Ventura's Formal Wear

12/08/09

Fun Experience

by ChristiL at Citysearch

I went in with my coord. a couple of days ago to get some ideas for dresses. At first I was a little worried because of the selection at the front. But then when we were led to the back I was suprised. Geni was very helpful and great. She picked out some dresses and it did not irritate her that I said no to most dresses. We did wait about 10 minutes but that was because we were almost an hour early which did not bother her. I really enjoyed my experience with her and can't wait to go back. She did not seem bothered when my coord. mentioned I could go elsewhere to try on dresses. The only thing that concerns me is if children under 12 are not allowed in how am I going to get my daughter's flower girl dress.

• Pros: Great Selection

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

03/06/09

Bad Customer Service

by tammynguyen at Citysearch

This place has good prices, but you truly get what you pay for. My salesperson barely paid any attention to me once the deal was made. Everytime I came into the store, I had to service myself. I never got any phone calls back either. When I wanted alterations, they treated me like a customer trying to get some groceries.. in and out. I would not recommend coming here unless you are on a low budget and are willing to deal with inconsidrate people!

• Pros: cheap prices, good deals
• Cons: bad customer service all around!

11/17/08

Great ExperIence! I Loved Estella!

by galvestonelise at Citysearch

After a long disappointing day of trying on dresses, I went to my appointment at Ventura's. I called because I was 45 minutes late, and my consultant, Estella, was still so nice and welcoming, regardless. The "bridal area" in the back is very nice and professional-looking. Estella dressed me and stayed with me the whole time, which I so appreciated. She was extremely attentive and very sweet. She made the experience wonderful for me. I was there at about 4pm and had the whole place to myself, it felt like. The best part was that I got the dress that I loved for half the price of what I was planning on spending!! I was very happy with my experience there.

• Pros: Great Parking, Nice and Helpful Staff, Nice Dressing Rooms, and Mirrors in Bridal Area.
• Cons: Bathrooms were a little dirty, Front Entrance of Store could use a little sprucing.

08/27/08

Bad Business

by Fresh2o at Citysearch

I am a bride's maid in a friend's wedding that will be taking place in FL. Because I live in Houston, I am unable to go to the shop in which the bride ordering the bride's maids dresses from to be fitted. I was simply asked to go to a professional, get measured correctly & send in my sizes. I went to Ventura's & simply asked them to take my 3 measurements. They refused. (Keep in mind 3 ladies were standing behind the counter, doing nothing & the store was empty, so I wasn't taking them away from paying cusotmers.) The ladies told me that they cannot measure unless you're purchasing your dress in the store. I think this is a bit hipocritical, since I know they have requested the same from their bridal parties before (as read in other reviews). I told the ladies that it was too bad, because I would have at least given them my alterations business. As I walked out of the store, (having to get in the last word) one of the women yelled out that it didn't matter, because they don't do that for people that don't buy from them either! These women were so rude, they don't deserve your business. Planning a wedding can be stressful enough... you don't need to be working with a staff like this. Don't they know that being rude & unfriendly doesn't make for good business!?!

08/16/08

Lies and Rip Offs

by Smaznego at Citysearch

I ordered my dress there in Jan. 2008 after feeling forced into it. They run out of patience quickly with trying on dresses. Typical order should take 4-6 months. It's been 8 and still no dress. I was told 2 weeks ago it's coming then today was told there is a stain on it and they're ordering a new one. Was told they didn't want to tell me out of fear of getting me worried (so they lied to me instead). I asked to speak to my consultant, who is the manager. Was told she isn't there today and would call Monday. I called back and was told she is there and will call me back later today. I cannot trust these people after being lied to by 3 different people including the manager and my consultant herself. I will never use this company ever again. I don't know if my dress will arrive and if it does what will the quality be now that "a new dress will be made in 4 weeks versus 8 months". I am sick to my stomach to know I owe these crooks $1000. Please do not fall into the same trap I did. Hey, at least at David's Bridal you see what you are getting and take it home immediately.

• Pros: Pretty Dresses
• Cons: Rude Sale People, Liars, You get rushed/pushed into buying

08/08/08

Worst Bridal Store

by ZaZaBride at Citysearch

I decided to use Ventura's services to order bridesmaid dresses. I was instrcted by store personnel to have my bridesmaids get measure and call Ventura's with those measurements so that a store employee could choose the size needed. Upon calling, each woman was given the size needed. Each woman noted that the size indicated was dramatically larger than her street size, but was assured that the store knew its business. Upon receipt of the dresses, each woman observed they were way too big. One bridesmaid consulted a tailor who assessed that alteration of the bust, waist, shoulders, hips and length would cost $120. The second one had the same issues, but worse. Her alteration were far greater and would cost $180. My third bridesmaid was pregnant at the time but asked to order the equivalent to a street size 4. Ventura's responded by ordering her a size 12, which was ridiculously oversized. The fourth received a dress which was 2 sizes too big for her. In summary, 2 of the dresses are so large they are unalterable. The other 2 would cost hundreds to fix. New dresses must be bought. When I called to let Ventura's know of the problems and to seek a resolution, the manager was very rude and tried to blame me for the problems. She refused to listen to me and just talked over me, lied to me on several issues and refused to give me her name. After requesting that she listen to me, she got very belligerent and hung up on me. When I finally spoke to the ower, Mr. Ventura, he wouldn't listen, told me I should speak to his wife and then hung up. Mrs. Ventura refused and continue to refuse to take my calls. I have reimbursed by bridesmaids out-of-pocket for the dresses so they can buy new ones that fit. Since Ventura's is unwilling to speak with me, I am considering legal action.

Since I posted this in August, my dispute with the Venturas has been resolved to my satisfaction.

06/13/08

Would not recommend to anyone

by martinezveri at Citysearch

I had an aweful experience at Ventura's. First of all, the sample bridal gowns they have to try on are dirty and smelly. A good Bridal stores will keep their gowns clean for cutomers to try on and i did shop at other stores around Houston where the gowns were kept clean and not smelly. It was a huge turnoff for me to have this first experience so i got my gown at Weddings By Debbie. Now, with that said, i decided to give Ventura's one more chance so I ordered a flower girl dress from their catalog. This dress was ordered the first week of April and being that my wedding is in June I had them rush deliver it. Ventura's told me that the dress would be in by the first week of May. I called the second week of May because I never got a call back from them. I left several messages and it took forever to get a clear response from someone. They were finally able to admit that they had never ordered the dress to begin with and they would return my money back. i was beyond upset. May was almost over and i had no flower girl dress. I had so many other things to worry about and now i had to look for another dress. As many brides are aware, most of these catalog dresses have to be ordered months in advance so i really had no options left after Ventura's screwed up. Luckily i went to a store off of Kirby called Children's Etc. I was able to find a dress there and they made it for me that same week I ordered it. The dress cost me only 26 dollars as opposed to the 150 I was going to spend at Ventura's. I have to add that the dress i got at Children's Etc. was more beautiful than the 150 dollar dress i was going to buy at Ventura's. So thank God it all worked out at the end. But still, that was horrible service i got at Ventura's. Needless to say, I will never recommend this place to my family or friends or even a stranger. You can definatley get better service elsewhere.

• Pros: wide selection of dresses
• Cons: dirty dresses, not organized at all, bad service