Rin's Bridal Reviews
Reviews
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![Lara]()
Lara Sent on 08/17/2023Best bridal shop in the Bay Area
Rin is AMAZING. Rin single-handedly handled every single elaborate detail of my stunning wedding dress, from every piece of lace in the detailing to every jewel in the veil. She was basically like an angel to my family because I got married at a time when I was very sick and she was willing to go above and beyond to accommodate my needs as well as provide encouragement, love and support at a time when I needed it. Her service is impeccable, efficient, timely, and she is incredibly talented. She always had a smile on her face and has an awesome sense of humor. I feel so lucky that we randomly found her. I felt like a total princess on my wedding day and it was because of her work and efficiency and kindness in getting everything done with respect to my dress. I cannot thank her enough. She will stop at nothing to get you the wedding dress of your dreams. That’s what she did for me and I am completely confident she will do it for you too. After reading one of the other reviews here, I am shocked and simply don't understand why some people are so unreasonable. My experience with Rin was fantastic and her kind heart shows through every piece of her work. Rin is very dedicated to all her brides. Even her alterations are perfection, if you decide to buy a dress elsewhere. Four months after my own wedding, Rin altered my bridesmaid dress for my sister’s wedding. It looked so elegant and stunning, and I feel marvelous in it and her turnaround time was super fast. Rin is always the best and her services are completely comprehensive to what you need. I am so grateful we found her. Don’t hesitate to work with her if you need someone to alter your dress or find you your dream wedding dress. -
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Hannah Sent on 06/16/2021
I felt like a princess
I had to plan a wedding last minute because of covid and I didn't have a dress with 3 months until the date. I tried tons of salons in the bay and couldn't find anything in my size that was modest enough for my ceremony.
Rin's help me not only find a flattering dress in stock in my size - but actually did beautiful alteration and customization work to make my dress modest enough for the ceremony.
So happy! I felt so beautiful. -
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![Jeni]()
Jeni Sent on 08/23/2020It was the perfect experience as the bride!
Rin's bridal was the best experience as a bride! We had a area to try on a bunch of dresses, the ladies were very helpful and sweet and I found my perfect dress! She also made me a mask out of the material to wear which was cute and so sweet. I highly recommend them and they have been there for a long time and have alot of dresses to try on and choose from. -
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Cori Sent on 10/26/2018
Best experience I could ask for
If I could give Rin's 10 stars, I would! After having a bad experience at my first salon, I went to Rin's and found a great selection of lace dresses. My consultant, Dominic, was so sweet and helpful in picking out my dress. I went Black Friday weekend, so the dresses were also on sale! After my dress came in, Rin was SO accommodating with the alterations. I am from Stockton (1.5-2 hr drive), and she made sure I got my dress after my second fitting, so I wouldn't have to keep driving back and forth. I am so happy with my dress and can't wait to wear it on my big day. And it's all thanks to Rin's! -
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![Julie]()
Julie Sent on 09/20/2011Great selection of dresses to choose from. Dresses are very affordable and comfortable to wear. I love the dresses there. Make sure you check this place out! -
![Lacy]()
Lacy Sent on 09/07/2011I can't say enough good stuff about Rin's bridal!!! Rin was amazing and worked with my budget and gave me my dream dress and even made it fit when I didnt think it would be possible as it was the display dress. I was here on my own and they all made it so enjoyable everytime I went in, I felt like they were my friends :) ... You will not be disappointed!!! -
![Krista]()
Krista Sent on 10/12/2011very friendly and not pushy. the dress fit like a glove! Everyone loved my dress -
![Maria]()
Maria Sent on 12/06/2021Great bridal gown selection and styles with fitting expertise
In early 2021, I was looking for a bridal gown an intimate beachside wedding in Hawaii. I visited a total of 4 bridal shops of varying price range and style; one with a very large selection, a high-end boutique, a generic retail location, and a local boutique, which was Rin's. I went to Rin's with my bff and tried on about 10 dresses of varying styles but all very pretty. I came here because I loved Pronovias dresses and knew they carried them. The sales associate was very sweet and patient and made suggestions according to the styles I liked. Rin is a very involved owner and makes herself available for input during appointments. She has a ton of experience in bridal gowns and alterations and she will give you honest feedback, which I personally appreciate. When going in, it's important to focus on your wedding style and what fits you the best. The differentiator from the other shops was that Rin's had the right amount of styles with varying price ranges. It was the only place where I even liked multiple dresses and it came down to a Kitty Chen and a Madame Burcu. I eventually chose the Madame Burcu and it took about 5 months to arrive. I did 4 fittings as bridal alterations are a lot more nuanced than I thought and Rin made sure to make every slight adjustment. To help, when ordering the dress Rin had already requested to make it fit better to my height. The process of my dress selection, fittings, and alterations was very smooth and pleasant and I can only attribute it to Rin's shop, I would definitely recommend them to any soon-to-be bride! -
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![Molly]()
Molly Sent on 02/06/2021Wonderful and attentive
Lanette was wonderful. We were the only people in the shop, so I had her full attention. They had a variety of gowns and prices. I fell in love with the first gown I tried on, but it sadly had been discontinued. -
![V Crow]()
Violeta Sent on 12/21/2016Everyone at this place is incredibly nice and super helpful. They made me and my family feel welcome and comfortable. They even had cookies and brought out some watermelon for us when I first came to try on dresses. I happened to make an appointment during a trunk show and found a couple of really amazing dresses. Since I couldn't make up my mind they let me come back the next day to try them again. They gave me a fair price and worked with me on a payment plan. After the first couple alterations appointments, I was worried that my dress would not look the way I wanted it to. Fortunately, they know what they're doing and the result was a gorgeous, flawless dress. -
Kat Sent on 08/17/2023
Choosing Rin's is easily one of the biggest regrets I have about my wedding planning process
tl;dr - Choosing Rin's is easily one of the biggest regrets I have about my wedding planning process. I have never paid so much for someone to make me feel so miserable. If you bought your dress elsewhere, I don't recommend getting your alterations done here unless you want to be shamed for not bringing in a designer dress. If your experience is anything like mine, you will be charged a nosebleed price for imperfect alterations, and then you'll be told that your dress can't be fixed anymore because it was poorly made in China. (My dress is from David's Bridal, an American retailer, and was likely designed in the U.S. It was made in China, but most things are, including iPhones and other high-end products.)
