Mon Amie Bridal Salon

Grade: B

I ordered my Lazaro dress through Mon Amie, and the dress came a month before the promised date. I received a 10% discount through a trunk show special, and that was one reason why I chose to purchase from Mon Amie. My consultant Bella was neither pushy nor sincere - she just did her job. She showed me dresses in different ranges, but all within my budget and style requests. They did have a pretty good selection of dresses. All but 2 of the dresses I wanted to try on were there (Lazaro, Ines di Santo). They did not carry the exact Pronovias I wanted to see and no Melissa Sweet wedding gowns at the time. I'm mostly neutral about Mon Amie. They did quote me two different prices on the veil I ordered ($450 difference in price), but they honored the original price. I ordered the size I wanted, even though they wanted me to order one size up so I signed a waiver. I did get hollow-to-hem included since it was ordered during the trunk show.

Alterations were very expensive (~$560), but I did ask for a lot of changes. For example, I changed my dress to a sweetheart neckline. This also included bustling, alterations on the side of the dress, alterations in the bust area and alterations in the waist. Nancy is a sweetheart, though. I did like working with her.

I was going to give them a 3, but the reason why they deserve a 4 is because I did receive a free dress through their military event. As my husband is active military, Mon Amie has a special community event honoring those in the military. They were extremely generous during this event, and their staff were doting on each and every one of us who walked in. They also gave other freebies such as a veil, shoes, bridal kit, and prizes. As a result, I was actually glad to purchase my dress from them. I ended up not wearing the dress and ordering another one, but I still believe Mon Amie is very kind to think of our military men and women.

After reading less than steller reviews, I was very very apprehensive about coming to this salon, but I had already visited every other salon in the OC. I went on a Thurs. night with my mom and sister. We looked around and the amount of dresses is staggering, they are all sectioned by designers. The girl who helped us was incredably sweet and NOT pushy at all. She stayed within our budget range and I found the perfect dress. The owner gave us a discount for buying the dress on our first visit. My measurements were taken and since I was in between sizes there was an extra charge which was annoying but thats the wedding business for you. My mom got her dress here as well. When we picked it up it was 2 sizes too big. The owner said no problem to order another dress, they were really great about sending the other dress back. Overall I had a very good experience here. I would not recommend Sat. appointments as I imagine its really crowded.

Mon Amie was the first place I dress shopped at. The sales lady kept trying to push these $10K dresses on me. I asked for cheaper, and so she brought me $7K dresses. :\ i asked her for anything cheaper, and she says, "we do, but you're not going to like them!" and so she brings in these UGLY dresses that obviously came off some old sales rack. She didn't give me many options.

oh yeah, my best friend bought her dress at Mon Amie and her $1200 dress quickly became $2200 when she walked out with her dress.

I HATED my experience at Mon Amie. I felt like they treated all the women shopping like cattle. We went to look at bridesmaid dresses and I had even called ahead to have them pull the one dress I wanted my sister to try on. We got there on time, had to wait 15 minutes for any service, the dresses were in TERRIBLE condition and the "sales person" was so beyond unhelpful that we finally walked out.
Basically, they refused to tell us anything or give us any information about the dress options until we placed an order (their words).
We left the bridesmaid dress "wing" and went over to the wedding dresses, the dresses were in such poor condition and when I told her I wanted something in the $5k range she kept saying things like "well with YOUR budget, this is not a section to be looking at" acting like I told her I could only spend $25 on a dress.
Ugg, they may have a large selection, but no thanks!!

I bought my Pronovias dress from Mon Amie. The dress is beautiful & the salesgirl was helpful at finding me a beautiful dress in my price range. I did feel that initially the consultant thought I wasn't serious about buying a dress & she seemed a little cold & annoyed. My budget was under $1,200 so that may have annoyed her as well! I do have to say that she was good at her job & helping me to narrow down my choices. She also found me a highly detailed dress for a good price. Once my mom arrived she knew that we meant business & then she poured on the sugar. I opted to not get my dress altered there since the alterations fees are out of this world. I got my dress in before the rush alterations deadline but they couldn't fit me in until after the deadline. I took my dress somewhere else & was very happy with the results.

