Novella Bridal

Carolyn was a dream boat! Finding your perfect dress can be difficult. I found Carolyn to be kind, honest and truly helpful. If you need a supportive place to find your dress, look no further! Highly recommend her and Novella!

Found THE dress here after countless bridal shops! I had thought that I found my dress at Casablanca, but my mom wanted me to just try on a few more to make sure I wasn’t missing out on something. Novella was the first stop of the day at a bright and early 9 AM.
I’d suggest going on a weekday, if possible. I picked up my dress on a Saturday and, even though it was raining, there were tons of people in the store and not much room to enjoy yourself.
I worked with Carolyn to find my dress and she was great! She was very honest with me and didn’t try to pressure me to feel one way or another about any of the dresses I tried on, especially since she could tell that I knew what I was doing and how I felt about the dresses I tried on.
The alterations department there is awesome as well! When we found out the dress was going to come 2 months later than we originally anticipated, the staff at Novella helped change the order to get it expedited. I ordered my St Patrick Pronovias dress mid-​November and we originally thought it was going to come in January when we went to Novella originally in October, but we found out then that it would come until late March/​early April.
Since I live in SoCal, it would’ve been difficult for me to come back for multiple fittings and have time to get the dress done for my photo session in early May. Carol, who runs the alterations department, was going to make an exception and we planned to book me over the course of Friday through Sunday with 3 or 4 appointments within those few days. Luckily, the dress arrived way earlier than planned (February) and the dress fit PERFECTLY. Carol did the bustle for me in 30 minutes, as I went to lunch, and I brought it down to SOCAL with me to get the strap removed. The Novella staff made what could have been a really stressful part of the wedding planning process, into a perfectly seamless event!

Sales — ⁵⁄₅
Alterations — ²⁄₅
Sales:
I worked with Carrie to find my dress. She is charming and wonderful, and I couldn’t have asked for a better rep to work with. By the time you’re done, you feel like she’s your close friend. She has a wonderful personality. The dresses are awesome, too. I found «the one» here and couldn’t have been more pleased. I tried Brides of California (Sunnyvale), BoLee (Sunnyvale) and Glamour Closet (SF). Novella was my favorite in terms of selection, price point and service.
Alterations:
I wasn’t nearly as pleased here. As many people mentioned, the alterations are hit or miss. They’ll try to convince you to do alterations here but they are more expensive than most places. Also, Carol likes to sew in bras to the wedding dress. This practice isn’t always recommended, especially if you are bigger chested like me. In fact, any bra shop and sewing experts I talked to said I’d never find the right bra to match this dress, and it should be the seamstress who makes the dress work, not sewing bras into dresses. I felt very uncomfortable by this practice, as well as a few other telling signs, and ended up taking my dress to Kirsten Tucker Designs in the Inner Sunset. She is fantastic. They didn’t give me any qualms about picking a new seamstress as they get plenty of business, but I just didn’t trust my dress here.

Seriously wonderful experience — it was everything you’d want when making such a big (and expensive!) decision. This was the second place I visited, and the first place had set the bar very high. Naya helped me, and she was absolutely amazing. Very knowledgable, patient, and had a great eye. After I picked out a few dresses, she saw what I was selecting and brought a few suggestions along the same line — I ended up like liking her picks better than mine! In the end, I chose one of the dresses she picked out for me and I’m completely in love with it. Through trying on, purchasing, and fitting, the service at Novella has been nothing short of perfect. I can’t recommend Novella and Naya enough!

Service experience takes away from beautiful dresses. We sat and waited when two other groups came in and were helped immediately. We had same appointment time as two other groups and had gotten there earlier.

Today was my very first day trying on wedding gowns for my big day in May 2017, and Novella was the very first boutique I visited. They set the bar HIGH for all my future shopping experiences! I’m writing this review after visiting my second bridal boutique and really, Ellen gave great guidance. I’m very pleased with my experience and would recommend this place to anyone shopping for the first time and looking for affordable gowns!!!
Ellen helped me today and gave me a run down of how things worked. She immediately told me her goal was to help me figure out what silhouette I like so I can take that info with me to my next appointments. This immediately told me she wasn’t going to pressure me or push me into a dress. This was important to me as my first time shopping. Ellen made me feel relaxed and comfortable shopping! I had the opportunity to pick some dresses I wanted to try on, and Ellen picked a few more based on how I felt about the initial gowns. My budget was below $ 2000, and they had plenty of options! Ellen was very considerate and informed me that two of my picks were above budget. She left it up to me to decide if I wanted to try them on or not. She also pulled a similar gown to the above-​budget style gown that was within my budget. Ellen asked the seamstress to come talk to me about alteration options too.
By the end of the appointment, I did not purchase any gowns. As my first time, I wasn’t ready to commit. However, I walked away with a better idea of what I like and what I’m looking for as well as a few great gown options, their style numbers and prices. I cant say for sure I’ll be back because it depends on where my dress is… but I would love to work with Ellen and Novella in the future!