Ava (one of the assistants at the store; sorry if I spelled the name wrong!) is an absolute angel though, and she's the one person in the store who made me feel cared for. Ava gets 5 stars from me - she absolutely rocks at her job.
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I initially found Rin's Bridal after searching online for local bridal shops. I went in to look at wedding dresses but didn't find anything that fit what I was looking for, so I ended up buying my dress elsewhere. While I was there, it felt like Rin was pressuring me to try on a dress even though I wasn't interested in anything she had in stock. While she was pushing me to try something, she didn't mention that there's a fee ($50 or so) for trying on dresses - thankfully, I had noticed the signs that mentioned this, but other people might easily miss them. (Be warned!)
When I was looking for a place to get my dress altered, I thought of Rin's again. Although my previous visit was a little uncomfortable, I shrugged it off - maybe she was having an off day or maybe I was overreacting. I was really impressed by the highly rated reviews I found online for Rin's Bridal, so I decided to give her another try and bring my dress in to Rin's for alterations.
At my first alterations appointment, I got weird vibes from Rin. After putting on my dress and standing on the circle podium, she warned me that the alterations would be expensive and once she started pinning the dress, I'd have to pay a pinning fee even if I chose to get the alterations done elsewhere. I told her I understood her rules, but she kept asking me if I was sure even after we agreed on a price. (I'm not sure what gave her doubt - perhaps she had been burned before by customers who refused to pay, but it felt a bit aggressive for her to treat me as if I was going to run out on her.)
Let's talk about the price. She asked for $750 ($800+ after tax) for the alterations, which included hemming the skirt, taking in the shoulders, and adding a bustle. Her price was within my budget (I was expecting the alterations to cost several hundreds of dollars) but above my expectations for how much the work would cost, even in the Bay Area. (And for what it's worth, I brought my dress in 6 weeks prior to my wedding date; I had been assured by Rin's that they only needed a month to do the alterations, so this wasn't a rush order either.) I didn't shop around because I didn't have time or energy to do that on top of all of the other wedding planning work I needed to do. She also asked for me to pay upfront, claiming that was her standard policy. Ordinarily, I wouldn't pay such a large sum of money upfront for a vendor I've never worked with before. But Rin's is a longtime local business and they had so many good reviews online that I set aside my doubts and agrred to pay upfront. That was a mistake, of course, because as soon as I paid, there was no incentive for them to care about me as a customer.
As Rin was pinning me, she asked me where I got my dress. I vaguely answered that I bought it online. I think this made her think I got it from a random Chinese retailer. She told me that the neckline was too loose because the dress wasn't made correctly - the front of the dress was too wide and the back of the dress was too narrow. I asked if perhaps the dress had been made for a bigger busted figure, since in the pictures of the dress online, the model had a larger bust that filled out the front of the dress. Rin said that wasn't the problem and if the dress had been made right, the neckline would lie flat on my chest regardless of bust size. She insisted however that she could fix it.
Two weeks later, I returned for my second fitting. The shoulders had been shortened, but the straps didn't lay flat against my chest. One of the straps visibly buckled up and fit poorly, and the entire neckline lifted off of my chest. I brought this up with Rin and she told me again that my dress wasn't made properly. She proceeded to tell me multiple times that my dress was a cheap import from China, that they don't know how to make dresses properly and used a bad pattern, and that I get what I pay for. It was a bit humiliating to hear her criticize my dress like that in her store. It's true my dress was made in China, but I can only assume it was designed in the U.S. because I bought it from David's Bridal - a reputable national *American* formal attire retailer. Sure, it's not a designer dress, but it's also not the cheapest dress on the rack. My dress was a mid-price range design that originally retailed for $700. It felt like she was making excuses for why the alterations weren't done better. She repeatedly told me that she is a dress maker so she can recognize when a dress is made wrong, but if she's so experienced, surely she could have told me upfront that my dress was made too "poorly" to be altered satisfactorily. Instead, she had taken my money and insisted she could do the job.
