Exclusively Bridal

I went to a local annual Bridal Fair in February, and received a coupon for $ 50 off of a dress if ordered by the end of February. My aunt and I made the 90 minute trek to Drain. First of all, Exclusively Bridal is a Family-​operated business, so the help is so-​so. The first lady that helped us thought that your bra size was your bust size… apparently that is NOT the case. I didn’t know anything about dress fittings or seamstresses… she is (supposedly.) The next lady that helped me is Bonnie (She was the one I met at the fair.) Her attitude is hit & miss. I have dealt with her for the last 11 months, and have experienced both of her moods. It was the first or second dress; when I FOUND THE DRESS! Throughout this year, I have paid the shop $ 723 for the dress, alterations, and the bustle. I have paid another $ 100 in undergarments. I have paid $ 100 in wedding ceremony supplies. In July, I took my mother there to see THE DRESS in person. I made a trip in October, to start alterations, but Bonnie said it was too early, so we only pinned the hemming because I had my Wedding Day Boots with me. I came back four weeks later to start the fitting process. I am a very «Hippy» Bride, so she let out the dress to the max. She decided that would be better all around. My dress has beading in the bodice so it was very hard to get my breasts fitted right. She had pinned the sides and was going to remember that she needed to go in about an inch on both sides. I return 3 weeks later and the chest was too big. She said, «I must have lost weight in my chest and mid-​section» because I put on another undergarment thinking it was mine when it hadn’t fit before. I believe my previous statement is more accurate. Given the wedding was a week later, she offered to fix the alterations while we went out to lunch a few blocks away. We came back and I tried the dress on once again, and it fit great. We owed about $ 67 for the final bill, and the older woman (she is a dear) but wasn’t paying much attention to the records; it was my mother who whipped out her debit card; before they realized maybe we haven’t paid in full. Bonnie, then got this attitude that she wasn’t charging us for her work on the dress that day. I thought to myself, «Good, it was your lack of attention on detail 3 weeks ago anyway.»
THE DAY OF THE WEDDING: My dress was Beautiful and everyone complimented me on how flattering it fit on my plus-​size body. I did NOT realize this until I was sitting in a secluded room waiting to be walked down the aisle by my brother, but my dress had little strains of thread coming out from my dress. (I am the only one that noticed.) Just giving everyone a heads-​up on product quality.
My dress was getting stepped on because the bustle would not stay put. Luckily, my dress is still in one piece. I do NOT think I would go back to Exclusively Bridal to purchase a Bridesmaid or any kind of dress given the chance.

Ah Drain… I was the «friend» who took Betsy to Exclusively Bridal. I put the word friend in quotes because I’m sure she was wondering the moment we drove up whether or not to kick me out of her wedding!
Yes, Exclusively Bridal is in one of the most ghetto buildings, in one of the most ghetto towns in Oregon. However, I received great service when I went there looking for my wedding dress, as did Betsy. There are some hideous dresses that you may have to sift through (one girl who was in the shop my first visit there called a prom dress «puketastic») but some perserverance will pay off! You can find great dresses for reasonable prices.
Unfortunately, EB didn’t have the dress I had fallen in love with (and had to search far and wide to get) So I had to buy elsewhere where the service was not nearly as good. If you can find your dress here, I’m sure you will be treated well throughout the process.

The Location: It’s in Drain, Oreogn!
The Building: As we pull up to this old wood building, maybe build in the 1960’s and has never been repainted or touched since then, I couldn’t understand WTF my friend thinking?
The Experience: We stepped inside and immediately we were warmly welcomed. The lady took my bust measurement and sent me off to pick anything I wanted to try! The selection! THE SELECTION WAS HUGE! The outdated store was bursting from the seems with new Casablancas and Maggie Sottero dresses. It was amazing! They had real women sizes too! I found over 30 dresses that would happily fit me and my size 14 booty! I found 3 dresses that I LOVE LOVE LOVE!!! I’ll go back in a few months to try them on again and make my final decision!
I will buy from them. I will recommend them! I will not judge a book by it’s cover again!