Montclair Collection

My bridesmaids were very satisfied on all the selection here. And i was able to pick a style which suited everyone.

Even though I did not eventually end up purchasing my gown through this salon, I wanted to write up a review on them. I went in this salon with my Mom for my very first gown search and had a wonderful experience. The two saleswomen that I dealt with were very sweet and very patient with me given that it was my first bridal gown experience. I truly had no idea of what I wanted going in, giving them a description of gowns I liked in magazines that spanned the spectrum from ballgown to mermaid. They were very kind and brought me a ton of different gown styles and had no problem with me doing a little digging of my own ("digging" is a relative term because this salon does not have a HUGE selection). I ended up loving a very simple bias cut gown with a sweep train by Pronovias, but using my bridal wisdom did not order it on the spot and ended up looking around even more just to be sure. While I did end up finding my dream gown from another store since the Montclair Collection didn't carry the designer, I still highly recommend this boutique salon. They have a gorgeous selection of European styled gowns (either because the gown is from a European designer of because the style is European) that you won't find anywhere else in the area. I also found that the saleswomen were very honest and upfront when asked about prices from everything to the gown to alterations to cleaning. Although I cannot give this salon a full review and grade since I didn't ultimately end up ordering from them, I can say that my experience with them was wonderful and felt like shopping in a vintage store. Think vintage ballet store meets gown store.

I have never been treated so poorly! Not only was shopping for a dress here not fun, the sales woman gave my friends, my sister, and my mother attitude. They couldn't answer any questions that I had about the gown that I was trying on. I felt that they were not very knowledgable, and were only interested in telling me that I looked amazing in a dress that I obviously didn't feel comfortable in.

I was so dissapointed...........

My cousin and I both ended up buying Pronovias gowns at the Montclair Collection in Santa Monica. Because of this, I was able to negotiate the price of my gown. The service was great. They were not pushy at all, although Iâm not as enthusiastic about recommending them because I realize that they do mark up their prices. Do your research and comparison shop! My gown was definitely an impulse buy, but I have absolutely no regrets.

THey were really nice and attentive to me before I bought my dress, but now that I've purchased a gown (which I love) they seem to make less effort.

I like the seamstress there (can't remember her name), who seems more genuine and was able to tell me which dress looks better on me. She honestly points out the flaws of one dress I was trying, and suggests another one (which I eventually bought) even though the latter was actually a lot cheaper than the one I was trying.

Overall, good dress collection, cheaper than the big bridal salons like mon amie, good customer service in the beginning.

I took forever trying to decide which dress to get. I realy liked the salesperson I had at Montclair, Shireen. She spent a lot of time with us and was very personable. The owner on the other had seemed a liitle cold. I eventually narrowed it down to 2 dresses I saw at MaryLinn's in Pasadena but that store was far for me to drive back and forth to. Montclair had the same dress but it was more expensive, but they're much closer and I liked their more personable service I received. I went back and told them I found the same dress somewhere else for cheaper, and they matched the price, even went a little under and gave me 20% off accessories. I went ahead and ordered with them. True there was no communication afterwards (but I didn't need to communicate anything) but I just got a call the other day saying my dress had arrived, it's been almost exactly 6 months, just as they had said.

After visiting six bridal salons in the LA area, I ended up getting my dress at Montclair. The day I bought the dress, the service was very good. (Not excellent, but very good.) I think the reason I was really sold is they had a decent selection of the designers I was interested in, and the dress that I fell in love with sold itself. It was definitely one of the shabbier of the salons that I visited, but I loved the dress so much that I didn't care.

I'm sad to say that after my experience, I would not recommend this vendor. (In fact, I have three friends who just got engaged and I steered them away from Montclair because of my experience.) First of all, as it has been noted, the service does go downhill once you buy. I think that's somewhat to be expected. (However, I did end up spending a few hundred dollars there on my jewelry and veil.)

The alterations process wasn't that smooth as well. I was fortunate that the size I ordered fit me beautifully. The only real alterations the dress needed was taking the hem up. For that, I was charged $450. I knew that it was expensive for the work that needed to be done, but I figured it was easier than finding another place. Also, I had to argue with the seamstress to get the bustle I wanted -- she wanted to do the easy way of bringing it outside, but I wanted it to come from underneath.

Cut to one week before my wedding. I went in for the final fitting, which included tacking some pieces of lace down and sewing my strapless bra into my dress so that it wouldn't peek out the top. It turned out that the person who was pressing my dress had also ripped out one of the ribbons that held up the bustle, so that had to be redone. I asked if it would be ready the following Friday, and was told that it would even be ready the tomorrow. But I said Friday was fine.

I go to pick up my dress two days before my wedding and it had not been touched since I was there for my fitting -- still full of pins. They had me sit and wait while the seamstress quickly did the work that needed to be done. (She even had to abandon a poor girl during her fitting to do the work.) It turned out that she was using glue instead of stitching. GLUE!! On my $4k dress!! When trying it on later, I saw that the glue had seeped through the lace and was stuck to the silk sheath underneath, causing the lace to tuck oddly. Also, the bustle that had been broken by the presser was still pinned.

After many tears, my dress still turned out to be lovely. However, by the end of the night, my bustle was hanging by a thread and I had to hold it up to dance.

All in all, I loved my dress. I got so many compliments and still love how it turned out. But this is a rating of the salon, and for how I was treated and the sub-par work that they did on my dress, I'm giving them the lowest possible rating.

I showed up for my appointment and one of their employees called in sick. Instead of calling to let us know, we showed up and were given shuttled to the side while they helped the other appointments. They might have had nice gowns, but we didn't bother staying to find out. Bad customer service.

I bought my dress here. When I bought it- they were really nice, but now that i am locked in- I think customer service is out the window. So beware.