Francia Bridal Fashion

I was referred here by someone who had purchased her Mother of the Bride dress there. Good for her because, when I walked in, in addition to the very limited selection there was ABSOLUTELY NO ONE to wait on me. One wall is all bridal dresses. The opposite wall was mostly short dresses. I looked through the few racks and found only one dress the might work as Mother of the Groom, but since it was jammed in there, I didn’t try to wrestle with the rack. There were a few pairs of shoes, but this is far from a full service bridal salon. Oh yeah, there were first communion dresses too.
My quest continues.

I used to work in the bridal industry for many moons. So where I shop for bridal gowns or bridesmaid dresses is kind of few and far between. I also try to do my homework and order early because I have seen my fair share of wedding disasters — especially dress related disasters.
So I called this location back in February for an appointment. They seemed flexible and had a good amount of available times. I made an appointment for a weekday afternoon and took my sister (the Bride) and her Maid of Honor. It was just us three and our sales lady, who I now know is the owner.
She helped us choose bridesmaid colors and then a few dresses that would come in the color my sister liked. I think she was a good mix between helpful and nonchalant — she was there to help when we wanted her but also let us do our thing and didn’t bother us with sales pitches for each dress.
We ended up with, probably, the cheapest dress in the house. It was an Alfred Angelo style that has been around for years but fit our style and budget. FYI the dress was about $ 115 but some bridesmaid dresses go all the way up to $ 300+. She fitted me for the dress and handed me a size chart so I could choose the size I wanted to order. I understand she doesn’t want to take responsibility if the dress doesn’t come in the right size but if I didn’t know anything about dresses I would be clueless as to how to order.
I recently got my postcard in the mail letting me know that my dress arrived and they took the liberty of making an alterations appointment for me. I know I will need alterations so I rescheduled it for a later time (closer to the wedding).
So far so good. Dress arrived right when they quoted me and they let me know right away. I wish they would send an email instead of a postcard though. Would save them time and money and would be easier for me to schedule my upcoming appointments.
A few FYI’s
— This place is small. Fairly good selection but the dresses seemed squished together IMO.
— They have prom, special occasion, Mother of the Bride/​Groom dresses, and flower girl dresses also.
— Like most bridal shops their hours are scattered, and they’re closed Sunday and Monday
— Bridal gowns are on the pricier side. My sister didn’t even want to try anything on because they were a couple grand at least. If your budget is under $ 1000, don’t come here for gowns.
— Shop is downtown and parking can be limited so plan accordingly.
I will update once my alterations are done!