Laura’s Couture Collection

This was a very odd experience — I was told by an aunt that I HAD to go to Laura’s — where she and her daughter bought my cousin’s wedding dress because the experience had been so special and amazing. So my bridesmaid called and made an appointment — stating that I was not going to spend over $ 500 on a dress and asking if that would that be possible Laura said that she felt confident she could find me something as she had sample dresses that she wanted to sell. So we go…
First — if you have a budget, you do not get to go into the ‘fancy’ boutique part of the store– where they have the couch and champagne. You go into the back store where they do not have anywhere to sit and you don’t get water. I only know about the fancy side because we had to use the restroom — she told us not to look at any of the dresses as she rushed in and out of the boutique.
I can only describe Laura’s demeanor as odd — she was very friendly — a forced almost manic kind of friendly with an undertone of disgust. I think that she was upset that we were going to stick to a budget — for example, she had me try on a dress (would not tell me the price) that was great but over our budget — so I said ‘no’. It seemed like she was playing the game of — I’ll give you a dress out of your budge but you’ll like it so much that you will whine until your parent gives in and gets you the dress you want. Not going to work for me.
She became a bit more subtly hostile as things progressed — not ever leaving me alone to talk to my bridesmaids or mother – the final straw was when she had me in a dress that I liked but it was at the $ 500 point (which she told me was like death to her since it was a $ 2400 dress that she was sacrificing for my cheap and lowly demands). However, the dress did not fit and would require a lot of alterations. When I asked her what she thought the alterations would cost she said that she didn’t know and that alterations were not something she knew anything about. Really Laura’s Couture? You’re in the wedding dress business and you don’t have the foggiest about alterations? That is absurd. So my bridesmaid piped up and said that for her dress, which required fewer alterations, it had cost $ 200. Well that puts it out of my price range. So I was about to politely decline when Laura said –yes, this is a quote «Well you can just go and get one of those little old Oriental ladies on the corner to do it». And with that I thanked her for her time and we scooted out of that back store never to return. So – perhaps the lesson is — this maybe a wonderful place to go if you have ample money to spend but I would avoid it if you have a budget. I might also avoid it if you have qualms about giving money to someone who uses terms like «oriental» to describe a person. Ps – I got a great $ 3500 dress for $ 500 with alterations at the Gown Gallery– they were fantastic!

I can’t imagine how rude this place would be in person as they were over the phone. I called to ask a question and was totally offended.
To the old queen who answered, step outside your store for a reality check: you work at a «couture» bridal salon in a strip mall on Shawnee Mission Parkway… a bit of an oxymoron, don’t you think? You have no allowance to treat people like shit. To management: poor real estate and terrible customer service is not a solid business plan. Clearly your reviews reflect this!
Brides, don’t give these assholes your money!

Best advice ever, before you buy a dress at Laura’s, do your research! Brides beware, this boutique marks their dresses up high! I will applaud Laura for the undivided attention, but she tried to sell me a dress at the «trunk show» discount. Ha! What a joke! Come to find out she wasn’t giving me a discount at all. The dress sells at the original price of 2,300 and she tried to sell it to me for 2,650 at the «sale» price. She lied to me and that is just terrible!

Things that were nice: they offered me a glass of ice water on a crazy-​hot summer afternoon. Laura welcomed me, then sat down and asked me a bunch of get-​to-​know-​you questions about the wedding date and venue, what I wanted/didn’t want in a dress, etc. The shop had some nice accessories, and it had some nice dresses. They’re open late on Thursdays so I could go after work and I was the only one in the store.
Things that were weird: They keep all the dresses in a back room – you can’t go in and see them yourself. Yes I know that many bridal shops do this, but at Laura’s they bring out your dresses one at a time, so that in between dresses you’re sitting there in your dressing room mostly naked just… um, waiting around. I got bored of this pretty quickly.
Also weird: they didn’t even SHOW me the dresses that they brought out for me (like, «have a look at this next one, would you like to try it on?») They just whisked them straight off the hanger and bunched ‘em up for me to step into. Weird. There were definitely some that I would have looked at and said, let’s not waste our time with that.
And finally: Laura had been helping me for about half an hour when she suddenly passed me off to another salesgirl with no explanation… All of a sudden I was being helped by a person who didn’t know what I was looking for. She had to ask all the same questions I’d spent 10 minutes discussing with Laura at the start of my appointment. Waste of time!
Overall: the dresses were lovely but the policies bizarre, and the service unimpressive.