Barbara's Bridal Boutique

I found Barbra on yelp and later the knot.com and I saw the good and bad reviews and still took my chances. And it didn't turn out to bad. She got the dress back to me about 10 days before my wedding and the bustle was quite nice. There was still a bit of space between my boobs and the part holding my boobs in, but totally doable. I ended up paying around 250$ total. She does have her own way of doing things and I was stressing towards the end(about everything at this point) but she did a pretty good job.

I brought my dress to Barbara four months before my September wedding, hoping to have it completed well before the wedding to avoid last-minute stress. Over the next few months, I asked her several times if she could finish it earlier than September, but she was dismissive and vaguely agreed to finish it by August, which did NOT happen. My dress was a very simple J.Crew dress with nothing difficult to work with, but despite having plenty of time (and payment up front), Barbara still could not manage to complete simple alterations within a reasonable time frame! She was extremely unresponsive--each time I tried to call or text her, I got no response for days or weeks. I even went to her shop in person one day during her regular hours when I was getting very nervous, as my wedding was two weeks away and I hadn't heard anything from her... the shop was closed and she later told me she had taken a few days off. When I finally picked up my completed dress, I had a few concerns about the work, but Barbara told me there was nothing she could do about it. At that point I hardly even cared as I did not want her to hold my dress hostage any longer--it was only one week before my wedding. To top it off, I didn't realize until the morning of my wedding that Barbara had removed the bra keeps (which I had been planning to use) from the inside of my dress without telling me!! I would NOT recommend Barbara to anyone. She caused me so much unnecessary stress and I was pretty much helpless to do anything about it.

Barbara was a dream to work with. She had a flexible schedule allowing me to come after work for my initial and final fitting appointments. Barbara put in a very beautiful and simple bustle in my dress – I was able to bustle in less than a minute! And the button she uses were so pretty. Her store was conveniently located and I am so glad I found her to help me with my dress.

Barbara has helped me multiple times with other dresses and they all turned out wonderful. I went to her in her new space in edmonds to get my wedding dress hemmed and to get a bustle added. She also adjusted some of my skirt layers so my dress "poofed" with out being so heavy. On the final fitting, I cried because she had done such a wonderful job. She had a lot going on in her summer schedule but I never felt like it was an issue for my wedding timeline.

I would recommend Barbara if looking for beautifully done wedding gown alterations! But patience and trust definitely required! She was recommended by the salon which I got my dress from and I was able to get an appointment with her the week after calling. After my first fitting, however, I began to get a little nervous when she didn't call me in for a second fitting and she had had my dress for six weeks (I was on a little bit of a time crunch with only a three month engagement). I called her to check in and she told me she had relocated her shop to her home and she would let me know when she was ready for my second fitting. Another two weeks went by before I heard from her again and so I called again and she was able to make an appointment for my second fitting. I was nervous about her getting my dress done in time and so I called the salon and they assured me I was in the best of hands! At my second fitting I found out that the salon was right! Barbara did an INCREDIBLE job on my dress! It looked beautiful and fit perfectly, she also did the bustle with beautiful crystal buttons. She did beautiful work but it was more money than the salon had originally quoted me. I spent almost $200 more than I was expecting. But definitely worth the money!

Barb was recommended to me by the bridal shop I purchased my dress from Cynderellies (my dress ended up being just under $1000)- Cynderellies was great by the way - would recommend them, but not their alterations place down the hall. Barb seemed nice enough and quoted me an amount I could handle (about $250 to take out boning, change neckline, add bustle, trim length, shorten beaded straps). At the end of it all, it seems she 'forgot' to quote my bustle into the price - so that added an extra $120. THEN she adds even more because apparently taking out the boning was 'restructuring the whole dress). TOTAL cost ended up being OVER HALF the cost of my dress!!! I never would have bought a $1000 dress if I knew I'd need $500 in alterations!!!! I would have chose a different dress. But, I had no choice. I could not pay and not get my wedding dress. THEN when it is paid for and I call to pick it up - she's OUT OF TOWN... for 2 weeks and she 'can't do anything about it'. It doesn't help when you're only open on week days. I have a job and it takes me an hour to get there - you can give it to the bridal shop next door to hold it?! No. I called my bridal store (stressed out and crying) and they went over and grabbed it and assured me it was going to be OK and not to worry - they'll take care of it. It was Barbs job to do that. I came to pick up the dress later that week and it wasn't even steamed! I ended up steaming my vial and not the woman I paid for. STAY AWAY FROM HER!