The Ultimate Bride

Ask for Sheila! She is great to work with and found a dress I never would have thought I wanted but that I lit up in as soon as I had it on. Between the alterations and the dress and slip, it all seemed a bit expensive, but I got a beautiful dress, and the seamstress went above and beyond, taking home the material we had cut off of the bridesmaid dresses to create a special sash for the flower girl to match the beautiful blue color exactly. My dress was designed by Elizabeth James, a British designer whose dresses are only found at The Ultimate Bride in St. Louis, and the girls wore Mackenzie Michaels dresses. Although I had one bridesmaid that was 8 months pregnant when it was time to order the dresses, and one that was pregnant on my wedding day, they were able to get all of the dresses in with time to be altered, and everyone's dresses fit great for the wedding. My seamstress was able to create a complicated double French bustle so I could still show off a lot of the intricate beading on the train of my dress at the reception without sitting on my dress, and she was able to alter the beading on the front of the dress to better suit my tastes. They were so busy that sometimes it was hard to get responses from them about when dresses were coming in or changing a size of a slip, but overall, they were a great company to work with. Oh, and they offer a discount if you use Savvi Formalwear for your tuxs!

Fantastic selection and brought in specific gowns for me to try on! Was also great for the entire bridal party! Thanks so much!

You cannot go wrong with The Ultimate Bride when it comes to a wedding dress. It's worth a visit - I promise. I was debating between a less expensive gown at David's Bridal and the gown I ended up selecting at the Ultimate Bride... money of course was the issue. I can honestly say I'm so glad I splurged on my wedding dress. Not only was it perfect, but the service at the Ultimate Bride can't be competed with. Alana McKnight and her sales team are friendly, professional and I swear just as happy as you are to be shopping for a wedding dress. After dealing with several different David's Bridal locations thanks to my bridesmaids, I'm so grateful I choose the Ultimate Bride. Their service is barnone! All the best ladies - Heidi Laws Blue

I decided to go with The Ultimate Bride for my bridesmaids' dresses since they were the only vendor close enough in the area that provided Jim Hjelm dresses. Unfortunately, I've heard stories about their staff before - not very positive ones - but the dresses were beautiful and I decided to go with their services nonetheless. In addition, The Ultimate Bride offers a 15% discount off of all bridesmaid dresses in conjunction with Savvi Formalwear if the groomsmen decide to get their tuxes there. The real complaint I have with The Ultimate Bride is the staff - they did not seem very organized at all, and when I tried to explain which types of dresses I wanted for each girl, it had confused them more than once. It shouldn't have been too hard to understand. I had four bridesmaids and I let them choose their own Jim Hjelm dress style, as long as it came in the same fabric and the same colors. The staff at The Ultimate Bride couldn't get these orders straight to save their lives. I had been anticipating this, unfortunately, from what I've heard from other brides, so I made my bridesmaids order their dresses by June. The wedding was in October. Maybe it was the fault of the dress manufacturer in New York - but two dresses arrived in the wrong color. Twice. Only one dress arrived on time in the right size and the right color, one dress arrived late, and two dresses were both late and completely wrong. Instead of notifying me about the screw-up, the staff at The Ultimate Bride had shipped the dresses back and put in a second order. When it was time for the bridesmaids to get their alterations, only two girls had their dresses. The second order had arrived three weeks before the wedding and the colors were STILL wrong, so they had to put in an additional rush order again. My girls literally got their dresses a week and a half before the wedding. This, in my view, is absolutely unacceptable, especially if the dresses were ordered in June. The professionalism of the staff is way below par and they didn't offer any additional discounts for my bridesmaids, even though the service was terrible. The price didn't help things since Jim Hjelm dresses are naturally expensive, and by the time the dresses came in I was too busy lamenting over the fact that I had chosen The Ultimate Bride in the first place and making my girls pay that much money for such terrible service. However - after all that trouble, the dresses turned out beautiful, but it really should not have cost so much over so much hassle. If I would do it all over again, I would forfeit the Jim Hjelm dresses and go with another dress store if it meant quicker and more professional service.

