Bridal Shops In Northern VA/DC area (Richmond, Alexandria: wedding, purchasing)

[thecatzmeow]

Hopefully someone will have some advice for me...

I am planning a wedding and need to find dresses for my bridesmaids. I have looked everywhere in Richmond with no luck. I am thinking about taking a weekend trip to the DC/Alexandria area to look there.

I am looking for the BIGGEST bridal store there is. I already have a wedding gown, so I need one with lots of selection and samples of bridesmaids dresses to look at. A tiny little boutique is not what I'm after - they tend to have 20 dresses in the store and then throw a catalog at you if you don't like them. It feels like I've looked at every catalog ever printed - I just need to see these things in person before I feel comfortable purchasing.

Help! Does anyone know of a very large bridal store in NoVa/DC? Thanks!!!

Or - how about a very good eveningwear store? They don't even have to be "bridesmaid" dresses, just nice evening dresses.

[ShannonMilligan]

Davids Bridal tends to have a good selection (If I recall correctly) THere is on in Springfield and Woodbridge (check store locator)
I ended up going to a department store and finding dresses as I didn't want that bridesmaid look. So, maybe try there if nothing else.
Good luck and Congrats!

[greeniebean]

Davids Bridal tends to have fairly poor construction on their dresses, but they're affordable ($130's) and bank on the one-stop-shop convenience.

Take a look at Ann Taylor and J Crew. Both of these offer wedding collections that aren't too 'bridesmaidey' looking yet are made with higher-quality fabrics.

There's also a jessica mcclintock boutique in Tyson's Corner (shoptysons.com) that would have a good selection of dresses.

[mistic]

My best friend and I looked at a million places for dresses. The store that we actually had to narrow down the dresses we liked and just pick one was in Springfield VA. It is called Enstyle Wedding Designs. This place is NOT what you think of as a big neato place to find dresses. It is very tiny and junky but they have at least 200 different dresses to look at. They are small so they just have one dress of each style and not likely the size you are looking for but we did find several that we liked there as oppposed to finding ok dresses elsewhere. Also, if you like something that you see in their magazines they will order them for you.

[cerimart]

Try Jeanette's in Manassas. They have a large bridesmaid dress selection.