Kleinfeld -- love or hate?

I've heard mixed reviews about Kleinfeld. The brides I've talked to, either love the place or absolutely hate it. Personally, I think it depends on what kind of experience you're looking for. I visited the original Brooklyn store back in 2004 when I was shopping for my own wedding dress. (Btw, if you've been living under a rock for the past year, you may not know that Kleinfeld recently closed down its Brooklyn store and debuted in Manhattan on W. 20th Street btwn 6th & 7th Avenues.) Here are the pros and cons as I remember:

Pros

• Huge selection of wedding dresses
• Lots of trunk shows featuring the latest styles
• If you're lucky enough, you may meet one of the designers at the trunk show. I met Kenneth Pool who offered to customize the dress I had tried on. It was awesome getting his personal attention, with him saying things like "well, if you want, I could add a few beads around the bust and change the neckline to a sweetheart..." He was really charming and convincing, but in the end, I didn't buy the dress. Go figure.
  
• Sales staff are pretty good about bringing you only those dresses that are within your price range (so be honest!) so you don't waste your time trying on $10,000 dresses when your budget is really $2,000.

Cons

• Like I said, there is a huge selection of dresses, but you hardly get to check them out because the saleswoman crams you into the tight fitting room and runs around all by herself trying to find dresses she thinks you might like. (Bless her heart!) Now, if you're an open-minded, laidback bride, this should be fine. But if you're a picky, impatient bride (c'mon, you know who you are), you may get frustrated as the saleswoman brings you one dress after another, none matching the style you envisioned.
  
• Your experience will depend heavily on your saleswoman. If you get a pushy one (like I did), it may not be such a pleasant experience.
  
• The place is crowded so you may have to wait your turn to see yourself in the 3-way mirror. If you don't have much patience, this isn't going to work for you.
• It's hectic -- some say it's overwhelming. I think if you can deal with sample sales and bargain hunting, you can deal with Kleinfeld -- the level of hysteria is pretty much the same.

Caveat -- All of my comments are based on my one experience at the Brooklyn store 5 years ago. I have no idea how the new Manhattan store is. If you're interested in checking them out, I highly recommend going on a trunk show day. This way, you can see the latest dresses from a designer you admire. Here are some upcoming trunk shows:

Jane Wang (Mar 3-5)
Kenneth Pool (Mar 6-8)
Augusta Jones (Mar 10-12)
Reem Acra (Mar 13-15)
Michelle Roth & Henry Roth (Mar 17-19)
Badgley Mischka (Mar 20-22)
Vineyard Collection (Mar 24-26)

***I'd love to see comments from brides who have already been to the Kleinfeld Manhattan store!!***