Every time someone I love gets engaged, the first thing I do is try to figure out how I can take them on a field trip to a&bé Bridal Shop. Because after spending countless hours researching affordable, stylish wedding dresses for APW, I’ve come to the conclusion that a&bé Bridal Shop is simply one of the coolest bridal salons around: the majority of their dresses are priced between $1,000 and $3,000 and the focus is on indie and up-and-coming designers. Plus, there’s never ever, ever any pressure to buy. So not only are your chances of finding the holy grail of dresses—stylish, unique, and not ten grand—pretty high, but at a&bé Bridal Shop, searching for a wedding dress is actually supposed to be fun. And that feels worth the cost of a plane ticket to me. Except, the good news today is that if you’re in Dallas, you don’t need a plane ticket, because a&bé Bridal Shop is coming your way! And if you’re in Denver or Minneapolis you might want to stick around as well, because a&bé Bridal Shop has locations in your ’hood too.
When you’re planning a wedding outside of New York, San Francisco, or Los Angeles, it can get frustrating real fast to realize how much of the indie wedding scene isolates itself to the coasts. But I love that a&bé Bridal Shop is focused on expanding to parts of the country that don’t always get the same love from the wedding industry. They explained to us:
We are bringing something completely new to the Dallas market and from what we can see, Dallas brides are ready to break out of the traditional, debutante look. Just yesterday, we received an email that said, “I am beyond thrilled that you guys are about to open! You are filling a much needed void in the Dallas market.”
If you want to get technical, a&bé‘s inventory ranges in price from $1,000 to $6,000, but the majority of their collection is priced between $1,000 and $3,000. AKA, if you’re looking for an incredible wedding gown and can’t drop $10,000, you’ll be okay (file under: crazy things you say when you work in the wedding industry). But more importantly, the folks at a&bé Bridal Shop aren’t about upselling you or pressuring you into something you don’t want. As one recent client raved:
This is a wonderful shop with a wide variety of dresses, especially if you want a dress that’s a little unconventional. I worked with Kristin and she was WONDERFUL. She makes you to feel as though you’re working with a friend, not a salesperson. There was no pressure to purchase or make a decision about a dress during my appointment, which I greatly appreciated.
I actually had two appointments with Kristin—during the first, I didn’t know what I wanted and was made to feel like that was okay. I was encouraged to go home, ponder what I’d tried on, and think about what I really wanted. During the second appointment (despite having gone to a few other bridal shops), I ended up picking my dress! It was a great moment and champagne was served!
But the best part about a&bé Bridal Shop isn’t the price. Since they specifically work with a lot of emerging designers, shopping at a&bé means you’re not going to see your dress everywhere. And the dresses they do stock? Total freaking knockout:
For all these reasons, more often than not, the response I hear from people who shop at a&bé Bridal Shop sounds like this:
I followed other people’s advice and didn’t really mess with any other bridal shops and came straight to A&Bé, and I am glad I did. I love their designers—unique designs without many gaudy jewels or poof (just not for me!). I made an appointment and worked with Emily who was awesome. No pressure, just a fun and productive appointment. I ended up picking a beautiful dress that was way under my $2,000 price point—win-win!
So if you were dreading wedding dress shopping a little bit, go check out newest a&bé Bridal Shop stylebook, learn more about the duo behind the store, and then find out when the shop is hosting an event near you. Because my hunch is the more you learn about a&bé Bridal Shop, the smaller that dread will get. Or at least that’s what I’m telling every engaged person I know.
wedding dress shopping in Dallas? Purchase your gown at the new A&Bé location before the end of the year and you’ll get a $100 credit toward accessories!
