Chantilly Lace

Never disappointed with the selection or service here. I got my wedding dress and jr b-maid dress at Chantilly Lace, as well as our tuxes. If my bridesmaids hadn't been spread across the east coast, I would have bought them from CL too. And after the service I received at a large national chain, I wish I had just taken the girls' measurements and ordered from CL. The service was never disappointing. When parts of the tuxes didn't fit just right, replacements were in the next day. My dress was ready months before the big day and they held it for me. The jr b-maid dress didn't come in until 3 days before the wedding - but what service! Brittany waited on the dress from the fed ex guy who was 2 hours late that day, steamed it, and met me with it. I can't say enough about the personal service provided by CL. I'd recommend to anyone.

I would NOT recommend Chantilly Lace to anyone. Through the entire wedding planning process this is the only vendor I dealt with where I was treated poorly AND given bad service.

I'll say the "good" things first: Their price to alter the dress was very low, even after the $35 service charge for altering a dress from a different store. I can't give them high marks for Value for Cost though because I ended up paying more to have their work redone. I got absolutely 0 value for the cost. Also they had one employee who treated me very nicely the two times I was lucky enough for her to be in while I was there - I think her name may have been Terra(?) and I really appreciated her helpfulness.

So, from the beginning: I called them when I was looking for my wedding dress and was spoken to very rudely when I asked if they had any non-traditional, short dresses. They suggested maybe I could just wear a white bridesmaid dress. I got my dress elsewhere (Justin Alexander Pure collection - knee length just the way I wanted it) but had it shipped to me for alterations. My normal seamstress suddenly had to close her shop for family reasons, and the only other place in Blacksburg I knew that did bridal alterations was Chantilly Lace... The dress was too big on me, but the seamstress at Chantilly Lace said she could handle it. At the second fitting all she had done was take it in at the shoulders, so the entire body of the dress was still way too loose. She said it looked fine even though it looked horrible (the bust had approx. 4 extra inches), then she said there was nothing more that could be done so I might as well take it as it was, then when one of my friends tugged it from the back and asked why fabric couldn't be taken out at the zipper she said something like "Oh, well, I guess I could do that..." She didn't seem like she knew was she was doing at all, and she certainly didn't care if I was satisfied with the work she did. I left the store trying not to cry, convinced that my dress was ruined and I would have nothing to wear on my wedding day. At a friend's urging I took my dress to another seamstress in Roanoke, Alterations by Lynda, who did an amazing job salvaging my poor abused dress despite having a policy against re-altering dresses that other seamstresses have done bad jobs on. AND she was nice to me, which felt amazing after being treated like dirt at Chantilly Lace. I just wish I had taken it to her in the first place!

As soon as I knew Bob & I were getting married and had only 6 weeks to get it planned and exitcuted, my first thing was to chose my dress and wedding colors. Since we live in Narrows, VA, we really did not want to drive all the way to Roanoke. We were in Blacksburg doing our usual Tuesday errands with my 92 year old father and had decided we better start shopping for my dress. We went everywhere,all the dress shops and department stores in the mall, Nicky's re-sale, TJ Maxx, Ross, First & Main shops...needless to say we were exhausted and found nothing that suited me. Mind you, I was not looking for a traditional white wedding gown as I have been married before. I just wanted something pretty and a bit dressy, but I did not want to look like a "mother fo the bride" nor like I was going to the prom! As we headed back towards Narrows,Bob suggested we stop by Chantilly Lace on our way home. I was reluctant but agreed. Brittney, the awesome sales gal there remembered us from our friend's wedding back in May, Bob had rented his suit there. She proceeded to tell us there was a minimum of 2 months to order a dress! Yikes! We did not have 2 months! She was helpful in saying that we were welcome to browse around and see if we could find something off the rack. Depressed and exhausted, I was just walking around in circles when I heard, "Honey, what is your size again?" I turned and there was Bob holding up a couple of beautiful long dresses that definately interested me. He found the mother load. One rack full of dresses my size! We picked four dresses and the last one was PREFECT! No alterations needed, and the color was just right for a Fall wedding. As we walked up to the counter to purchase the dress, Brittney really made our day when she not only wrapped up the dress so carefully, but she gave us an incredible price for it. Thank you, Chantilly Lace and Brittney for helping me and making me a very happy bride! Jan Shawhan-Martin

