Blaga’s Bridal Shoppe

I needed my bridesmaid dress hemmed the week of my brother’s wedding. Ms. Blaga had me in on Monday for measuring, and my dress was ready Friday. I also felt her pricing was fair, if not a little low, for getting my dress done in a rush.

From the moment i walked in, she greeted me with a smile and honest opinion! Bought my bridal dress from her and had 2 other bridesmaid dresses fitted by her and was very impressed!

Before relating my own personal Blaga saga, I will start by saying a few positive things. The store has a good selection and good pricing.
That seems like enough to give it at least a 3-​star rating, so why only the one star, you ask? Sit down and get comfortable. This story could take awhile.
At first, I was happy with the shop too. Everything seemed to be fine, and I was looking forward to relating my positive experience. I found an awesome gown at a good price. What could go wrong? The problems began when I went to pick up the dress after my second fitting. I asked the ladies at the shop if they could show me how the dress bustled. Problem #1: The dress didn’t bustle at all. Apparently, because I wanted only a very small train, the dress cannot bustle. This makes a good deal of sense now that I really think about dress construction, but not once in the 3 previous times I had been to the shop had they ever EXPLAINED this to me. The fact that my train would be dragging around all night like a gigantic tail had never once come up in conversation. I suppose in the eyes of Blaga’s I was just suppose to already know this fact having two X chromosomes. But since I’m not a seamstress, and since I’ve never been married before, it somehow didn’t occur to me. Imagine that.
Now here I made an error. Being a non-​confrontational person, I took the dress home thinking everything would be alright even though it wasn’t exactly what I wanted. I tried it on. Problem #2: I was tripping like crazy over the non-​bustling train and was not thrilled with the bottom in general. Also, they had sewn into the gown a big foofy skirt thing. I’ve since learned that the big foofy skirt is all part of the manufacturer’s instruction. However, here again, the big foofy skirt was never EXPLAINED to me by Blaga’s, and it wasn’t there when I purchased the dress. Since I’m not a big foofy skirt kind of gal, I was baffled, but I thought, «Oh well. I’ll just deal with it. This is probably my own damn fault for not being super-​clear and assertive with them.»
The story might have ended here, but my husband-​to-​be forced me to call the store back and get what I really wanted. I did, and I went in that very evening. Upon entering the store, I explained the problems. I told them I was not comfortable walking in the dress. I apologized for being so fickle, and I said I wanted a straight hem around the bottom, and also for the gown to come a bit higher off the ground. In other words, they needed to cut off the train and re-​alter the gown the whole way around. Problem #3: Hands down, this was the biggest guilt trip I’ve ever gotten in my life. Nothing else even comes close! I was told (5 days before my wedding, mind you) that if the dress were re-​altered, I would:
1) Ruin the dress
2) Look bad in my photos
3) Not look like a bride
Seriously. That is what she told me, verbatim. Add a general air of disgust with me, sacrilege towards how I wanted the dress to be altered, and more guilt about how much work I was giving her, and you’d have general picture of my evening. I’d also like the reader to keep in mind that I had already admitted being wrongfully indecisive and was PAYING HER ANOTHER FULL ALTERATION FEE for the last-​minute work I was causing.
And another side note, while Blaga’s accepts credit cards for dress purchases (so they obviously HAVE a card reader), they do not accept credit card payments for alterations, only cash. It doesn’t take a Sherlock Holmes to tell you what this means.
So the dress was re-​altered. I was happy with the work she begrudgingly did, and put up with yet another guilt trip when I went to pick up the gown. The wedding was great. Everyone liked the dress, and surprisingly no one seemed to be confused as to who the bride was despite Blaga’s caution, that I «wouldn’t look like a bride.»
My takeaway and advice for Blaga’s from this experience:
1) There are all types of brides in this world. Make sure you talk to them carefully to find out exactly what they want, and explain to them clearly exactly what they’re getting.
2) Do not give paying customers guilt trips. You’re in the wedding industry for goodness sake! Dealing with emotional brides, fickle bridezillas, and mother-​in-​laws from hell is all part of your job. You’re going to have to do a lot of last-​minute alterations which is more profit for you, so get over it.
3) Most importantly, marriage isn’t just about what your wedding photos look like. Instead, it’s about that person in your life who stands by you and forces you to call the store back to get what you really want. And besides, if you trip over your train and fall down, you’re not going to look very good in your pictures!

My daughter visited at least 7 Bridal Salons. & saw all kinds of customer service & lack of.
Mom was out running errands & saw Blaga’s right next to the Jets Pizza at 15 & Schoenner, and decided top go check it out.
WOW!
They found & purchased a fabulous Casablanca Style Dress and Loved the little lady that owns the place, who has been there since 1987, her & her daughter run the place and are VERY Customer Friendly Driven, Kind, Polite and sweet.
Sheri put down a deposit and scheduled some future fittings & alterations, once she selects a shoe, which she did at DSW.

Can they be a bit rude? Yes. It is small and stuffy? Yes, BUT if your looking for a designer gown (with a decent price tag) then come here!
I purchased my gown here, and at first was highly un-​happy with their customer service! BUT. they ended up being very accommodating, and rather friendly in the end. I even passed out (yes in my gown) in the middle of a fitting, and they were on top of it!!! They do wonderful alterations (for a good price also), have a LARGE selection of Maggie Sottero gowns, and have a fair price range!
The only issue I had was when I initially ordered my dress. I had measured in an 8, I begged (PLEADED) to order a 4, saying I’d settle for a 6 even (after losing some weight) they wouldn’t allow me to. I ended up losing a total of 70 lbs. by the wedding, and the dress didn’t fit at all. Didnt get it altered (they said I could just tie it tighter). ALL NIGHT had to pull my dress up, and had numerous nip slips! lol

Shop is on the small side, but they had a lot of wedding dresses that I liked. They carry a great designer, Maggie Sottero. The older woman who helps with the dresses is hilarious and cute, but very stern. Don’t call something white if it’s ivory! Ha ha.
I went on a Saturday and made an appointment and I had both employees to myself. I think that’s the only way to do it at Blaga’s because there pretty much one dressing room and one three-​way mirror. I did have both the older and younger employee’s attention the whole time, which was nice. They weren’t pushy, and they were honest. The younger employee was a bit aloof and could’ve been more helpful.