I did my original dress shopping alone – I couldn’t get my mom to come along with me for a number of reasons. Grace was amazing – I came in on a Tuesday morning by myself for my “hour” appointment and stayed for two. She and the manager played dress up with me to our hearts content because I hadn’t given myself a specific idea of what I wanted as my gown. I tried on everything from Amy Michelson to no-name designers (Exclusives who?). They really paid a lot of attention to me and stayed within my budget.

I found my dress misplaced on a clearance rack. It wasn’t attractive in the bag. I figured I’d give it a shot. I’m so glad that they helped put together the whole package (veil, sash) because it sold me.

When I brought my mom & a girlfriend to make the final decision we weren’t pressured and the entire process went smoothly even though I ordered rather late. My dress came in two months early.

The ONLY unhappy experience I had was during the pickup. We arrived on time and were made to wait so someone buying shoes would be serviced since they were so sorely understaffed the day after Christmas. I had made it VERY clear that all I wanted to do was get in my dress, verify its fit, and get out of there (my parents moved out of state that night and we had a moving van sitting at our house while we were at Mon Amie). Unfortunately she still insisted on putting loads of expensive jewelry on me and pushing flower girl baskets and ring bearer pillows and other random things that I didn’t need, want, or wouldn’t have bought from them anyways. I opted to have my alterations done with a private seamstress (Mahtab) so I saved myself the $350+ I was originally quoted.

Grace was very sweet and helpful. She helped narrow down my focus and even had me try on dresses that I would never think to try on. She also made it fun and interesting for the people that accompanied me to Mon Amie. She had each girl pick out three dresses for me to try on. I ended up hating all the dresses I picked and loved two Pronovias gowns my girl friends picked out. The only negatives was the pricing and difficulty in getting the style number/name of the gowns to shop elsewhere.

I had a decent initial experience with this salon. On my first visit, I told them my budget and the salesperson I was working with brought me many beautiful gowns to try on, most WAY below the number I quoted her as my budget. I loved many of the gowns I tried on, but when I went around the store to look around for myself, I eyeballed a gown in the window that just screamed me. I asked the saleswoman if I could try it on, and she let me know that it was a bit above the budget I had quoted to her or else she would have brought it to me in the first place. Of course I ended up falling in love with it the second I saw it on me, but I also really liked another one of the gowns she had brought me earlier. The salesperson told me to walk down their "fake aisle" to make the ultimate decision. I did this with the two dresses I liked, and both the salesperson and the manager told me they loved both gowns but thought the less expensive one would make me happier since it was more in my budget. Their response indicated that they were most concerned with making me happy rather than selling me the more expensive gown. However, the second I tried on the more expensive gown I knew it was "the one" (as did my bridesmaids that were with me), and I made the decision to go a bit over my original budget.

Mon Amie's customer service does drop off quite a bit once you've purchased a gown there. It seems to me like once they make the sale, no more effort is to be wasted on you. They have very inconvenient alteration appointment times and are generally overpriced. I have mixed feelings on whether I would recommend them to a friend. Their selection is great and I think it's worth a visit to try gowns on, but you can do better elsewhere.

I was quite disappointed with Mon-Ami as they are pretty high pressure since the girls work on commission. They also charge you fees here and there even after purchasing a high-end gown. Also, once your gown is purchased, kiss any type of customer service GOOD-BYE!

I arrived 15 mins prior to my appointment time, only to end up waiting for 30mins. I ended up with a very nice, but odd girl, helping me as I pulled most of my dresses myself during the long wait time. I didn’t really have a budget in mind since I was simply browsing and the day before was at David’s Bridal and I thought the quality of their products were extremely poor.

I honestly think that they stage the other ladies working to ooohh and ahh over you as you try on more and more expensive dresses which made me laugh. They do get the shoes, tiaras and jewelry out and of course the veils to try and give you a completed look and they do have you walk down their faux aisle.

In any event, I ended up purchasing an Edgardo Bonilla gown for $5K that was amazingly beautiful. The trial size was a size “6” that fit perfectly but was a bit low in the bust area so they insisted that I order a “10” even after paying an additional fee to just have the bust area raised. Relying on their expertise, I did as they suggested only finding that they really like to gouge you on things like this called “specialty hems” so that when the gown comes in its supposed to be perfect for you but in fact doesn’t. My gown was HUGE! The alterations lady that you have to try your dress on with in order to pick it up couldn’t believe it. I ultimately used Mahtab who worked my alterations beautifully at half the price of what Mon-Ami quoted me! I was quite disappointed being that my dress was quite expensive to begin with and I expect full service in a high-end shop like this. There should be one price for the gown and alterations period.

