Brides by Demetrios

I was completely disappointed by the customer service there! They didn’t greet us when we walked in and. Just automatically assumed I was going to buy from them and started telling me that I needed to order as soon as possible extremely pretentious and rude women that work there we I did not even want to try anything on! Even my niece said it was eerie in this place!

I am surprised at all of the negative reviews… Demetrios was my very first stop for dress shopping. Both of my sister-​in-​laws got their beautiful dresses here, and they both had great experiences, so it was just the logical place to try. From the moment I walked through the door, I felt at ease. The ladies greeted and welcomed my party and I, and we were seated right away. The consultant, Annalise, was very helpful from beginning to end. She took me through the aisles of dresses, asked what I liked, and from there picked out a handful of beautiful selections for me to try. I insisted that I wanted a bridal cape, so she even picked out dresses she thought would go well or went with capes. (I did not end up with a cape, but I left happy and satisfied nonetheless).
No, they do not allow you to take photos of dresses you’re trying on which is understandable. It’s typically the designer’s call as to whether or not this is allowed.
Not once did the ladies make me feel uncomfortable or rushed. They worked with me, spoke with me, critiqued with me, and really tried their best to make my experience as easy as possible. This was especially great for me as an inexperienced bridal shopper; I had no idea what I was really looking for. At the end of the appointment, I was starting to lose hope, but lo and behold, the manager goes and pulls out one of the newer designs from the back, and there it was: my dream wedding dress. (It was like she observed/​pieced together all the aspects I liked from the other dresses I tried… Hello, Fairy Godmother.) They allowed my mom to browse the aisles and pick out my veil, and they even outfitted my dress with an exquisitely shiny belt. Overall, the shopping experience was excellent.
While purchasing the dress, they gave me a detailed outline of expectations and charges, so I knew exactly what I was getting into. My dress arrived a few months later (on time), and it just as beautiful as I remembered it. My alterations appointment is in a few weeks, and as the constultants told me, the seamstress is a pro, so I will see by then (and update my review too). For now, I have to say I recommend Demetrios if you’d like wonderful and attentive help for dress shopping.

In the beginning, Brides by Demetrios seemed like a Godsend when I spent FOREVER looking for a dress! I was relieved that I had finally found a consultant who know what she was doing and knew how to find the world’s most indecisive bride her dream gown! Natasha was AMAZING when it came to finding me my dream dress after I thought there wasn’t one out there. My dress was perfect, the design was flawless and EXACTLY what I wanted… until the dress came in. Upon receiving the dress, the beading was sketchy and done HORRIBLY, the appliques had strings hanging from them and there were beads missing. The rhinestones were crooked and not enforced onto the dress well enough to stay on through wearing the dress for even a few minutes. I paid the in-​house seamstress almost $ 300 to «fix» the gown. I live 3 hours away from the Demetrios location so I was unable to see the dress other than for the fitting and final fitting– upon trying on the dress with the seamstress for the 2^nd time, the beading still looked AWFUL! I finally advised the consultants that they SHOULD KNOW how the dress needs to look before presenting it to the customer FOR HER WEDDING! They agreed and said that after the 4^th time the seamstress «fixed» the dress, it looked great… I trusted them to deliver a beautiful dress. Upon pulling the dress out of the bag AFTER arriving at my out-​of-​state destination wedding, the belt and appliqué at the waist of the dress was FALLING OFF. They had not reinforced either the appliqué or the beading well enough to stay put! there were pulls in the satin and again, some more beads were missing! I had to hire a seamstress to come fix my dress on-​the-​fly, which cost a fortune! This last minute seamstress was able to come to my hotel, away from where she would normally work, and with ONLY A NEEDLE, THREAD and some SCISSORS, FIX Demetrio’s seamstress’ problem in 30 minutes flat! Thank God for her. Shame on you, Demetrios!

We visited here last weekend for a bride to be to try on some wedding dresses. The service was really great! The thing that I extremely dislike about the place is that you’re not allowed to take pictures of the brides in their dresses. This «rule» is ridiculous. It’s hard to make a decision about the dress you want to wear for your one wedding day (unless you’re Liz Taylor) and pictures sure do help you make that a important decision. Why can’t you take pictures there? Are they afraid someone will take the picture and have the dress copied? I think that’s silly because a person can take any picture from a magazine and have their dress made. If that were the case, they would be copying dresses from magazines anyway… Not from a bridal shop. My feel is that they lose a lot of customers because of this policy. It makes them look haughty as well. Just my opinion, however.

I recently visited this shop as my very first stop on the hunt for a wedding dress. I was with my mother and two friends and we were excited to see what they carried. Unfortunately our appointment with the manager Shelly was a huge disappointment. She treated us with attitude right from the start, told us (and repeatedly reminded us) that we couldn’t take pictures because we might copy their dresses. What?! Why?! She didn’t listen to any of our feedback and just kept bringing out the dresses she wanted me to try on. By the time I was fed up with her attitude and repeatedly trying on dresses I knew I wouldn’t like we decided to leave. As we were moving out I saw another bride come out wearing a dress just like what I had been describing. By that point I had no interest in giving this shop my business, so I didn’t try it on and we went to check out Bridal Elegance instead.
Darlene, the owner of Bridal Elegance was a gem– I’d recommend trying there first!

