A wedding is a major life event that many women start thinking about as little girls. This is perhaps where the shared desire to be a princess on that special day comes from. But what is the most important element of being a princess? The perfect dress.
The Dallas Express tagged along with a future bride over to what Yelp named the best bridal shop in the state: Dallas’ Brilliant Bridal Boutique.
Brilliant Bridal specializes in providing brides with “brilliant” savings so they can get their dream dresses without breaking the bank. They carry dresses by popular designers, but the gowns are always up to 70% off the retail price.
The shop’s website explains that it is dedicated to providing every bride with a five-star experience from the moment she walks through the door.
“Just like love, Brilliant Bridal was birthed out of passion and desire. A passion for selling affordable designer bridal gowns and a desire to do so in a boutique environment … you will fall in love with our modern, elegant design, our comfortable and fun atmosphere, [and] our friendly staff,” the website reads.
If you grew up watching Say Yes to the Dress on TLC, walking into Brillant Bridal feels like everything you could have ever dreamed of. Rows and rows of beautiful, silky gowns dominate your field of vision, lining everything in sight with a layer of white like freshly fallen snow.
Located at 142 Howell St., Suite 150, the Dallas store is one of five found around the country. The future bride, TyLynn Leopaul, traveled to Dallas from south Louisiana for her appointment, and she remarked that it was exactly what she was expecting.
After a quick description of what the bride-to-be wanted — “a simple fitted dress with no lace or rhinestones” — the party split up and started grabbing dresses.
When dress shopping, keeping an open mind makes it possible to find your dream gown, as the perfect fit may not align with the image you start with in your head. But actually, it was a lot easier to find what the future bride was looking for than originally thought. With over 800 dresses in the store, options were not an issue.
Despite the hefty discounts at Brilliant Bridal, all of the dresses are brand new. The store says some of the dresses come straight from well-known designers or are liquidations from other high-end shops, but they have never been worn.
Sourcing the gowns in this way allows brides to realize their dress dreams at a much more manageable price tag: Dresses in the store cost between $700 and $1,500 on average.
“As soon as I walked in, I knew I had to find a dress here, but there are so many options within my price range here. It’s a little overwhelming in a good way,” Leopaul told The Dallas Express. “I’ve planned for this my whole life, and now it’s here, so I’m excited.”
Leopaul and her fiance Herbert Manuel have known each other their entire lives but only started dating around six years ago. They’ve been engaged since 2019 and wedding bells are in the near future.
The VERY near future, in fact — the wedding is scheduled to be in two months.
Normally, telling a dress shop you’re getting married in two months would incite a fire drill — at most of these stores, a bride would need to order a designer gown six to eight months in advance to get it in time for her wedding.
But with Brilliant Bridal, Leopaul was able to leave with her dress that very same day because the dresses are sold directly off the rack. The store also carries all the necessary accessories, like veils and belts.
In the end, Leopaul found the simple but elegant form-fitting dress she had been imagining.
“As soon as they jacked me up [put the veil on], I knew this was my dress. I feel so beautiful. Every woman should feel like a princess in their dress,” she said.
As we made our way around the store, it felt oddly familiar to this Dallas Express reporter. I thought it was my intuition telling me that my time to try on dresses was coming soon. But alas, we later found out the shop had actually been featured on a few episodes of Say Yes to The Dress four years ago.