Ventura's Formal Wear

08/23/09

Only ONE reason i even bought here!!!!!!!

by haywardm at Citysearch

So let me start with my sister's experience 5 years ago!!! She ordered a dress from the owner, Mrs.Ventura, unfortunately. The dress was 3 months late and came in the wrong color!!! Mrs. Ventura somehow made it my sister's fault....and in the end my sister was too upset to continue to deal with this rude woman!!!! She ended up picking up her dress and doing her alterations elsewhere and swore off Ventura's bridal for good! Well now it has become my turn to find the perfect dress. The moment I saw it online I knew it was it! So I immediately started doing my research calling all the stores that carried this designer and getting pricing. No one in Texas had the dress to try on though. I ended up calling Ventura's on a whim just for pricing and thankfully a cheerful voice answered the phone! Her name was Britney and she was sooo delightful and helpful! She really went out of her way and gave me the best price possible!! She beat ALL the stores in Texas even though it was a very pricey gown. I was going to have my aunt make the dress but decided because of BRITNEY it would be worth buying my own dress to decrease stress levels and a chance that something could go wrong. She found me a store to try it on at in a state close by...which most consultants would NEVER do, but she truely wanted me to be happy in the end. Thanks to her I did purchase my dress there and have the upmost confidence everything will turn out ok because of her! THANK YOU BRITNEY!!!! YOU ARE THE BEST!!!!

• Pros: BRITNEY
• Cons: Awful owner, rude staff members, not very organized either

08/08/09

Beyond my imagination.......most awful bridal store open!!!

by KimberlyP at Citysearch

I have been in Ventura's a hand full of times now to help friends find their gowns for their wedding day as well as several other shops here in Houston, Dallas, and Austin. Due to the potential prices that are offered when the Owner Taska Ventura happens to be on one of her Up Swings, the time spent there can be worth saving a substantial amount of $$. HOWEVER the truth is.....the time spent there is AGONY! Taska and her Manager Genie are very abrasive, pushy, harsh, amongst several other descriptive words. Most of the staff seems frightened by them which causes a very cold and uninviting experience when finding your gown should be a fun, exciting, glowing experience. I have worked with a few consultants who were wonderful but seems they never last long. It almost feels as if you are on a convey belt. You are allowed 6 dresses that they claim you are free to chose....Not the case. The owner and manager do the picking and pressure the other girls to do the same to their brides. Once the 6 dresses are taken to the fitting room, the employee usually helps the bride into a gown and the pressure is on!! The forcefulness to purchase within that hour you have scheduled to be there is amazing! Oh and God forbid you need to think or ask to try on another dress or two...?!??? Out you go......If you purchased you will get a TINY bit of their full attention while ringing the sale as quickly as possible. if did not purchase, you may get a quick proper good bye yet more often than not they are on to the next bride as you are still putting on your shoes. For those who do purchase at Ventura's, I know I did say the potential to get an amazing price can be worth it......it may just not be for more than half of the brides. The customer service given regarding ordering, alterations, any type of follow ups......IS NOT GIVEN! if any problem arises and let's face it_ It is most bride's first wedding and yes problems, changes arise....NOT in Taska or Genie's world!!!! No flexibility, concern, compassion, returns, help, suggestions, of any kind will be provided, Everything will be your problem and only your problem, If not for her low prices........I would think she and most of her employees would be UNemployeed!!!! Good Luck NEW Brides, DO NOT let Ventura's BULLY YOUR DAY!!!!!!!!!

• Pros: prices r good, if owner on upswing-prices can be best?!
• Cons: owner and other staff members rude,harsh,pushy,etc...

06/09/09

Great Experience and Im an out of town shopper!

by ellena18 at Citysearch

I loved this store! I went to 5 different stores before coming to this one and was very discouraged afterwards b/c of the limited selections and the high prices offered by the other stores. I walked inside and the lady was very nice and was asking me questions....I was kinda not paying attention and later felt embarrassed for being kinda rude...Im not like that usually I promise! I was just sooo tired and thought that my trip would be fruitless.....Anyway, I waited until my consultant was ready to help me (I was about 30 min early for my appt)

My consultant's name was Natalie and she was sooo sweet and very helpful. My experience with this store is not at all like how the other reviewers on here had. I actually read some other reviews on this place on other sites and some of them were bad but everyone who had Natalie as their salesperson had a great experience! I highly recommend her. She was friendly, helpful, and was joking around with me and my awesome, loud and pseudo obnoxious bms who were with me. The selection here is better than houston formal bridal gallery, david's bridal, and other boutiques that I visited both in houston and in DC (I live out of the area.) I ended up purchasing a beautiful maggie sottero dress on the spot. I tried on every single dress imaginable in the past two months and this one was it! I did not need to look any further! The prices were soooo reasonable since I am on a tight budget....most of the dresses ranged from 500 dollars to about 1500! woohoo! The only problem I had was getting the dress back to DC with me....which I'll just get someone from my family to ship it to me when the order comes in. Oh and one more thing, you get a huge discount if you order it on your first fitting (visit)...which I was able to do b/c I already went to everywhere else first!

I think my discount was about 80 dollars off a 800 dollar dress which is a huge cut for me ! My wedding is in Hawaii and I can use any cut backs I can get! whew! thanks ventura's bridal!

After this, we went to go look for bm dresses and indulged in the excellent selection of dresses from watters, mori lee, davinci, etc...

I dont know why people complain about picking out their own bm dresses..... I preferred to look for my own with my bms since my taste was very specific and I just like looking through the whole selection and seeing all my options instead of someone picking it out or helping me to pick it out.

Anyway, the reason why I would not give it five stars is the appearance of the store outside and yes, the building is a lil old but its what is inside which is important!

• Pros: Great service
• Cons: Outside appearance