First, a tip: I found my wedding dress at another bridal shop. I then checked the website of the dressmaker to see which bridal shops in North and South Carolina sold their dresses, and I called each of those stores to price-check. Hope's was... selling my dress for $300 less than anywhere in Charlotte! It's a 30 minute drive out of town, but other than the distance, using them was great! Hope's is family-run, and the ladies that work there are so sweet. I can't speak much to their skill at alterations, since my dress only required a minor tweak - what they did do went smoothly, though. I also can't speak much to their selection, since my first time there was to get measured for the dress I'd already chosen, but it looked like they had plenty of beautiful dressed to choose from. We found my mom's mother-of-the-bride dress there, too, and she looked STUNNING. The shop is small and simple, but that made it all the better in my opinion - the various brides and bridal parties that are in there end up chatting, which makes for a fun atmosphere - very homey and sweet. Definitely a spot worth checking out!