Review: The Wedding Chapel, New Hope/ Crystal, MN

I have visited this store twice. Once as a bridesmaid- there for moral support and once as the bride.

I would like to start by saying both experiences were ok but not fabulous.

As the bridesmaid, I was there to assist my friend The Bride, choose her headpiece and veil. The individual assisting us was very helpful, asked excellent questions in regards to the look of the dress, the formality of the wedding, and things of that nature. My friend, The Bride, had an awful time finding something that she liked prior to this visit and she found both pieces that day. Also during this first visit, there was a dress that I saw that I simply could not stop looking at. I was mesmerized. The same consultant assisted me with trying it on. I was lucky it wasn't busy as they do suggest appointments on the weekend - most likely to ensure appropriate staffing and to have some control over traffic.

On my return visit, I was The Bride. I made an appointment for a weekday and brought two of my good friends with me for help and moral support. They have a huge selection of gowns and fairly large dressing rooms. I ended up finding 6 gowns that I loved- and I've only begun the process of trying and deciding. The one thing I thought was very odd was the lack of tags in the dresses they stocked.

At the time of my visit The Wedding Chapel was having a "sample sale"- for those who are unfamiliar with these- it is based on a designers up and coming dresses for the coming season or year- and have not been viewed before. When I asked the sales girl what designer or line it was- she replied- "it's called "Dreams"... it's our own label designed especially for us." Yeah right. One of the dresses I tried seemed strangely familiar- so I returned to the web and sent an email to the company- expressing my concern and stating that they may be misrepresented at this shop, as well as breaking a contractual agreement. My question is- why would a store want to conceal the dress lines they carry? I mean, Besides it causing brides to shop around and determine other shops carry the exact same dresses, what reasons would they have? An administrative assistant from Impressions informed me that they are looking into it. I wrote an email to another label- who I know I wrote down three of their dresses and spotted a handful of others- their website states brides should only purchase their dresses from a retailer so that people know they are getting a genuine Maggie Sottero dress. If a retailer is concealing who the designer is until it's been ordered- that creates speculation among shoppers that the dresses are mearly knock offs and not the real deal.

I speculated on this myself- when a very modern and unique, and what I believed to be,(because of the lack of a tag) knock-off is one that I wrote down.

Would you shop at a store that concealed the designer of a shirt or pants you're buying but kept the $250 price tag? You'd feel ripped off if you found out they were a pair of Lee jeans (which are fine- but they are not in the $250 jeans section) and had been marked up 5-7 times their actual or expected retail.

I will continue to shop around and see what other shops have to offer. The Wedding Chapel did boast of free storage until you need your dress. Is storage of dresses often charged? The store I worked at would never charge for such a thing- it seems like it should be included. How else are you to keep the gown you have selected concealed from the man you'll marry?