The skirt had been hemmed to the correct length, but the edges on the tulle layers were a mess. There were multiple areas where the edge looked like a row of jagged shark teeth due to sloppy cutting. There was even a hole sliced into a layer of tulle! I was horrified to see such sloppy work given how much I had paid for these alterations. I asked Rin about it and she assured me they would use a pizza cutter to smoothly cut the edge when they finished the alterations.
They had also put in a 3-point bustle. I didn't get a good look at it until later, but when I saw pictures of it, I realized that the bustle points were not symmetrical - the rightmost point is slightly higher than the leftmost point...
Another two weeks later, I returned for my third fitting, thinking that all of the problems from the previous fittings would have been fixed. Instead, I found that tHe hemline on the skirt was as jagged as ever, and the shoulder straps might have fit slightly better but still had a buckle on one side. I pointed out these issues again, and Rin responded with the same criticisms as before - the dress was a cheap import from China, there's only so much they can do, etc. I was incensed. I can believe that maybe there were challenges working with my dress (though the seamstresses at David's Bridal are able to manage somehow...), but I would have expected that Rin would put more effort in working with me to identify a mutually agreeable solution here. Instead, I got the feeling that Rin didn't value my business and didn't care about me as a customer.
Typically, after the third fitting, Rin's will steam clean the dress and schedule a date for you to pick it up right before your wedding. Rin tried to pressure me into scheuling a pickup date with no further opportunities to try on the dress. I wasn't comfortable with this given how there were still serious issues with the alterations. I was eventually able to schedule a fourth fitting.
When I came in for the fourth fitting, there was (unsurprisingly) little difference from the previous fitting. The shoulder straps had the same buckling issue as before. Her assistant, Ava, was an absolute sweetheart. She told me she wanted everything to be perfect for me, and that if there was anything wrong with the dress, no matter how small, I should let her know and she could ask Rin to fix it. The way Ava treated me was incredible - she seemed invested in making my dress and my wedding a success, and she seemed to really care about how I felt. I wasn't satisfied with the alterations (hardly anything had changed since the last time I visited!), but I admit I was a bit afraid of bringing up my concerns with Rin because of how dismissive and condescending she was before.
Rin came over and tried to put words in my mouth - "it's so much better now right? It fits so much better. Everything is good. My assistant can help you out of your dress." Holy cow - she was practically rushing me out of her shop. She didn't even really ask me how *I* felt about the dress.
I kinda felt like it was useless trying to bring up the issue with the shoulder straps. I noticed that the skirt hemline had been cleaned up but there were still some egregious spots where the tulle had jagged cut lines. I pointed them out to Rin and she blew me off, saying that sometimes the lighting isn't good in the workshop in the back of the store and sometimes the seamstress will miss things. (What!?) I couldn't believe my ears - that was such an absurd excuse, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. She asked Ava to help pin the spots that needed to be cleaned up so that her seamstress could fix them.
I left Rin's shop that day feeling depressed and wronged, the same way she always made me feel when I visited her.
The next week, when I picked up my dress, I insisted on inspecting the hemline. I'm glad I did because there were *still* some areas that were not cut smoothly. I pointed them out to Rin (again), and she mentioned (again) that sometimes the lighting isn't good in the back of the store. That is an absurd problem to have given how much they charge for their services. Rin said that she had a pair of scissors and could help me fix the hemline. (What happened to the pizza cutter?) So, Rin and I went through every layer of tulle on my dress (there were 2 or 3) - I pointed out the jagged edges, and she used a pair of scissors to smooth them out. She wasn't using fabric scissors either - she had a pair of regular office scissors. I asked her if she had anything sharper and she insisted that those were her newest pair of scissors and they were very sharp. Okay. It took us awhile, but eventually we trimmed the hemline to an acceptable state.
The neckline still didn't fit quite right, so I had to buy and use several strips of fashion tape to make sure the dress stuck to my chest and didn't reveal too much cleavage. I was able to get through my wedding day without any wardrobe issues, thankfully.
I'm glad to be done with this ordeal. If Rin had been more gracious about the limitations of my dress and behaved professionally, I would have been much more understanding. Instead, she was condescending and arrogant, blaming my dress' construction and not making any attempt to work with me. Wedding planning is tough enough as is it - I really didn't need the extra stress that came from working with Rin. As I mentioned before, I've never paid so much to feel so miserable (and to be so disappointed)! If you didn't buy your dress at Rin's, you may want to take it elsewhere for alterations. -
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