I have only shopped here once and have not yet purchased my dress, BUT, I had a really great experience at this shop and loved working with Ellen. She was fun to talk to, had great recommendations for me, and really listened to all my and my family’s comments to help us narrow down the choices to what was working for my figure and my personal style. The best part — my family took about 100 photos and in each one you can see Ellen in the background either smiling at me smiling or thinking really hard about what to suggest next. The shop also had plenty of space for everyone and some gorgeous dresses — I really appreciated how clear they were about pricing as well. I really hope to find a dress at this shop next time so I can buy from Ellen!

So, I’m not sure if I just caught her on a bad day or what… But the woman I worked with was awful. She didn’t ask my wedding date, she didn’t say congratulations, she didn’t ask about the venue or the general look I was going for. She asked what styles I wanted, and when I gave her a handful of parameters [not strapless, not mermaid, with lace, not too glittery…] she laughed at how I didn’t know exactly what I wanted down to the finest detail. Yeah, seriously.
She tells us to start looking through the racks, okay fine I like doing that, but then she disappeared. I had to go through it twice to point out the ones I liked, since she was nowhere to be found when we were doing the browsing.
Okay, whatever, maybe she was cleaning up the room or something.
So we go back to the weirdly cramped fitting room section… my mom, fmil, and fsil were sitting on this odd bench not quite facing me.
She starts helping me into the dresses, essentially just handing them to me and all she says is «don’t step on it.» Great okay I’ll do my best but the damn thing is like 3 sizes too big so no guarantees. She whips the curtains open and shut between trying on dresses, no comments to me on how it looks or suggestions on straps etc etc– she was paying such little attention that she was routinely leaving a big gap in the curtains while I was changing. Thanks for that, and apologies to the girl one room over who got an eyefull.
So we get through the dresses, she asks if I’d like to try on my two favorites– I say ‘thats okay’ because we got a lot of pictures. She goes to get a card to fill out with the style names, hands them to me without a word and leaves.
I get you’re busy. I get that I am a piece of meat to you and you do this all day long. But you’re trying to convince people to spend thousands of dollars at your store, you should at least pretend to be at all invested in finding me something that I want.
Odd dress selection, and a horrible experience with an employee makes for a poor experience in general. The sales person makes the sale! And I wouldn’t have given this person my money even if they had the perfect dress.

Shout out to Ellen who was so helpful during my appointment! First, I went to the store after their official closing hours. Ellen and mine’s appointment lasted for 2 hours! We first browsed through the store and she made a few recommendations, I then was able to pick a few I liked myself, while she picked a few for me as well.
The best part of working with Ellen was no sales pressure ever, honest opinions, and she genuinely cared about helping me find something within my price range that I liked, whether that was Novella or another store. After all the dresses I tried on, I was able to narrow down to two dresses, and Ellen sat with me for 20 minutes going through diligently which one would cost less, based on base price of the dress, amount of alternations needed, and rushed shipping costs since I had a tight timeline. She wrote everything down for me on a piece of paper and for the shop, so it’s all documented and easy to review.
The shop definitely tries to work with your budget, whether that’s selling you a sample or trying to give you a discount off a new one. For example, I had two dresses that I liked, and they were able to just make the two dresses the same base price because they didn’t want $ 100 to be the difference in how I made up my mind, and instead to just focus on which dress I liked better without a cost difference.
If you have an opportunity to specify your consultant, ask for Ellen!

Although I didn’t end up buying my dress here, Carolyn made my first time dress shopping bearable and actually fun! Before coming to Novella, I had my eyes set on a few Pronovias dresses that I wanted to try on. Parking wasn’t too bad, but I can see it being difficult on the weekends. That’s typical SF parking for you.
I chose Novella as my first wedding dress appointment because they carry a large collection of Pronovias, San Patrick, and Essence. Their collection did not disappoint!
I appreciated her letting me pick a few dresses that I liked, and then her picking out a few herself. In the beginning, I was a bit nervous because of how intimate the fitting was, but Carolyn put me at ease. She was so quick to get me in and out of dresses, that I forgot how naked (almost) I was. She was caring, and gave me good advice throughout our appointment. I could tell she really enjoyed her job helping people find their perfect dress.
I highly recommend Novella if you’re looking for a Pronovias or San Patrick dress. Ask for Carolyn!

