If you're on a modest budget, you need to visit Stephanie. Recycle Bridal was a great experience and I recommend paying her a visit (even if you aren't on a budget -- maybe you are just eco-conscious or are looking for value).

The appointment. She gives you a warm welcome, measures you, listens to your preferences and then goes into a room well stocked with a variety of designer and other label dresses (she's got a surprisingly large collection of dresses...so much so that when she walks in there as she's talking with you, you can't hear her over all the fabric and the dresses soundproof the room haha). You tell her yes or no and she's like a machine learning model that quickly learns your preferences. I tried on 10 dresses, all under my budget of $500 (many in the $200-400 range). Out of all the bridal salons and dress shops I went to, I found the most fitting ones here.

What I appreciate about Stephanie is that she also gives you some great advice about silhouettes and styles that might suit your body type even if you hadn't thought it or had dismissed it previously.

What you see and try on is what you get -- you can take it home with you immediately. She's incredibly resourceful about how she acquires her gowns and passes along the affordable prices to the bride. You may find a gem here that has your name on it. It's so lovely to see her take her passion and turn it into a living. I didn't realize she is such a Jill-of-all-trades until I saw this profile on weddingwire!

There is a really good selection of dresses for good prices. I would recommend this place for a dress but, whatever you do, do not use her for alterations. I had almost the exact same experience as Sarah S. She ruined my dress, and I had to have a master seamstress do the best she could to fix it two days before my wedding. Stephanie should not be doing alterations, and needs to admit to herself that she is not a seamstress. You’ve been warned, please heed my advice.

My experience with Stephanie was an absolute nightmare. This woman literally made me have dress nightmares. From the first appointment to the last, she was frazzled and not professional. I bought my dress from her in January. She told me she could do the alterations and I was happy to have her do that because I wanted to support her small business and loved her business model. In January she told me to bring the dress back in May for alterations and that she would have it done before my wedding June 24. At our appointment in May she explained she was a little behind but promised the dress would be done for my wedding. I trusted her and felt a little bad for her so I was patient. One week before we were to leave for our weekend wedding getaway I had to reach out to her and ask her when I could come pick up my dress. She said she was almost done and offered me a Tuesday appointment, but I couldn’t make it to her until Wednesday. She rescheduled my appointment from 10:00 to 6:40 on Wednesday because it wasn’t quite done. At the Wednesday appointment the dress was too big and she admitted she must have been off on her measurements but not to worry, she could fix it that night and bring it to me in the morning before we left for our destination wedding. On Thursday morning I had to reach out to her again and she told me she was almost done and would have the dress to me by noon. I felt like at that point she was rushing to finish my dress and I didn’t want her to do that. So I offered her to come up to our private Airbnb and finish the dress there so it could be done right. She accepted the offer and told me she’d meet me there that afternoon with my dress. At 3:30 that afternoon she texts me saying she’s still not done. At 7:30 pm I had to text her to get an update. She was still in San Ramon. The dress was still not done. I asked her to come up the following morning and yet another appointment was made for 9:00 am. She didn’t show until 10:30 am. This is now the day before my wedding and the day of our family party and rehearsal. For the entire party, I had to keep leaving my guests to go have fitting after fitting. Every time hearing it was almost done. At about 8:00 pm she calls my sister in and says the dress is done. She returned the money I paid her for the alterations and told my sister not to bother me anymore. My sister, thinking the dress was finally done, felt bad for her and naively let her leave. Stephanie had not done a final fitting on me and took off before I knew it. I looked at the dress in the bag very quickly and at first didn’t notice anything. Mind you I was exhausted and stressed from all the run around she gave me and was emotional depleted. I’d barely slept the night before because of all her back and forth with me. The day of my wedding we go to try on my dress and we can’t find the corset. After we start digging around we find it neatly folded into the lining. It was put in crooked and there were huge holes and seams still open in my dress. She had hidden all of these mistakes. The corset was not functional and would have ripped the dress is we’d used it. The dress was misshaped and did not fit right the entire night. I couldn’t even dance because I felt like my chest might pop out. The dress looked lumpy and frumpy instead of fitted and flattering.

My family took this woman into our private home. Fed her. Had empathy for her. Offered to help her finish sewing the dress. Offered her a place to stay for the night since she was exhausted. And she did me dirty. She hid her mistakes because she couldn’t finish the dress and didn’t have the decency to admit that. I trusted her to be honest with me and she was not. I had no opportunity to go find a replacement and if she had been honest with me and herself on Thursday I could have found a dress I felt comfortable in before my wedding. She ruined a huge portion of my wedding experience and ruined my beautiful dress. I don’t get to have a do over on this.

My experience was so hurtful, disappointing and unprofessional that I reached out to her yesterday and asked for a full refund of the dress. She admitted she had messed it up but would not honor my request. Instead she said she could consign it and offered me $400 for it once she sold it. Well that is exactly what she would have done anyway. I don’t think this woman deserves to make a single penny off of me after what she did. I was patient, kind, generous and understanding with her and she couldn’t even dress up to her mistake. Instead she ran away.

I would not support this business unless you want to risk having your dress ruined by a flaky and unprofessional person. And you’re heartbroken because the dress you always dreamed about was ruined by a careless person.