Ventura's Bridal & Tuxedos

05/04/2008 Posted by houstonian84

I had a fairly good experience here. I went in with my sister who is also getting married. The only complaint I have is that we walked into the showroom and the lady at the front asked if i had a consultant, I said no and she took the dress from my hand, placed it back on the dressrack and walked away stating she would find someone to help me. I thought she was rude but I picked the dress back up and kept looking. Natalie was our consultant and she was awesome! She was very good about finding out what we liked and disliked about dresses. I wasnt so sure but all I had to say was I was having a military wedding and she guided me towards some beautiful gowns. She wasnt pushy or anything and she was very knowledgeable about the designers, fabrics, and knew just what veil to put with each dress. She helped us take pictures so my mom could see and with the mirror in the fitting area it is easy to get the front and back of the dress in one picture. I highly recommend getting an appointment with her! I think the price is good for the designers you find there. I went to "weddings by debbie" on the west side of Houston and I didnt see a dress there for under $1000. I got my dress and veil for half of what I expected to pay (only $750!) and they give you a discount on accessories if you purchase with your 1st fitting. You cant beat that. My fiancee was thrilled that I spent so little on my dress and it enabled me to buy my bridesmaid dresses because I saved so much (which is what I wanted to do but wasnt sure with our budget). They have a good selection of Bill Levkoff bridesmaid dresses and I had a list of style numbers I liked. Natalie actually took my list and copied it to put in my file so my girls could come in on their own time and know which dresses they could choose from. And she put Venturas stock numbers on the list so they could order them even faster when they went in! She was so helpful. I recommend this place over some chic boutique. I'm glad I went there.

Pros: easy to find, parking is easy, good prices, good service, no appointment needed

Cons: some rude staff, not in the best part of town

05/03/2008 Posted by monkey34

Ventura's is basically a warehouse full of dresses which house a very "bargain/discount" feel to it. However, their prices are much higher than other stores. I found a dress at a very nice store that was very plush, lovely, and elegant, and the same dress at Ventura's was almost twice the price! If I'm digging through dresses in a warehouse, I expect to get a good deal! Also, the store did not feel clean. The bathrooms are DISGUSTING - worse than a gas station. The sales lady was very nice, but also very pushy and it was clear that they work on commission. She gave me a strapless bra to use when trying on dresses and it looked like it had NEVER BEEN WASHED. It was BLACK around the edges! Needless to say, I went bra-less while trying on dresses, which was even more interesting as the sales lady kept barging into my dressing room and leaving the curtain open for the world to see. Seriously - she didn't even knock. At the end of my session, I had 3 dresses on my "maybe" list and the sales lady started haggling with me about price. I didn't know you could negotiate for the price of your dress!! Especially since one of the dresses was 50% MORE than the same dress at a much nicer store! Makes no sense! And one small thing, the walls in the fitting room are white, so when trying to take pictures of the dresses, it is really hard to see the silhouette...it blends into the walls. This was frustrating as we couldn't get a good picture of what the dress looked like. Ventura's does have a big selection, so if you're okay with digging through things and you don't care about the ambience of the store, then you may be able to find something here. Some of the dresses may be reasonably priced, but I found the ones I tried on were over-priced. But if I'm in a warehouse environment, then I want warehouse prices!!

Pros: Good Selection

Cons: Ambience, Price, Parking, Sales Staff