**Also, one thing that Mon-Ami might think about is after a bride to be purchases her gown, give her a swatch of the fabric chosen as well as a full length picture of the gown. This will help you as you choose BM gowns, Tux’s etc…When I asked for something like this, they looked at me like I was crazy.

Based on all of this, I would NOT recommend this shop to friends or family. I actually ended up grabbing my BM’s dresses from a great place in San Diego called Bridal Veil (619-295-1588). Not only did they have a HUG selection of bridal gowns but their prices were insanely low which I will tell you that I attempted to go back to Mon-Ami to cancel my order and to do so they charge you a huge fee. LOL

Ladies, just do your checking. Quite honestly you will know the gown that is for you when you see it and even if it’s over prices, you really don’t care. Some brides like this shop, I myself, wasn’t impressed but all in all I did LOVE my gown!

Super helpful staff but be sure to have an appointment! I went to four stores to look at the same dress but they were the most pleasant here and helped find accessories to match. They really take their time on their clients. Alterations here are a little over priced though, I took mine elsewhere. Overall, defintely recommend for selection and service!

I was extremely disappointed with Mon Amie-- enough so that I ended up not buying anything from them.

I went with my mom, and they were slightly rude to us from the beginning. It wasn't horrible, but wasn't enjoyable. Two weeks later my sister was in town and she went with me, as I was still trying to decide between two dresses. When I called to make the appointment for the second visit, they let me know that it was free, but a third visit they would charge me for. Fine, not a problem.

I arrived at the appointment and they tried to charge me, even though it was only the second appt. After sorting that out, they informed me my original consultant was no longer working there and they would try and "fit me in" with someone else. They didn't bother to tell me this over the phone, of course. We waited quite some time, finally got into a dressing room. The new consultant brought the two dresses I had it narrowed down to and also two others, and tried to insist I try on these other (more expensive) dresses, too.

In any case, I decided not to purchase from them and had my dress made. They left a very sour taste.

I am so surprised to find so many bad reviews on here for Mon Amie. I had a good experience with them. After looking for a few months for my dress I found it here. Alot of the prices did seem high compared to other stores, but I was not able to find my dress anywhere else so I had to give up the cash.

Overall I was pleased with customer service and the my dress. Though I wish they were not that expensive!

Having read all of these mixed reviews, I went to Mon Amie with caution. This was my 3rd dress trip and I already had a pretty good idea of what I wanted. Based on that, the selection was ok. My experience at Mon Amie was fine at first. I arrived 45 minutes early because I was in between appointments and the front staff was very friendly. That actually ended up being time well spent because I roamed the store and figured out what I wanted/didn't want. My consultant got me about 15 minutes before my appointment and I was pretty much ready to try stuff on. I was in the store for almost 2 1/2 hours after. I ended up really liking 3 dresses and I spent probably 45 minutes trying to decide which one, trying them on several times, walking the fake aisle (which felt weird at first but REALLY helped in my decision!), etc. I did feel slightly pressured because the dresses I liked were from a trunk show that ended that night and I couldn't come back to try them on. I ended up putting down a 10% non-refundable measurement fee where it locks in the little discounts from the trunk show (10% off plus free length alteration) and gives me some time to think about which dress I wanted.

My appointment was at 4, the store closed at 5, and I made my decision around 6 pm, so I thought it was nice that they didn't pressure me to hurry up even though we were the last ones in the store. My dress was a bit under 2K, so it's not like I got anything really expensive.

*4/4/08 Update
I called them back the next business day ready to order and found out that my consultant would be out for the next 1 1/2 weeks, hich surprised me because she hadn't said who I should place my order with. I left a message for the manager who measured me. I called back the next few days trying to at least get a final price quote from other people, but I guess some of the discounts we discussed weren't written on my "file," so no one wanted to give me a quote. I spoke to at least 3 different people - another manager and some others, who were all nice, but I couldn't get an answer. They all said I should speak to my manager, but she wasn't going to be in until Saturday now and I had been advised to order by Friday to retain the discounts.

I ended up ordering from another store. The manager called me back a week after I had 1st called her, and I let her know that I was unhappy about the whole process. She apologized and still had offered to keep the trunk show discounts, but I said I had already ordered from another store since she wasn't available before Friday & I didn't want to incur any rush order fees. I also asked for a refund on the $180 measurement fee, which she also gave. I had to call back a month later because apparently, she forgot to refund that $180.

