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Trudy’s Brides – Larger bridal salon for (higher) mid-range gowns in Campbell

March 11, 2008 By: Judy Category: Wedding

Last week, I made my second visit to a bridal shop. This time I stayed much closer to home (i.e. literally down the street) and went to Trudy’s Brides in Campbell during a weeknight. Trudy’s has been around for forever, so they have a lot of reviews on Yelp (both good and bad). From what I read, they were a larger store, slightly pricier (but still had options within my range), allowed photos, and they were an authorized retailed of the Pronovias lines (i.e. San Patrick).

Trudy’s Brides is smack dab in the middle of the Pruneyard Shopping Center, so keep in mind that parking may be not so easy to find during the weekend. The store is hard to miss; look for the large windows of scarily colorful dresses (from Trudy’s bridesmaid shop) and follow it to the end, where you’ll find the bridal shop next to it. The front counter is right at the entrance, with the walls lined with random wedding goods. Racks of dresses start behind the counter, and since we were early, we started browsing the racks. Kimi accompanied my mother and me this time around, with Anna showing up a little after we started. The racks I was looking at happened to hold the Pronovias dresses, and I even found a couple I knew the names of and wanted to try, though my heart sank a little as they were hundreds of dollars outside of my price range.

My dress consultant was an older German woman named Marika. Like at Marin at J’aime, she asked me what my preferences were and what my budget was. She led us to a dressing area in the back where two dressing rooms were next to circular platform surrounded by mirrors. I’m guessing on a busy day I’d have to share this mirror, but I was the only bride at this spot. There were four chairs facing the platform for guests to spectate in. A box of tissues was readily available for teary-eyed moms or, in this case, allergy-season-affected-future-sister-in-law. Nearby, there was an entire section of bridal dresses I totally missed, and according to my mom, these were actually within my budget range.

I didn’t pick out any dresses at first, so Marika was making all the choices. I told her I liked lace, but not much beading. Marika started me off with simple Mori Lee lace dress, saying she wanted me to get an idea of what a dress with no beading will look like. And sure enough, it was pretty vanilla; beading is necessary for some sparkle, point taken. It still looked okay, and Marika even added a sash to give it some color. Still, I didn’t bother asking about the price or model name.

The second dress she showed me was a different story. It was a very form-fitting lace number with a long train called Obelix by Pronovias. It had bows all over the place, which I hated, but Marika said those could be removed by a seamstress. Marika didn’t seem to like straps in general, so the straps for this dress were tucked in. I thought it looked pretty decent on me, as did my mom, Kimi, and Anna. Marika certainly approved, as she was selling me all the details of the dress and even stuck a $290 veil on me while I was trying it on. What blew me away was that this dress was only a touch above my price range at $1025. I was really stoked that I might actually get something I like close to my price range.

This is the picture of the dress that used to be on the Pronovias website.

This is what I looked like wearing it (in the spoiler, if you care):
[spoiler]

It looks pretty different from picture; I wouldn’t even consider this dress looking at the Pronovias picture. (I’m still not as tall, thin, and blonde as the pictured model :P ) Even with the clips, bottom part is probably still loose and needs to be modified by a seamstress, and the circular platform I’m standing on makes me look a lot taller than I am.
[/spoiler]
As we tried dresses, Marika gave us a lot of time to look at each dress. She’d usually sit back and offer up her opinion, take in our comments, and fix up the train for pictures. Then she’d run off to find another dress as I kept standing on the platform. She wasn’t the quickest at getting another dress, so I don’t know if she contemplates a lot in her dress search or something. The third dress she got me was a try-something-different dress at Marika’s suggestion. I remember at J’aime I wish I had tried Marin’s suggestions and not immediately shot them down, so this time I made sure to give it a go. It was a taffeta Maggie Sottero dress, and yeah, I wasn’t too fond of it. (Kelvin saw the pictures later and said it looked I was a wearing a dress made of paper.)

The fourth dress I tried on was one of the La Sposa (another Pronovias line) gowns I wanted to try on. (It looked similar to the Broche dress.) The dress, called Medas, looked nice on the rack, but apparently it had a really strange design. It had the right shape, but the poofyness on the bottom was done by exploding lace out the sides in an asymmetrical manner. I was thankful that I didn’t like this dress since it was outside my price range. Marika brought me one last dress (another lace dress by Pronovias) that was more expensive and more lacy than the Obelix, but none of us (including Marika) liked. I think in the end we all agreed the Obelix was the best.

And then we were done. Marika said she couldn’t think of more dresses. The store is pretty big, so I don’t know if my demands were too specific at this point or Marika was satisfied enough with what she picked already, but I was kind of expecting to try on more dresses. If I had known, I wouldn’t have tried any dresses “just to see”, which was at least three of them. (And I don’t think any of them were technically in my price range.) Marika clearly knows her stuff, though. She clipped every dress on in a way that was flattering, and she pretty much found the dress I will most likely buy on the first (possible only) try. It was easy to ask her questions, and I felt her answers and opinions were informative and honest. She was never condescending, not did she ever scoff at my budget or insist I buy a more expensive dress. And once again, no pressure to buy. Assuming I get the Obelix dress, I’m probably going to take her veil suggestion (though there’s no way I’m paying $290 for an undecorated piece of tulle!).

I was certainly content with my experience here. They are on the pricier side compared to other bridal salons that carry the same brands; I was told they do not price match. (For reference, they had the Baltico dress I tried on at J’aime for a couple hundred more.) Regardless, I recommend coming here for their experienced consultants and larger selection. So far, they’ve got my pick for wedding dress. Also, if you get your dress there, bridesmaids and mothers can get their dresses for 15% off.

Since they’re an authorized retailer of San Patrick, I asked Marika to get me a quote on the Broche dress I liked without the bolero. (They didn’t have it in store, but they did have a Pronovias Nerveo dress that looked similar, but I didn’t bother since it was still around $1600.) She was on the dot and called me right back the next day with the price. Still $1700, but now that I’ve seen the Obelix, I’m not so concerned anymore.

New thing I learned today: Islas Medas is a small Spanish island off the east coast of Spain near the France-Spain border. It is a marine reserve and good place to go diving.