After trying on dresses in this bridal store in November, I returned in January with remorse having purchased a wedding dress somewhere else. I brought the photos of a dress from this store and asked if I could have the propose offer of 61% off from before, and Novella said yes! I visited Novella once more, and purchased it! I love it!
Now we have 4 fittings for the dress, but it will be ready for my wedding IN 6 MONTHS! WOOHOO!

Went here yesterday & found the dress! Even though the selection is smaller than some of the bridal shops I went to in Esst Bay, they had more unique dresses. Liana was really helpful and she found a dress for me that I would have never noticed! The one I tried was in blush, but I was wondering how’d it look in white and she went to go get it for me try on and see the difference. She really knows the dresses and gave great detailed information!

This was the third bridal place I looked at and they were able to get me a 2015 off the rack dress. Carol is an incredible seamstress and is very honest and accommodating. I was delighted with both my dress and veil!

My sister got her dress here many years ago, and she loved it, so we wanted to try our luck with me. Service and ambiance was great– classy and knowledgeable without being snobby– and of the 6 stores I visited in my search, this was one of my favorites. I’m not even mad I didn’t find a dress here– my only bummer about Novella was their 1-​hour appointments. They’re pretty strict about finishing on time, but I suppose they have to be if they’re that popular.
I suppose I am not a trendy person. I wanted an A-​line, tea-​length dress, which meant my options were quite limited. So limited, in fact, that I almost bought Novella’s sales pitch to either change my mind about what I wanted or buy a long A-​Line dress and tailor it into tea-​length. In the end, I couldn’t justify the cost of buying an already-​lovely dress and tailoring it into a completely different one, and I kept looking for weeks after.
Things I learned dress shopping:
–Either current brides all want mermaid/​trumpet dresses, or they are all buying those because that’s what’s easily available.
–Every store has different rules and attitudes about how and when you try something on.
–A ‘discount’ store may not always have the best deals (for reference, several nice samples for sale at Novella were totally within my $ 500 budget, but they also carry some $ 10k+ dresses if that’s your thing).
–Some salespeople are better than others about gauging your reactions and helping you figure out what you do and don’t like about dresses. Novella’s salespeople are very good at this.
–Novella had, hands down, the most friendly, realistic, and overall positive staff even after realizing that they would have nothing to suit my style (and probably budget, if including alterations as I did).
Instead of treating the dresses like fine china and me like a bull (another store refused to let me try anything on that was even close to my size), they had a can-​do, body-​positive attitude about getting dresses on over my wide hips– they even said something like «if a dress is going to cost this much, it will be built well enough to withstand a little elbow grease.» MY THOUGHTS PRECISELY. So, thanks, Novella. I’m sorry it didn’t work out for me, but keep doing what you’re doing.

Tiffany is amazing! During my first bridal appointment, she made me feel like such a bride! She’s caring, attentive and truly genuine. She actually got excited for me when I walked out in my dress! She went out of her way to try to style veils and belts for me. She crack jokes every now and then to lighten the mood. She’s great! Ask for her!
Even though I didn’t end up buying my dress at Novella, I must applaud them for their customer service. After Novella, I had 4 other bridal appointments, and I would say hands down Novella was my best experience. The store is very cute and dainty. It’s extremely clean. The sales associates did everything they can to make you feel comfortable!

I had an amazing experience at Novella Bridal. I found them through Unilocal (I was specifically looking for a shop that sold dresses between $ 1k — $ 3k) and was happy from day 1. Naya was not pushy, unfriendly, or bored in any way during the few times that I came by to try on dresses — believe it or not, every other place I went to (3 other places) had salespeople with some negative qualities.
The tailoring was also fabulous — they did a perfect job. It’s a little hot and messy down there, which isn’t ideal when you’re getting fitted for your wedding dress, but they are skilled and very helpful. I think they did a great job.
There was one woman in the upstairs area who I felt was a bit negative at times — she has complained openly about her colleagues not coming into work. As a customer, I find that distasteful because this is supposed to be a really joyful experience for me and there really isn’t any room for negativity. She also helped me out when Naya wasn’t in once and I have video of her staring at her watch as I’m making the final decision on my dress. Just a little too much stress emanating from her — something to work on.

