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

04/05/2008 Posted by mdn2003

Thus far, I have enjoyed my experience with Ventura's. This was the first place I stopped at to find my dream wedding dress. I wanted to avoid the "foo-foo" couture shops that charge you more for atmosphere than the actual dress. I was so happy that I did not need to go anywhere else after seeing the dresses at Ventura's. The dress selection was excellent. They even had the Eve of Milady dress that I had fallen in love with from one of my plethora of magazines, but I decided against it in the end. I found my dress on the first visit, but waited for several weeks before deciding to purchase it. They were cool when I told them I wasn't ready to purchase on that first day and Natalie gave me her card in order to call her to set up the next appointment. After ordering my dress, it did come in a little later than expected, but it was okay because I had started way ahead of time. My sales associate, Natalie, has been great and I'm planning to send a bridesmaid and my M.O.H. to Ventura's to order their dresses.

Pros: Great service, good prices, great selection

Cons: Warehouse type atmosphere

03/23/2008 Posted by facehugger

I had a pretty good experience at Ventura's. There are two sale racks in the front room and they had some lovely dresses there for amazing prices, very good deals. The customer service was good, they were busy but someone was almost always taking care of us. The bridal room in the back was very large with a great range in selection. The price ranged up to around $4,000 but they had plenty of dresses in the back below or at $1,000. There were plenty of dressing rooms, and ample space. They also offer store credit, the amount is dependent upon how much you spend for your dress.

Pros: Good service, some excellent deals, nice selection, plenty of room

Cons: The front room is a bit tight, seems to be a busy shop

03/07/2008 Posted by Heather1903

I was surprised by some of the previous reviews here. This store is a stickler for appointments, so you'll definitely need one to try on dresses. They did have a decent selection of wedding gowns and were very nice to me while I was there. Estella was my consultant, and I would recommend her. She left me alone to make my selections, but did come back often to check on me, and spent the whole time with me while I was trying the dresses on. The manager came over to introduce herself, and she was nice as well. There are no destination dresses here, but they are sorted by style so if you have a general idea of what you're looking for, it's a logical system. I would recommend!

12/02/2007 Posted by angel2001

Unlike the other reviews, I actually had a positive experience at Ventura's. I did not get my wedding dress there, but I did order bridesmaid dresses there and found the employees to be quite accommodating and polite! I did not have an appointment. They said it may be a short wait as a result, but about 2 minutes later someone (Genie) came to help us. Ventura's carried the designer we wanted, but not the specific dress, so they ordered that dress just for us. She helped us find what we were looking for, we were measured for size, and even got free shipping. It doesn't look like the fanciest place in the world, but they have lots of choices and I found them to be very nice!

11/12/2007 Posted by aggiegirl06

I am in shock that a place like this is even open. I read several reviews before seeing it for my self, but ignored warnings of rude staff. I regret stepping foot in that old stingy, smelly place. How can a bridal gown shop have such rude employees and owner. The owner, Ms. Ventura, needs to take a few lessons in business and customer service, she was the rudest of all. I will however mention that the two times that I have stepped in there I was greeted with only one and the same one smile. Thank you to that employee. But for the rest of the unproffessional looking staff, just down right rude. Brides avoid, this is your day!

Pros: Some pretty dresses

Cons: Rude staff, warehouse like, dirty!

11/11/2007 Posted by ashleigh84

Since day one Ive had horrible customer service with this place. My family and I went to find the "dress" one saturday. We did not make an appointment and wandered the store for awhile gathering a selection of dresses. We went into a open dressing room and started the "once in a life time "process. We were doing fine when the owner herself came to assist us. She expressed the fact that we shouldn't be in the "dressing area" with out a consultant. I apologized and she would help to "hurry the process." I actually found the dress! Its beautiful and amazing! Then the owner asked " how will we paying for this today?" I said I wasn't ready to buy it (wanting to do my research) - she shut down and walked off. I actually went back and bought the dress. Ive been in contact with them several times (4 times)- each time they have lost my file and had to "call me back". The owner insulted my under garment choice making me feel like a child and blamed my father for mis-placing my file. Is that possible? When we confronted the staff about my missing file - they accused me of "changing my date." I was also told I was not able to come see my dress - the were too busy. My aunt had bought her dress there a few years before me and did not experience this problem. Every encounter with them I felt like a 5 year old getting in trouble. I consider myself a fun -loving person who is polite. I was constantly offended by the way they treated me and my family. I took my dress and will never go back. I have a twin sister who will NOT set foot in the store.

Pros: Great selection and pricing!

Cons: Rude staff and owner

09/29/2007 Posted by misysu2

The customer service was great. I was really impressed with how many bridal gowns they actually had there to try on, but was disappointed because they all looked the same. All strapless with tons of beading on the front. Very few simple dresses, no destination-style dresses, hardly any straps/halter styles. Hundreds of dresses, all the same. BUT if this is the style of dress you're looking for, you can't go wrong with Ventura's. I also noticed that prices here were very reasonable compared to other shops I've looked at. They have a HUGE selection of bridesmaids dresses in many designers. It was great to actually see so many of them in person after having seen them online and in catalogs that other shops had sitting on tables.

Pros: Large selection, great customer service, good prices

Cons: No variety in bridal styles

08/01/2007 Posted by jenlano

This was where I finally found my wedding dress after who knows how many stores. I was really glad that my consultant was so nice, because I have had bad experiences elsewhere and was left feeling weary of all bridal salons. She asked me what kind of dress I was looking for and pulled quite a number to have me look at while my maid of honor and I were searching the various racks. I did like how the dresses were arranged by style, hadnt seen that anywhere else. There were a fairly wide selection to choose from in a variety of prices and they definetly had more dresses in the sales section than anywhere else I had seen. I didnt have alot of time till the wedding and they were very understanding about my needs and offered alot of advice. Also she offered her help in the dressing room as opposed to shooing out my MOH and dressing me. I wasn't offered to try on any veils with my dress, but admittedly I didnt think of it at the time. The place isn't the newest/freshest, but I was definitely more worried about the dress than atmosphere. Lastly the dressing rooms were not as spacious as some I have been to and the lighting in the dressing rooms was poor.

Pros: service, selection

Cons: atmosphere