Hitting a Low's Point

I collected wedding magazines years before meeting Mr. Right. As a mature, reasonably pulled-together woman, this is something I should find shameful. But I wear my wedding-obsessed badge (veil?) with pride. Weddings are practically a hobby for me.

I wasn't even 20 years old when I first read about Low's Bridal in my mother's copy of Southern Living. I wasn't even living in Arkansas, for that matter. It sounded like my bliss. Affordable wedding gowns downstairs and designer dream frocks on the top story? I was obsessed with the mere notion. So when I was happily in love and called to move to Arkansas three years later, I was thrilled that I might soon have the chance to shop at Low's.

When Reluctant Shop Boy proposed, I booked an appointment to browse dresses at Low's on New Year's Eve. My mother and sister flew out to go with me. And it was a nightmare.

The saleswoman was rude. The store made me change in the middle of aisles rather than in a dressing room even though there was only one other bride there. The sale prices weren't very reasonable.

Three years later, a good friend is on the search for her own Holy Grail of purchases. We've had fun perusing stores around here, looking for a dress that is perfectly her. When she said she wanted to try Low's, I asked if I could join her. I wanted to give the warehouse of confections another chance. Surely this experience would be different.

It wasn't. This time the saleswoman acted like she would have rather been watching soap operas than helping my friend with the most emotional purchase of her life. And the store had pulled the tags from one of her favorite dresses so she wouldn't know who designed it. So she couldn't price compare.

I mean, would you buy a car if the dealer wouldn't tell you whether it was a Nissan or a Pontiac? Of course not. So why is it ethical to apply the same principles to bridal apparel?

Two trips to Brinkley. Two bad experiences. Two girls perfectly happy to take their business somewhere else. Anywhere else. Even eBay!