I absolutely love my dress, the staff and the seamstress. However, I absolutely regret giving my business to Irma, the rudest owner I have ever dealt with in the bridal industry or customer service industry as whole, for that matter. Between ...my sister's wedding two years ago and my upcoming wedding, we bought 22 dresses (not exaggerating) from Irma's, many of those also altered at Irma's. The staff is great and our dresses were beautiful and fit wonderfully, however, by the end, I wish I would have taken the time to find them elsewhere solely so as not to have given Irma the business. Here are the reasons why:
1) She always requires you have your paper receipt on you (at all visits, no matter whether the dress has been fully paid for or not). Irma, it is 2015 - get a computer! This wouldn't be that big of a deal other than the ridicule that she lays upon you in front of the entire store if you forget it. This includes, embarrassing my sister's sister in law beyond belief for accidently throwing her receipt away and making my future mother in love drive home (in the snow!) to get the receipt to pick up her (that she had already paid for!) dress.
2) She pressures you to order a dress way too big; when you refuse, you need to sign your life away to get a smaller size which, in most cases, ends up being too big as well. (Can I mention the alterations for my dress were $400+....hmmm)
3) After the thousands you spend, she then makes you pay $30 to have your dress steamed. Not only should this be a courtesy, but when I didn't have the additional $30 at the time of my fitting, she made a point of reprimanding me and then clearly explaining to me that if I didn't pay it next time I came, she wouldn't steam the dress or even give me the dress.
4) When my sister went to try her dress on for the final time, there was a smudge on it. My sister politely pointed it out to Irma who then asked my sister, and I quote, "Did you have a little boy hug you." The dress was in Irma's possession at all times and at no point was there ever a little boy with us, around us or even in the store while my sister had that dress on.
5) The store showed my future mother in law the exact dress my mom had already ordered for my wedding. Thankfully my mother in law recognized the dress and told them no way.
6) She dictates to you when you can come in to pick your dress up - by the way, you can only do so during work hours on weekdays. Convenient.
At some point during her career, it seems Irma has forgotten that she serves the customer and not the other way around.
I understand running a tight ship, but on multiple occasions my sister and I, our mother's and mother's in law's and bridal party were all made to bow to Irma's strict rules and suffer her rude personality.
Despite the thousands that we spent there, I would rather have spent a few hundred more to deal with another vendor. The small difference in price is not worth the aggravation of dealing with Irma, the lack of respect for customer loyalty and the general rude demeanor she displays.