Mon Amie is such a great Salon! From the time of your first appointment with them, until the end, they are so nice! On your first appointment, they give you a questionnaire about yourself and your wedding. Then they bring you about 20 gowns to try on, and there is your saleswoman helping you to put on the dress. It isn't like any of the bridal salons in Hawaii. They are a little pricey, you could find the same dress that they have for a cheaper price if you looked, but their selection is VERY extensive. The alterations were awesome! Again, a little pricey, but it's worth it! There were no problems with my dress at all.

i orignally went to mon amie to look for a gown after reading a bunch of reviews (good & bad). i was turned on by the amount of larger size samples they had. i loved my sales clerk, she was one of the more seasoned ladies working there and i am very glad i was paired with her. i don't think i would have taken well to some of those young girls. i would advise anyone going there to ask specifically for one of the more experienced ladies. so, i lucked out and found my dress on the first trip. they waived the charge for the extended size fee on my gown. i ordered it in july and the dress arrived right before thanksgiving as they said it would. there were no issues with it except for it being pretty big, i lost about ten pounds but i was swimming in it. i decided not to do the alterations there because the drive to costa mesa from the westside was just too much of a hassle. all in all, i would say it was a nice experience.

I had a relatively good experience at Mon Amie Bridal. It was the third place that I went to and also where I found the dress of my dreams that was within my budget ($1300). I really liked my consultant. She was attentive but not at all pushy and didn't do the false "oohs" and "ahhs" that I had gotten at the previous 2 stores. The alterations specialist was also very nice. I did order a size smaller than they recommended since I told them I planned on losing a couple of pounds and knew that if I got the size they recommended, the top would be way too big. They were supportive of this and did not push me to get a size that was too big for me. I ended up not needing alterations at all.

My only complaint is that because I am petite in height, a special length was ordered for me. Now, the skirt is too short and my only option is to wear flats. That's okay with me since I'm really bad in heels. Still, I was a bit annoyed since one thing that they had insisted upon during my initial visit was that I wear 2.5 inch heels. They had me wear them when I got measured too, so I'm not sure what happened! Oh, well. So that's my word of caution to you 5'2" girls out there who having slightly longer legs!

I recommend Mon Amie for those of you who are looking for a wide selection of unique dresses. It definitely has the more exclusive designers (but at a wide range of prices) and doesn't have the warehouse feel of David's Bridal. You could find cheaper dresses at David's Bridal but the quality of the designer dresses at Mon Amie is far superior. I especially think this because I tried one of the few $1200+ dress at David's Bridal and the dress I found at Mon Amie was way waaaaay better in quality and feel at the same price. I think Mon Amie is just a nice salon to go to for the bridal salon experience. You'll find a lot of options there and will, at the very least, be able to find out what does or doesn't look good on you. Good luck to all!

Mon Amie has a huge selection and was very nice to work with. They came down on the price a little, since the dress I fell in love with was outside my budget, though not as much as I would have liked…=) They were a little pushy to get the sale, but no worse than any other bridal salon I went to.
Their customer service, however, is what gets them the grade. When my mom came in from out of town 6 weeks after I bought the dress, they not only let me come down and try it on for her, they let me try on 3 others I’d looked at so my mom could get the dress-shopping experience with me. It made her day!

My dress came in almost a month early, was in fine condition and was the size I ordered. They get the minus for 2 reasons: 1) They have weird appointment times for trying on dresses—only 2 slots a day when all the girls come down. When a friend of mine and I went for her dress, we got lost and were late, and we had to wait 2 hours for the next appointment wave. 2) Once my dress came in, I was disappointed that I hadn't followed my gut and ordered the size I thought I needed. It's way too big. Not sure if I'm cynical enough to believe that was purposeful in hopes I'd get alterations with them, so that's not the reason for the minus. Based on the material, etc. I feel I was overcharged. It could be buyer's remorse, which is why I'm not being harsher.

I had a great experience with Mon Amie, they were very courteous and professional and let me try on dress after dress. They are definitely on the pricey side and I'm sure if I would have kept looking, I could have found my dress cheaper somewhere else, but hind sight is 20/20. I did not do my alterations at Mon Amie, however, they are very expensive on that end. I used Janet Brunton instead.

