The Altered Bride

I purchased a wedding dress in 12/06 and paid in full. It was supposed to be ordered using my measurements and I was reassured on several occasions by the owner that the gown was ordered. You can imagine my surprise when by September I had yet to hear anything from the salon. I called and the owner told me the gown was to be in mid-October. Mid-October rolled around and I still had no gown. I finally went in person to straighten out this issue and was told that the owner had lost the paperwork, that there was no dress, and they could take someone else's gown to try and make it look like the one I ordered (not even the same color gown). They were barely apologetic for their error, but I felt stuck in a corner. I agreed to consider a gown they had in the back that they would alter to try and make the style similar to my original gown. The owner called me and asked a ridiculous amount of money for this second gown and then became rude and hostile when I did not accept her offer. She stated "do you really think you are going to find a satin gown with two months before your wedding?" Well I actually found a beautiful Priscilla of Boston gown at VOWS in Newton and was treated with such kindness and understanding. The owner of the Altered Bride refuses to refund me my money and has been completely unreasonable and irrational. Do not take a chance with this salon when you can find beautiful gowns at reasonable prices elsewhere. There is no excuse for these kinds of experiences in the service industry and the owner should not be rewarded for this kind of behavior by getting your business. more

After reading that this shop was the Best of Boston - I made this my first stop for bridal shopping - It was an awful experience! First of all, I was not asked about my preferences - e.g., the gown I was looking for, where I was getting married, the setting, nothing....when I tried to provide details I was ignored . This all happened while this older woman on the staff picked up gowns she wanted me to try on - ushered me to the dressing room with her and my maid of honor demanding that I try these dresses on despite my expressed dislike for the gowns she selected. She then proceeded to explain that the dresses she choose were because my breasts were too large and she didn't want to see them hanging out of other gowns! After her refusal to provide me with other choices, she said "Good Luck!" This all happened within approximately 10 minutes. Although their website indicates that they service a wide range of sizes, including plus sizes, I was taken to a rack of twenty dresses where "BIG SIZES" are - aka sizes 12 and up and was told that this was all they had for "someone like me". I am disappointed and found this experience dreadful - LOOK ELSEWHERE! more

I went to the Altered Bride last August and was treated wonderfully. I wanted to alter a full-skirted, strapless, lace gown into a tea-length dress with an illusion neckline. The woman assisting me assured me that this could be done easily and even brought in the seamstress who showed me swatches of french netting and repeated the assurance that this wouldn't be a problem. The dress did not arrive until January, and this was after I had called repeatedly about its arrival and had received vague answers. When I tried on the gown (two good friends were with me), I mentioned to the seamstress what I wanted altered. When I mentioned the neckline, she stopped and said, no, this would be quite difficult and expensive to do. She then quoted me over $900 for these alterations. If I had known that my $2200 gown would require that much more in alterations, I would have ordered one closer to my specifications. When I complained to the receptionist, she asked me if I had been unaware that my gown would require alterations since it was not a custom order. The seamstress laughed when I told her I had expected to pay only around $400-500 for these special alterations. I felt humiliated and insulted by the employees. I paid for the rest of the gown and took it home, uncertain of what to do. Angry at my experience at a supposedly well-reviewed place, I wrote them a letter. The owner offered to help with alterations for the gown that I would ultimately select, although there was no indication of my receiving a discount. She also offered a free veil for my troubles. When I went into the store, which clearly has beautiful accessories, the receptionist showed me old sample veils, some of which had clearly been tried on a few times. I chose a very simple one, biting my tongue about them adding insult to injury, and left the store. I know the markups of even simple veils can be quite expensive, but this one's netting was clearly of inferior quality. I felt so stupid and embarrassed by my experience at the Altered Bride. I was married in June in a beautiful Vera Wang silk organza gown purchased a Vows in Newton, a bridal outlet, and I'm still trying to sell this other dress. I wish the Altered Bride had been more honest about its prices and services, particularly since I had been interested in making significant changes to the gown. If they had even indicated the difficulty of adding an illusion neckline, I would have been more cautious about throwing down a $1100 deposit. Furthermore, two weeks after I bought the gown Boston had its tax-free weekend (I was new to the area and unaware of it). It wouldn't have cost them anything, and it would have been courteous and friendly of them to mention this opportunity to save a couple hundred dollars. I'm sure other brides have been happy with their Altered Bride experience, but don't be lulled into complacency no matter where you ultimately buy your dress. more

Here you can find custom-made or designer dresses to suit the taste of any bride. The staff is super friendly and patient, and can handle making any bride's vision come to life. Also notable are the wide selection of other formal dresses. You can send your bridesmaid's here to have them pick out dresses they won't detest and secretly hate you for. The Altered Bride also has a wide array of accesories that are not froufy or tacky like other bridal stores in the area. more

I went to Altered Bride while searching for my wedding dress. What I loved most about this store is that the owner designs many of the gowns herself. This gives you a much better chance at an original dress. For such a dress, the prices were incredibly reasonable. The store also has the largest selection of bridal accessories out of the many stores I visited. I highly recommend this bridal salon! more

A friend recommended that I go to look at wedding gowns at the Altered Bride. I was pleasantly surprised by the unique wedding gowns that they had. The accomodating staff let me try on the dress that I ended up getting several times. The dress was made to my measurements so it fit perfectly. The only negative of my experience there was that I was told that my dress would be in in August. I called throughout the month of August and the dress finally came in early September. Since my wedding was in October, I was a little stressed that it wouldn't come in time. The prices are reasonable for a custom-made one of a kind dress. more