

So my dress was ordered with the changes that I wanted (at a price, of course) and I waited 6 months for it to come in. When it came in, it was beautiful. The changes that I asked the designer to make were stunning!

As I went through my fittings, I wanted other changes to me made to the shoulder and arms and the seamstresses at Bridal Beginning were very accommodating and gave some really good options for me to weight over. They took the time I needed to make up my mind about the bustle, the addition of more material and fabric, etc. They gave me more fittings that I every thought I would need to make sure everything was to my specifications. I was very pleased.

In the end, the dress was nearly totally re-vamped from the original. Bridal Beginning seamstresses did an excellent job. On Wedding day, my family and friends were amazed at the beautiful couture details of the dress.

The service and professionalism of Bridal Beginning surpassed my expectations. They were continously flexible with the dress details that I kept changing during my fittings and were determined to get it right for me.

A piece of advice for brides: do try on your gown the day you are picking it up for your wedding. Don't be afraid to leave it on and check for any issues with it, it's best to say something before you walk out the door with it.

My experience is as a bridesmaid. When I was measured for the dress, it seemed to be a much larger size than I normally wear. The woman assured me that this is the size that would fit my waist, so that is the size that I ordered. The dress could fall right off of me when I went to try it on, it was that big. The woman kept pulling the top part together and saying it fit. Yes, it did when she was bunching up inches of material. They refused to do anything about it, and were rather condescending to me when I tried to discuss the matter in a reasonable way. I finally told them that I would be adding to the bad reviews that I had read on websites. She told me how offended she was that I would write a bad review of a family business. Well, if I had had even a mediocre experience, I would not have written a review. I had to pay extra for the size that they insisted I wore and they refused to even refund that money.

I just got home from taking the dress to a seamstress outside of that shop. She couldn't believe when I put the dress on. She has to cut 5 inches off of the width of the dress. This is what they were insisting fit me.

If you want to buy a dress here, be prepared for rude service and inaccurate measurements. Have an outside seamstress ready, because they will surely over charge you for alterations.

I am so happy that I bought my wedding dress from Bridal Beginning. It was everything I had ever hoped for! I still have it hanging in our bedroom because I don't have the heart to put it away yet. The service was mostly excellent, except for a few issues my mother had with the seamstress when she was getting her dress fitted.

I went to a great trunk show at Bridal Beginnings and bought my wedding dress at a great price. The staff at the store were extremely helpful and my alterations were hassle free!

I loved my dress, but we had some problems with the tailoring of both my dress and especially my mom's.

My dress fit practically perfectly. With a corset back, there was very little to do other than hem, add detachable straps and fix a few minor things. The seamstress didn't write this down and hemmed the dress appropriately but then added fixed straps which could not be hidden in the dress (they kept popping out) and forgot to fix the other issues. She then tried to do the work while we waited and the straps were sewn poorly and the other work half done.

More worrisome was my mother's dress. The seamstress messed up the dress so badly, including snagging the fabric and taking up the waist way too far, that the manager ended up offering my mom a new dress and assigning her a new seamstress. Of course we had been told to pay to rush our order so it would be ready for the wedding, but when the time came to deal with the disaster the seamstress had caused, another dress just happened to be in the store - a similar model and color and the right size! We want to believe this was just a coincidence, but left very suspicious.

The seamstresses here have too much to do and the store is not the prettiest. For all the money spent on wedding dresses, it's best to shop around!

I was very pleased with Bridal Beginning. They catered to me and were very helpful. When I was shopping for my dress, I had an appointment (recommended) and a very nice lady (Edie) spent 3 hours with me, bringing me dresses that would suit my figure, but were in my price range. I could have gone with any one of them! I ended up buying the second one I tried on, but kept trying them on to be sure!
My alterations were done well. They made sure my dress was the way I wanted before I left.
Sometimes hard to get an appointment, so call ahead.
Alterations can be costly.

I got all of my bridesmaids dresses here. Big mistake. The staff are rude and inappropriate. I would never go to this place again! All they did was stress me out. It was terrible. They were rude to me because i decided not to get my dress there.

I ordered my wedding gown and my bridesmaid dresses from Bridal Beginning. For BM dresses, they have a great selection. The lady that helped us was very helpful and nice with us as my girls tried on a ton of dresses. My sister had her alterations done there, and she was happy with the service.

For wedding gowns, they do not allow you to look through their dresses, in fact you can't even see their selection, as I believe is true for most higher end places. At first I thought I could be missing out on great dresses. I had a talk with my saleslady about what I did and did not want. I was actually pretty vague; I think my description was "no typical strapless, a-line gown." These ladies know what they're doing! They are very familiar with their gowns and know what looks good based on body shape. If I had seen my dress on the rack, I doubt I would have tried it. But I ended up buying the first gown I tried on! And they are willing to bring you a ton of dresses based on feedback from dresses you're already tried on.

The store carries designers that a lot of other Pittsburgh stores don't carry. They won't tell you the designer of your gown until you agree to buy it.

I had my alterations done there and bought my slip there too. After the alterations, it fit perfectly. I live out of town and had no problems making weekend appointments and picking up my gown a couple days before the wedding. Bridal Beginning is a great shop!