I’m a bridesmaid for a friend who lives in and is getting married in Seattle. She chose a Dessy dress, and as this is the ONLY shop in ABQ that carries Dessy, I went there to see the dress and get measured. I was rudely informed that they could only measure me and not provide any additional information because they didn’t want responsibility if my dress didn’t fit. I was also informed that since my bride wasn’t at that store (she’s in Seattle!) and wasn’t using a Demetrius store there they wouldn’t even write my measurements on their stationary. I told them that I didn’t agree with their policy and would not look to make a purchase with them in the future because I have no control over anyone else’s wedding and who they decide to do business with and was told that I was being rude.
I’m not a fan of their service for bridesmaids and if you have out of town attendants I would consider ordering dresses through a friendlier store.

I am shocked to see the negative reviews for Demetrios. After visiting 3 dress shops in Denver and Washington DC, I was doubtful I would find a dress that I loved. I went into Demetrios in Albuquerque and the ladies there were nothing but helpful. I explained what I was looking for and they immediately started pulling dresses for me. I pointed out what I liked and disliked with each dress and (patiently) within an hour they had narrowed down the PERFECT gown for me. 5 stars for friendliness, helpfulness, and professionalism. These girls know what they are doing!

So my best friend is getting married in ABQ in June, and she chose Demetrios as her dress vendor.
I called to give them my measurements for the bridesmaid dress, and they told me they would order a dress that was a full two sizes bigger than I wear. I was very, very skeptical– especially when the lady on the phone misheard my bust size and almost put me down for a 48 inch bust instead of 38 inch. I was positive I was going to receive a dress that was way too big, and indeed I did (in fact my husband burst out laughing when I tried it on). I wish I hadn’t trusted them, the whole bridal industry is a scam.
Why pay for a $ 200 dress (plus an extra $ 30 to ship it to me out of state), when it comes NO WHERE near fitting me? Oh, because now I have to take it to a seamstress and pay someone else another $ 100 to fix it! Why couldn’t I have just received the dress in my size in the first place? I have no plans to make curtains out of the extra fabric, so my only guess is that the don’t care about ripping off their customers for as much cash as they possibly can. Ridiculous.
I now own a $ 300 lime-​green dress that I will get exactly one wear out of– awesome!
Comment to Shelley–
I was professionally measured, told the customer service representative that I wear a size 10, and she recommended they order a 14. I said «Um, no.» So she said at least a 12. She also, as I mentioned above, misheard my bust measurement. I corrected her on this immediately (as 48 is a pretty shocking number to hear) and I still received the incorrect sizing. I’m sure not everyone has the experience I had, but you should probably make sure whomever is taking your out-​of-​town orders has more sense than this girl did.

This bridal shop has excellent service. If you make an appointment, you have a personal assistant for 1 – 2 hours to help you pick out dresses and try them on. That part is awesome.
The downside, is that it’s impossible to browse the rack or see what the shape of the dresses are because they’re all bagged on the racks. I wasn’t finding what I wanted, so I looked through their own catalog. I asked if they had a few dresses, but they didn’t carry any of them.
I tried on one I somewhat liked, but it was $ 2500. A tad (ok, a LOT) over my price range. This store is expensive and carries dresses from $ 1000-​$ 3000. It also takes 6 – 8 months to order a dress in your size, plus alterations which are done by an independent contractor for another ~$ 300. If you can’t wait 6 – 8 months, I was told the fastest they can do it is rushed to 4 – 5 months for an extra $ 300. Or you can buy one off the rack that everyone has been trying on with makeup smears and dirt on the hem (and several with broken zippers) and have is altered from a size 10 – 14 that they come in to whatever size you are (I’m a 2). I’m not sure that would fit so well…
Then there was a Cosmobella trunk show this last weekend of their lower cost collection. They got a few in I had asked about from the catalog, but it just seems too disorganized and hard to find. You rely completely on your assistant’s knowledge of their inventory which can be good or bad — in my case bad. But to her defense, there are several hundred dresses that they have in the store. With changing styles every season, they need a better system.
After my assistant showed me every dress of a certain cut that she said she had, I saw another girl getting an amazing dress altered. I asked if they still carried that and they did. So I tried it on and it was the best so far. AND it was under $ 1000. However, it was very frustrating that it was exactly what I had described and she didn’t know they carried that.
To get 4 stars from me all you would have to do is have photos of every dress you carried, so I could point them out, then try them on. I hate relying on the employees knowledge because so far it hasn’t been great. Their service is amazing, but their knowledge is not up to par.
To get 5 stars, you’d have to be able to get the dress in your own size in 4 months, which is not that unreasonable compared to other shops.