I decided to go with The Ultimate Bride for my bridesmaids' dresses since they were the only vendor close enough in the area that provided Jim Hjelm dresses. Unfortunately, I've heard stories about their staff before - not very positive ones - but the dresses were beautiful and I decided to go with their services nonetheless. In addition, The Ultimate Bride offers a 15% discount off of all bridesmaid dresses in conjunction with Savvi Formalwear if the groomsmen decide to get their tuxes there.The real complaint I have with The Ultimate Bride is the staff - they did not seem very organized at all, and when I tried to explain which types of dresses I wanted for each girl, it had confused them more than once.It shouldn't have been too hard to understand.I had four bridesmaids and I let them choose their own Jim Hjelm dress style, as long as it came in the same fabric and the same colors. The staff at The Ultimate Bride couldn't get these orders straight to save their lives.I had been anticipating this, unfortunately, from what I've heard from other brides, so I made my bridesmaids order their dresses by June. The wedding was in October.Maybe it was the fault of the dress manufacturer in New York - but two dresses arrived in the wrong color. Twice. Only one dress arrived on time in the right size and the right color, one dress arrived late, and two dresses were both late and completely wrong.Instead of notifying me about the screw-up, the staff at The Ultimate Bride had shipped the dresses back and put in a second order. When it was time for the bridesmaids to get their alterations, only two girls had their dresses. The second order had arrived three weeks before the wedding and the colors were STILL wrong, so they had to put in an additional rush order again. My girls literally got their dresses a week and a half before the wedding. This, in my view, is absolutely unacceptable, especially if the dresses were ordered in June.The professionalism of the staff is way below par and they didn't offer any additional discounts for my bridesmaids, even though the service was terrible. The price didn't help things since Jim Hjelm dresses are naturally expensive, and by the time the dresses came in I was too busy lamenting over the fact that I had chosen The Ultimate Bride in the first place and making my girls pay that much money for such terrible service.However - after all that trouble, the dresses turned out beautiful, but it really should not have cost so much over so much hassle. If I would do it all over again, I would forfeit the Jim Hjelm dresses and go with another dress store if it meant quicker and more professional service.

I decided to change my wedding dress at the last minute from a dress I had purchased at a different store. I went to Ultimate Bride and they worked with me tirelessly to help me find the dress of my dreams with no time to spare. I also got the bridesmaids dresses there and they came out beautiful as well. Excellent tailoring as well.

Overall, The Ultimate Bride did an excellent job with my wedding dress. I loved my dress and my veil. The professionals they have there to make alterations did a WONDERFUL job as I ended up losing 15 pounds after I ordered my dress. Everyone was always nice and friendly when I went in there or called. They are pricey, but they do offer discounts if you use Savvi for the guy's formalwear and I bought my veil at a trunk show and got it at a discounted price as well.

I am very torn on this review. By the time I visited the Ultimate Bride, I had tried on over 100 gowns at 4 or 5 different shops, thinking MY dress just wasn't out there. I gave them an idea of my budget including alterations, a description of what I was looking for, and we began to try on. I ended up falling in love with THE dress. Then I looked at the price tag. Even with the 25% discount I got for getting tuxes from Savvi, the dress was well over budget, even without considering alteration costs. I am very lucky that mom gave the thumbs up and let me get it anyway. If we hadn't had the money to splurge, I wouldn't have been able to get the dress after all that searching, and I would have been heart broken.Once I got the dress, the alterations cost even more than what was given to me as an estimate because of the intricate beading on the dress. We also ended up having to buy a wrap to cover the rules at our Catholic Church ceremony location. Jim Hjelm the designer was a big enough pain in the butt to deal with, but I really wasn't happy that I felt as though I needed to stay on top of the ladies at Ultimate Bride to get things done instead of them handling things without me having to worry.I'm glad I went to Ultimate Bride, as they were the only one in St. Louis with a sample of the dress, and one of two that even carry the designer in wedding gowns. I also know I got a great price for that dress (even though it was over budget and wasn't supposed to be shown to me), and I appreciated the Savvi discount. Just beware of them showing you dresses out of your budget. I've heard it happens to a lot of brides there. NO surprise considering they work on commission.

