Avenia Bridal

Avenia is the bridal shop I found my wedding dress at. My dress was beautiful and looked absolutely perfect. However, that was not their doing. They didn't design the dress, but they did do the alterations. And that was one of the biggest headaches of all of my wedding preparation.
The problem is, I will never go back. I mean, I am not going to bother them at all by saying "I will never come back!" because I never would've gone back anyway. I'm only getting married once. And they already had my money, so I couldn't just get a discount. Which is why I'm reviewing them here. I want you to know that Avenia Bridal on University Pkwy in Orem, UT shouldn't get your money, like they got mine. Allow me to start from the beginning.
I was newly engaged and with my maid of honor. We were in the area and as an excited bride, a wedding dress in a window caught my eye. I asked if she would mind if we went in. I came in and they were immediately welcoming. I told them I was interested in the dress in the window, and they told me the price. I was no longer interested in the dress in the window. They pulled three dresses out for me to try on, all of them different styles so I could get an idea of what kind of dress I wanted. The first was a beautiful ball gown with a drop waist. The second a sexy mermaid dress that showed off my figure amazingly. The third was the perfect dress. But since it was a few sizes too big, I didn't see that it was the perfect dress, even with the clips pulling it tighter. I asked them to write down which dresses I tried on, since I planned on coming back with my sisters.
A week or two later I went on my "real" dress shopping trip with two of my sisters. I went to a few shops, but never found anything I liked as much as the three dresses at Avenia. We went back to Avenia and they pulled the three dresses I had tried before. But this time they had that perfect dress in my size. I tried on the mermaid first. I wanted them to see it, but I knew it wasn't the dress. I believed it was too sexy for a bride to be wearing in front of everyone. The ball gown was next, because I was seriously considering this one. I tried on the third dress. As my sister zipped up the back I gasped. It was absolutely perfect. And I was surprised to find that it was my size! They had told me they wouldn't be getting this one in my size. We all knew this was the dress. So I called my dad, and through many tears we bought the dress.
My first fitting was fine. A woman marked the places in the dress where it would be altered. It needed to be let out in the bust, taken in in the waist, and the bustle needed to be added. There would be seven (or maybe it was 9) hooks added to bustle the train. I had another fitting to make sure that was all fitting like it should. Finally it came time to pick up the dress. I was pressed on time so my bridal portraits were to be taken the same day I was picking up my dress. Worried that it wouldn't be ready for me to wear to my bridal session, I called the day before and asked if everything was done and if it was steamed and ready to go. They double checked it for me and said it was ready. The next day I came in to pick it up. I tried it on one last time. As I was looking at it in the mirror I noticed some safety pins in the train. When the owner of the store asked how it was fitting, I told her it was great, but I was worried about those safety pins. Was the bustle even finished? She said that it should be, but upon further inspection discovered that only a couple of the seven hooks were on there. I had to sit and wait while she did a rush job to finish the bustle and was late for my bridal portrait session. The first several pictures taken, I was very near tears. And to me, and those who really know me, it really shows.
They told me to bring it back, so they could do a better job of the bustle before my wedding day. So, a few days my mother and sister went to the bridal shop. They asked how they were going to make their mistake right since I had already paid for the dress and alterations. They offered to dry clean it, press it, and fix the bustle for an extremely discounted price. Problem was, my dress was already at a dry cleaners. So they steamed it and "fixed" the bustle.
On my wedding day, my bustle fell out any time I picked up my skirt while walking and every time I sat down. Which hadn't happened at all during my bridal portraits. They had done a better job with my bustle in the rush job than they did when they "fixed" that rush job. I was peeved, but had already paid them. And never going back again was already the plan, whether they did the job right or not. There are many stressful things with planning a wedding. These problems should not be part of them. So I would strongly suggest that you never go to Avenia Bridal. Although I found my perfect dress there, the services they offered were far less than satisfactory. And my perfect dress wasn't made by them. It was made by a designer who they happened to carry. You can find your perfect dress somewhere else. And you can also find better service somewhere else.
On a scale of one to ten I will rate the store in three categories: Customer Service, Quality of Work, and Quality of Product. I will add these scores and the ending number will be the Aubreview Score.
Customer Service: 7, I found them to be friendly and kind. They fired the girl who was supposed to have finished my dress. But when I called to make sure the dress was ready for me, they didn't do a thorough job of double checking. And in the end, they were unable to help correct the mistakes they had made. I had to pay full price for their mistakes, I had all the added stress, and they were unwilling to budge when my mother and sister came to make it right.
Quality of Work: 3, They did a good job of taking in and letting out the dress to fit my body. However, there were a couple creases in the dress that they said they would be able to smooth but didn't and they didn't finish my bustle on time. Then the rush job they did was better than the "fixed" bustle job they did in the end, leaving my dress frustrating to deal with all day on my wedding day.
Quality of Product: 10, My dress was the perfect design and color for me. However, since they weren't the designers then I can't give them full credit for the product. I feel the need to lower that number to 8.
Avenia Bridal has a total Aubreview score of 18 (out of 30).

Beginning

I am tired of businesses going on to be successful despite the way they run things. Too many times I have left a business feeling like I got poor service, low quality products, or just plain screwed. Some of these places, I will never go back to. But with others, I have no choice but to return because there is nothing better. So I've decided to do my best to ensure that businesses get the clientele they deserve. So I am going to tell the world what I think about my good and bad experiences as a customer. Welcome to Aubreviews.