This review is strictly for the alterations department. The Pros: The top of my dress was very intricate and required many steps to alter. Carol walked me through each step, which I appreciated. The rest of my dress also had detailed appliques throughout and many different layers, which complicated the alterations. She met with me about 10 times total to complete the dress and was very flexible with my schedule. I also loved my cathedral length veil, which I had made there for a fraction of what I would have paid retail.
The cons: At one appointment, I arrived to find that one of the girls had altered the wrong dress, which belonged to someone with a similar name. Mine had not been fixed, so I had to wait. My wedding date was also incorrect on the slip outside of my gown bag, which was very concerning to me. I still appreciated Carol’s quality of work since she had been very detail-​oriented. However, I returned a week before my wedding to find that after all of the alterations, my swoop neckline was now crooked and my straps were digging into my shoulders. She dismissed both issues and I had to insist repeatedly, before she agreed to try to fix the neckline and add organza to the straps. Two sessions later and two days before my wedding, I’m told that it’s too late and she can’t do anything else to fix the problems.
I frantically shopped for a backup dress in case my straps chaffed my shoulders. This was incredibly stressful, and I did end up changing after dinner. Luckily, I moved around so much that no one could tell the neckline was crooked. But I was frustrated to pay nearly a grand for something I was not completely comfortable or happy with. I’m just glad the style of my dress was so detailed and unique that no one else could see the flaws, and I was able to ignore these issues and still enjoy my big day.

Looking for your wedding gown is very exciting! I came to Novella twice, my first appointment I had tried on about six dresses and two caught my eye. I didn’t want to make a decision right then and there so the consultant wrote down my two favorites and I told them I would come back. Three weeks later I came back, Alex was my consultant, she is extremely knowledgeable and personable. She pulled the two dresses that I liked and said if I wanted to try anything else on I could. She put me in my dresses and she really went above and beyond with me.
Working with Alex was a pleasure and she made this experience just like I had envisioned it. I look forward to receiving my dress and I will also do my alterations here.

Good selection of dresses (and price ranges) and nice boutique but the dressing room area is small and it’s fairly stuffy in the store. They make you fill out a questionnaire, and then have you and your bridal party look and pick out some dresses to try on. My salesperson also pulled a couple too that she think may work on me. Several great brand names like Pronovias, Casablanca, Essence of Australia. I always wanted a mermaid gown, and though Novella didn’t have much mermaid style gowns, there were a couple of gowns that I did like, including a San Patrick (division of Pronovias) that I thought could of been a winner. I just had to go to Vera Wang prior, and ultimately couldn’t stop thinking about that gown, so I went back to Vera Wang after my appointment at Novella to buy the mermaid gown that I fell in love with, the Lilian.
I would definitely recommend Novella though to any bride to be looking for the one. In my search, I thought I would have went to a few more stores then I did, but I definitely advise any bride to be to go to at least a handful to compare. Novella is on the cusp of North Beach & FiDi where parking is awful, so we Lyfted it there from Union Square.

My mom was only in town for the weekend to help me find THE dress and Novella was the first shop we visited on our marathon dress hunt. My appointment was for mid-​day on Friday. When we arrived, the shop was peaceful with no other customers. There was so many beautiful dresses and I was able to try on as many dresses as I wanted. In the end, THE dress was actually picked out by my sales associate (I wish I could remember her name!). Because Novella was the first shop we visited, we didn’t buy the dress that day and I didn’t feel any pressure to commit that day either. But like a magnet, I was back at Novella the following Sunday (notably much more busy than when I was there on Friday) to try on THE dress one more time and to plunk down my credit card for the deposit. So painless, so easy!
I also had my dress altered at Novella. Carol and the girls downstairs were so helpful and patient. Midway through the alternations process, I decided I wanted the dress to be tighter to show off my figure than I had first told Carol. In the height of wedding season, they squeezed me in for another fitting to refit the dress to accommodate my changes. TRUST in Carol; the dress alternations process is long and incremental. TBH, I wasn’t happy with my dress until my very last fitting. Carol made it all come together, just as she promised. She knows what she’s doing!
Important notes:
— The shop also allows photos, which is awesome since a lot of other shops don’t, making it difficult for someone who likes to compare her options before making a decision.
— Alternations appointments can be made as early at 8 am during the busy wedding season.
— Alterations can custom-​make veils, which are reasonably priced.