This is a warning review. Just warnin' ya!I went to UB in August and met with Kara, a wonderful consultant who spent over an hour with my mom & I, pulling dresses happily and listening intently to my needs. She was really great. I narrowed it down to 3 dresses, so was excited to return to UB and re-try them on with my bridesmaids in tow.I made an appointment for 2:30pm on a Saturday. I received no reminder phone call on Friday, which was somewhat of a concern. I ended up calling on Saturday around noon, and was told that Kara wouldn't be available to work with (darn!) but that I would definitely be taken care of. Ha!My bridesmaids and I stood in the main lobby for about 15 minutes, literally being ignored, while others were helped. I finally let a woman (who did not look busy) know that we were here & ready for the appointment. STRIKE 1.After a consultant pulled my 3 dresses, I was left to my own devices with my bridesmaids to get into the dresses. Our "consultant" literally disappeared the moment I walked into the dressing room. She came back once briefly, and we explained 1 of the 3 dresses was missing. She leaves to (maybe?) go hunt it down. For 15 minutes. STRIKE 2.After waiting around with no one in sight to help us, we grab Consultant #3 to inquire what the deal was. We explained a dress from the original 3 was missing but we hadn't seen our consultant in awhile. She finds said dress immediately (yay!) But then, disappears.Who is helping us?!? I'm buying a $2K dress, I would imagine I'd receive better service than at Macy's. Sheesh!After all that, my bridesmaid overheard a *Not Busy* consultant telling other *Not Busy* consultants that she had just sold 5 bridesmaid dresses. Nice. So apparently you all work on commission and like to brag about it in front of customers. We all agreed this was extremely unprofessional. STRIKE 3.Ultimate Bride, you're OUT!Don't get me started on how dingy the place looks, inside and out. I'm sorry, but if you're selling expensive gowns wouldn't you want to spiff the place up a bit? Maybe switch out the cruddy hunter green carpet from the early 90s? Just sayin'.I will be purchasing my dress from Town & Country Bridal, who I highly recommend. I was very surprised with my UB experience, actually - considering how awesome my 1st appointment went. If you must go to UB, only ask for Kara. Otherwise, RUN.

After shopping around for a wedding dress the quest ended at the Ultimate Bride on Brentwood. My daughter wanted a wedding dress entirely of lace and they had the best selection. She picked out a designer dress and wowed everyone. It was the most beautiful dress! The alteration staff was extremely good at what they do too.

Working with Ultimate Bride was a pleasure and I had a GREAT experience! You describe what you are looking for or what you like in a Bridal gown and they pick some options for you to try. It was stressfree! The only negative I had was you have to make an appointment and you can never just walk-in. (not too bad of a negative really.) Also, the dresses were around $1,000 but had lots of beautiful details. I highly suggest checking them out!

I purchased my Jim Hjelm bridal gown from Ultimate Bride. I feel like I am in the minority when I say that I think they had great customer service and were extremely accommodating. I even got them to press my dress for free!

Bridesmaid Dresses - Jim Hjelm 5780 in Moss green
We got so many compliments on these dresses. All of the girls looked great, however, there were so many errors on the sizing and the order, and alterations were costly. My mother began to question their integrity a bit. But I, as a Bride, had no problems with them.

We visited Ultimate Bride for one bridesmaid dress. The shop was very unorganized and a bit cluttered. The staff was decent to us- it could have been better. But they did in fact shows us around and helped us pick out the bridesmaid dress. The dress turned out to be really nice and the bridesmaid really liked it. So other than the shop being cluttered and the shop being a bit unorganized everything else was pretty decent. So we were happy we got the bridesmaid dress at Ultimate Bride.

The service there was amazing. Literally when I walked in the door my sales rep. always knew my name. I felt so welcome and everyone was so nice. They had so many dresses to choose from that I had to come back on more than one occasion to try them all one. I received my bridesmaid’s dresses from there as well. They all loved the services as well. The only problem we had were the alteration staff. They were a little difficult to work with, but in the end it all worked out for the best.

This is one of the fancier bridal stores in the area, but it actually has a poor reputation. I casually went it and just wanted to see if they had any dresses I liked. They had one that I loved, but it was out of my price range. They completely worked with me on the price and I ended up buying a sample gown and got a great deal! I get the sense that they have high turnover, but they ladies were always kind and knowledgeable. I think some people are turned off because you are not allowed to pull dresses yourself. I was fine with this and they ended up finding my perfect dress just by my description of what I was looking for.

I had a really great experience here. My mom came to visit and we went to try on dresses during the Jim Hjelm trunk show because those dresses looked nice in the catalogues. Well, when I told Kimberly about what we were looking for and described the girls, she right away started bringing out dresses by After Six, and they were really perfect. She didn’t even try to push the more expensive ones! We ended up going with the After Six style, and the girls all really liked it. They felt beautiful, and were pleased with the price. There was a little mix up in shipping the dresses, two of the girls’ dresses got swapped, but the store corrected it quickly and painlessly. I was very pleased.