As we all know, there aren't too many options in Blacksburg. I have gone to Chantilly for all of my prom dresses and bridesmaid dresses so when it came time to get my wedding dress altered, I knew that their seamstresses always do a really good job (although it is a bit pricey). If you are just looking for great alterations, this is the place to go. However, if you are looking for a sweet, friendly staff to help you select your perfect dress, look elsewhere. The woman that owns this place is always pretty hateful and made many passive aggressive comments to my friends and I over the years. As a previous reviewer said, watch out if you are fairly nontraditional or in my case, getting a dress altered there that you purchased elsewhere. My dress was a couture brand that they don't carry and had a detachable train (so the rest of the dress needed to be hemmed evenly around). The owner did my fitting and kept trying to convince me to leave it longer in the back. I kept telling her 'no, this is how it is supposed to be'. Finally, I got my point across but it was super irritating. Like I said though, other than that, the alterations are great, and the selection for dresses is good considering it's Blacksburg.

I bought my wedding dress at Chantilly Lace. The manager was always so nice and very helpful. The tiara I bought had some missing stones and they tried to re-order it but it was discontinued, so they gave me some money off of that, which was good. When we picked up the dress for the bridal portraits some of the things that needed to be fixed (bustle, broken string on corset, etc.) but it turned out okay. They fixed it in time for the wedding. The day of the wedding my zipper broke, very cheap zipper, so that was very annoying, but we made it work and Chantilly fixed it after the wedding just so I could keep it for some reason for the future. The manager was awesome, just want to point that out again!

I loved the dress I found there! The owner of the place isn't very nice though, but she may have just been having a bad day - she does run two stores. Anyway, all was fine except for trying to schedule fittings since there's only one person there who is allowed to do them, and she was constantly on vacation. The prices are good though! The selection is great too.

If you are living in Blacksburg, Chantilly Lace is a no brainer. They have a wide variety of dresses from a multiple designers at very reasonable prices. The staff is knowledgeable and very professional though sometimes not particularly friendly. However, they are very clear and easy to work with. If you are a non-traditional bride (I wore blue shoes- they were shocked) be prepared for a little resistance but just ignore that and you'll be fine. As I said before the dresses are great. I looked a other places both in the area and in Los Angeles (where I was living) and chose Chantilly Lace.

Selection and quality of merchandise is very good, as was the quality of the alterations I received. However, staff members did not seem very supportive or flexible. It was often hard to get assistance when needed. Prices were about average.

Dress was perfect. Alterations went smoothly and everything was done on time. My dress was also very reasonably priced...it looked like it cost a lot more than it actually did.

I tried on many many dresses at numerous different boutiques. I live right outside of Washington DC and found the boutiques here very stuffy and pretenious. I went to this boutique due to location and they were one of the only boutiques that carried the line I wanted on the Easy Coast. The woman who helped me there was perfect. She bent over backwards to help me and made me feel gorgeous. All the fittings were great and the price that they gave me for my dress was $400 cheaper than the same dress was in DC.

The only downside was that I had an appointment for a fitting at right around the same time as prom. The place was PACKED with high school girls and because they had already made the sale with me for my dress, I got very limated attention and was frustrated when I left that day.

The day of my wedding my dress looked perfect. They dyed my shoes and they were a perfect match. I also had them preserve my dress and was overall very happy with Chantilly Lace.

Alfred Angelo, Alfred Sung, After Six, B2, Bari Jay, Belsoie, Bill Levkoff,
Jessica McClintock, Jim Hjelm, Mori Lee, Vivian Diamond, Watters & Waters, Wtoo, and Dessy dresses for your bridesmades are available. They make the alterations necessary for the perfect fit that gives the perfect look. The friendly staff will help you find just the right look to complement the brides gown choice.