Berkeley, CA, USA < change city >

"I had done a lot of online research before going to the Wedding Party and I had a clear vision of the dress that I wanted. I knew I didn't want the typical big white heavy wedding dress and I was not interested in going to the kind of bridal salon where someone might say "You look like a princess!" My co-worker had recommended the Wedding Party & gushed about how wonderful Clara was when she bought her wedding dress. And she was right. Clara is fantastic in all ways. When I called to make an appointment, Clara answered and we were able to find a time that would work perfectly with my busy schedule. And when I showed up with a friend who was also interested in looking at dresses, Clara generously extended our time to let my friend try on a number of gowns as well. When my friend was considering a gorgeous dress that would need tricky alterations, Clara offered to let her take it to a tailor to see if the alterations could be done. If they couldn't, my friend would bring the dress back. Who does that? Amazing. For me, Clara understood immediately what I was looking for and picked out 4 or 5 dresses for me to try on, all in my price range. I had been kind of dreading the trying on process bec. I'm a size 16 (& a 38DD) and I know that most sample dresses are MUCH smaller than that. However, Clara had larger samples that I actually could fit into! It was not only painless, but actually fun! For a bit I considered a dress that, in a duchess satin (which was nearly the opposite of what I originally wanted), would have been a few hundred dollars out of my price range. Clara showed me less expensive fabric options to make that dress workable. I wound up going with another dress, which I absolutely love and wish I could wear everyday. Throughout the process, Clara was sweet, generous, honest, and down-to-earth. When I would call, she knew immediately who I was. After I had chosen the dress that day, she told me that since my wedding was about a year away, I could and should wait another 4 or 5 months to order it. I was astounded, since I was expecting her to "close the deal" right then. But I went on my way, and paid for the dress when I ordered it months later. When it came in, she explained the details of the alterations that should be done and gave me honest advice about places to take it. Those details helped me when I had to explain to the seamstress what needed to be fixed AFTER they had supposedly taken care of those issues. Basically it boils down to the fact that Clara is a gem and the Wedding Party is like a calm island in the crazy storm of wedding industry insanity!"