I went to a sale and the lady (can't remember her name) was amazing. She wasn't pushy, and understood that my budget was around $1000. Apparently, there aren't many dresses in that price range normally, but at a sale, I was able to find a beautiful dress (off the rack) that was way below my budget. The dress definitely needed a lot of work done to fix it, but I took it elsewhere because Mon Amie was going to charge approx $500. The dresses there were more the A-line, ballroom, princess type. My initial intention was to get a simple dress appropriate for the beach, but they didn't have anything like that. The dress I left with was a princess A-Line, that I absolutely loved!

I wasn't impressed. I had heard all about how huge Mon Amie's selection was, so I absolutely had to go despite reading so many bad reviews on their customer service. Well, for one thing, Mon Amie is a bit bigger than most bridal salons, but not nearly as big as everyone made it sound. It's probably about 2x the size of the average. And they may have a lot of dresses, but personally I only found 3 in the whole store even worth trying on.

The biggest problem I had with Mon Amie is that their prices are awful!! My budget is between $1K and $2K, so they sent me to the appropriate room for that price range. Everything in there was similar to the stuff I saw at David's bridal for less than $500!!! And I only found one dress in there worth trying, and I still ended up hating it. The other two dresses I found, I only tried on at all because they were having a sample sale and both of them were 60-75% off (one was $3200 and the other $8000!!!). I would have considered getting the $8000 sample dress at 75% off, but it had a pen mark and a snag right in the front of the skirt. Needless to say the samples weren't in the greatest of shape. Even the bra they gave me to try the dresses on with was a tattered old mishappen thing that just looked awful. The veil wasn't much better.

Oh, and the reviews about the customer service? Couldn't be more right. I had an appt for 2:30, showed up right on time, gave my name and waited for 20 min. Luckily I didn't mind because I got to look around and see what they had in the whole store. The girl who eventually "helped" me couldn't be less helpful. I told her what I was looking for, and she pointed me in the direction of the $1K to $2K room, and disappeared for 10 minutes while I looked around again and picked out the 3 I wanted to try. She had picked out 2 hideous dresses (not at all what I'd said I liked) that I could try on or not (she couldn't care less), and proceded to help me into the dresses. She said about 10 words the entire time and looked about as interested as if she were watching a lecture on the migration of dung beetles or something! :?

All in all, I had a better experience at David's Bridal. Better value, better customer service. If you do go to Mon Amie and find something you like there, I'd suggest trying to find that dress elsewhere. I'd bet you'd get a better price.

SO far, so expensive and so rude, not worth the drive...

First off they have a lot of dresses, but mostly on teh more expensive side. Bella was my consutlant and she was polite, but not really friendly. She did help select a few dresses that I missed, that I really liked. She never left me alone with a dress and I didn't feel like I had enoguht time to really get the feel of it.

Watch out for their alterations costs. My friend who purchased there has had three alterations sessions! That is totally unnecessary, and a way to make extra $$$ I'm sure.

I know there have been a lot of bad things said about Mon Amie, but I had a good experience there. They have a very large selection of dresses, the store is clean and bright and the staff is helpful. I went during the middle of the week and there was hardly anyone in the store. I asked them to throw in a veil for free, and they did. I was able to take pictures without any problems as well.

They only get an A- because I know that their dresses are more expensive than elsewhere (I saw the same dress at Jinny's for $300 less). Also, they weren't quite as friendly when I came to pick up the dress.

I bought my dress here. While my dress itself was beautiful, the altercations were not done correctly. I went in for a final fitting and asked them to tighten up the top of the dress. They told me it would be done. My bridesmaid picked up the dress. When I put it on my wedding day, the alterations hadn't been done. My dress had a big gap with extra material at the top of the dress that showed up in every wedding photo that was taken head on. Big disappointment. Make sure you try your dress on before you leave the store. Which is hard to do considering it is pressed for your wedding day. I paid $400 for alterations that weren't done.
Rhonda Woody

I LOVED Mon Amie! Yes it is expensive, but the service and the dresses are well worth it. Heres a little tip for you, if you are on a tight budget they have a huge room with their as is dresses in it that have been marked down up to 75% off in sizes 6-10 that are in very good condition. Do not get your dress altered there...way too expensive. Be careful when your dress comes in that is is exactly how you ordered it. My gown was a cotour gown and I ordered it in off white and it came in white...so watch out!