Worst Bridal Salon in Pasadena: Paulette's Ambiance

If you have read my post on shopping for wedding dresses, you'll know that I find it pretty un-fun. But apparently I didn't know what un-fun really was because I hadn't been to Paulette's. I was actually really looking forward to going to Paulette's because I knew 3 people who bought their dresses there and they all seemed very satisfied. However 1 of the 3 did buy her dress there before the ownership had changed hands from the original Paulette to the current owner, who we'll call Crazy Lady. That should have been a red flag. Of also important significance, which I couldn't have foreseen was that all 3 were Caucasian, which we'll be explained shortly.

So it was a Friday afternoon, An and I are pumped for the weekend and are kicking it off with a trip to Paulette's. As we walk up, we are really excited because the store is the cutest little cottage and we saw the most adorable flowergirl dress in the window. When we walk in, we're greeted by Crazy Lady who keeps asking if I'm Vivian...those who know me will know the significance of that. Anyway, I approach her with the dresses that I have torn out of magazines to give her an idea of what I'm looking for. She becomes sort of agitated and starts pointing to different dresses saying "We don't have that one, we don't have that one either, and not that one" and "Oh so you want a Monique Lhuillier dress"...and I truly got the sense that she felt like I couldn't affford a M.L. dress and that I was crazy for even bringing the picture in. So I told her I didn't want those exact dresses, they were to give her an idea of what I'm looking for. She's not very happy and only shows me one dress that was part of the magazine cut-outs I brought. I have to ask if I can look through the rest of the dresses.

So I've chosen some dresses, out of her pretty limited selection, as most of them were very traditional and ball-gowny type and I wanted modern. An comes into the dressing area with me as that's what we've done at Saks, Neiman and R-Mine and we were the only 2 customers in there. Crazy Lady prompty kicks An out of the area saying "You can't be here, this is a dressing room. Go outside" So An uncomfortably leaves the room and I'm left in the uncomfortable silence with Crazy Lady. I should actually call her Dragon Lady - that seems more appropriate. So Dragon Lady helps me into the dress and tells me not to put my shoes on because there's a raised area outside. Why would you care if I wanted to wear my shoes???? Anyway, I walk outside to show An. An approves of the dress and starts taking notes like "An likes dress, VT likes dress", notes the price and does a quick rudimentary sketch so we can jog our memory when we get home and review our shopping trip. Dragon Lady proceeds to tell An that she cannot sketch the dress. An of course says she's only trying to draw a simple idea of the dress so we can remember it, then An shows Dragon examples of the dresses she's drawn so Dragon feels comforted that we're not trying to steal the design and go make it for cheaper elsewhere. Crazy Dragon then says "Those are great sketches, you can't sketch in my store". And not to rag on An but seriously if you saw the "sketches", you would die laughing at how absurd it is to think we could go make a dress from An's drawings. Anyway so An says fine that she will only take notes. Crazy Dragon says "No notes" and An says "What?" And that's when I lay into her about how ridiculous it is that she doesn't allow her customers to take notes. Crazy Dragon responds by saying "It's my store policy. You don't need to take notes. You just need to narrow it down to 1 or 2 dresses and that's it. You obviously know what you like, you brought in those pictures". I just go off on her because she is so irrational and stupid. Both An and I were thinking separately that she was being prejudice against us because we were Asian and that meant we were of course going to go and make the dress for 1/2 the price somewhere else. I mean she did tell me I was wasting her time and using her for all her customer service. I wanted to kick her when she said that. But I controlled my urge and told her that I can't see how she can keep a sustainable business and that I was going to tell all my friends about her. So that's what I'm doing. If only there was a way to get out the word beyond my little ole blog.

Anyway to sum it up, Paulette's Ambience is the worst bridal salon ever.