Gowns by Design Bridal Salon

This place is great. Unlike the other reviews I took plenty of pictures of multiple dresses & I had one of my appointments with the actual owner. There are plenty of dresses (too many is too overwhelming) and they are all in great shape. I ended up buying my wedding dress here and I will be getting fitted in March! Just recommend making an appointment so they can set the dressing room aside for you.

I agree with Daisy — the earlier reviews are not very accurate. I had an amazing experience at Gowns by Design and highly recommend it for brides shopping for the perfect wedding gown.
I’m from Mechanicsburg but live in Washington, DC and wanted to share my first bridal shopping experience with my family, which includes my mom, dad, sister, sister-​in-​law, two grandmas, a niece, and one of my bridesmaids. I know, it was quite the entourage. Truth be told, I assumed that I would find my dream dress at a fancy shop in DC and this appointment would just be a fun day to try on dresses with my fam.
I made an appointment with Debbie and told her how many people would be joining me. She set us up in the large fitting room off of the main showroom and it was spacious for us all. Debbie was fantastic and extremely professional. She spent some time asking me about my style (and listened to comments from the peanut gallery) then unleashed the group to shop. Debbie totally nailed it. She came back with several dresses that were different but matched what I was looking for. Of course, Dress #2 was it. It fit me, my personality and my vision perfectly. Debbie summoned the team into the fitting room and we had a total Say Yes to the Dress moment complete with tears. However, I told her I couldn’t commit because I needed to see a few more gowns (in fancy shops in DC) and would get back to her.
Three appointments later at those fancy shops… I couldn’t find anything close to Dress #2 and they were all triple the price. Yes, I said triple. To Kristen’s point in the earlier comments, the DC shops did have a much larger selection but it was across a very broad price range ($ 2,000 — $ 30,000). My budget was on the lower end of that range so the selection of dresses at that price point actually matched the selection at Gowns by Design pretty closely.
My mom and I went back to Debbie a month later and officially said yes to the dress :) I came home a few more times for alterations and picked up my dress a week before the wedding. It was a smooth, stress free process and more fun that I ever imagined dress shopping would be. Ask for Debbie and I promise you won’t be disappointed.
One quick note — in response to L.W.‘s post, no shops allow brides to take pictures of gowns anymore before you buy it. With so many once-​worn websites and discount shops out there, it doesn’t make good business sense for them to allow you to take a picture of your perfect dress on your phone and then turn around and buy it somewhere else online 30 minutes later. With that said, after I bought my dress at Gowns by Design, they let me take a million photos of it in different types of jewelry, accessories and veils.

I had an overall pleasant experience looking for a dress here — the store is beautiful in an old farm house, the dressing room was large and elegant, and the dress selection is superb. I did not end getting a dress here due to some of their «rules» — they were the only salon out of 5 that I went to in Pennsylvania that did not allow us to take pictures of the dress, and they would not give us the model number of the dress so we could look it up at home. I had already been to a few places prior to shopping here, and though I really loved one of the dresses I tried on, I knew I wanted to compare it to one of my favorites at another store before committing. I am an out-​of-​state bride (I live in Virginia) so I wasn’t going to get multiple opportunities to come back. I had no intention of trying to buy the same dress elsewhere — I would have bought it there if that was the dress I chose — so I don’t think this rule is a good idea when so many other salons are much more flexible. This place is definitely worth checking out, as they have a great selection, but know before you go that there are no pictures allowed! We were still able to find the dress online by looking at all the picture from that particular line, so it seemed silly that they thought withholding that information was important.

No no no no. No. I went here to try on bridal gowns and was shocked by the lack of selection. It was an awkward and uncomfortable experience. I wouldn’t recommend this place.

This is a mediocre shop that has beautiful dresses but inadequate sales associates that detract from the overall experience.
The woman who worked with my group was very knowledgeable and tended to our needs, but very cold. I give this store two stars rather than one because she did happen to be very knowledgeable of the various things you must take in to account when buying a wedding dress, but from a customer service standpoint, she was lacking any sort of personality or warmth that makes a customer feel at ease.
Additionally, don’t bring your camera to this store! They don’t let you take pictures of anything that’s not on clearance. How you’re supposed to go home armed with enough information to make your decision without pictures, I’m still not sure. But you will not be allowed to take pictures so you might as well go elsewhere because most places let you and everyone knows how important those pictures can be.
I wouldn’t say this is a bad store. I’m saying it could be a lot better and there are stores that are a lot better in the Harrisburg area. Try them first.

Take the previous reviews with a grain of salt. I’ve gone to Gowns by Design for every significant formal event in my life, and would recommend it to anyone and everyone.
I live in Chicago, am getting married in Northern VA and decided to buy my wedding gown, bridesmaid dresses and mother of the bride dress at Gowns By Design because they have always treated me well. Having spent 10 years of my life in Mechanicsburg, I had the pleasure of getting my prom, winter gala and homecoming dresses at Gowns by Design, and I have so many amazing memories to go along with each of them. I even was able to wear one of my timeless winter gala formal dresses again this year (11 years later) for a black tie formal at my fiancé’s grad school. My sister got some dresses here as well through the years, and ended up traveling a few hours to get her wedding dress there 4 years ago.
I went to many dress shops in Northern VA and, while i found a few pretty dresses, I didn’t find «the one.» Service was also lacking in VA, as everyone there sees you as a 30 minute time slot and dollar signs. I was in love with both Pronovias and Maggie Sottero gowns, and Gowns by Design just happened to carry some dresses from both lines. They were very patient with me as I tried on each gown; and Jennifer, Karen, Diane and Debbie have all offered honest opinions when I asked for them. I ended up buying a gorgeous Pronovias wedding gown, and have been back for a couple fittings so far (Jennifer is amazing at alterations, and I don’t trust anyone in VA to do a better job). My bridesmaid gowns are Jim Hjelm and my mom got a beautiful Daymor gown.
Jennifer has always been willing to work with my schedule (since my alterations have to be made when I’m able to fly home to VA and drive up to PA), and she has even altered her own personal plans to make mine work. I am so excited to go there in a couple weeks for my final dress fitting.
Give them a try, and know that if they don’t have your perfect dresses, they may be able to order them and will ALWAYS offer advice if you ask for it. For best service, make an appointment and go with some sort of initial idea of where you’d like to start.
Thank you Gowns by Design for making me feel beautiful at every stage of my life!