bad experiences bridal shops

Not in south manchester, but i have here in wiltshire, its not a nice experience and ended up costing me an extra £348!!!!! x

Not in S manc - I did have on the isle of wight - they were so rude I travelled to portsmouth instead (costing me more, but worth it)

Where in South Manchester did you go? I bought mine from Cheshire Bridal Wear in Altrincham and they were fab really helpful.

i had same thing happen to me when i asked if the shop had any dresses in a size 8-10 - the assistant looked at me as if i was a total raving lunatic for wanting to try something on in my own size!

another one told me i should "concentrate on looking at the less extravagant dresses" as i am "only" having a civil ceremony...she was that snotty i walked out the shop. i dont give a rats that i'm having a civil ceremony, i'll have whatever style dress i bloody well want!!!!!

(both these shops are in the south west)

I enquired abuot a dress in manchester and after being looked up and down at i was told it didnt come in my size and i should look for another... Needless to say, i walked away (and cried)!!

Not in manc but i went to a place in wakefield, i wouldn't mind but the entrance way was filthy with deflated ballons and cobwebs in, any way the assistance clearly didn't want to help, i asked her what some dresses were haning up behind a sofa, all she was "sale ones" made no effort to show me them, then when i picked out a dress i liked she spat at me "thats a size 8" - i was so upset by her attitudei just told my mum i couldn't be bothered looking and walked out the shop nearly in tears!!! thank goodness that all other places i've been to have had lovely people in!

YES! Went to Stellas Wedding Dresses in W.Didsbury and the woman was a witch who has 'nothing in my size' and scratched me putting the dress on! NEVER go there!

On the other hand went to Nancy Jane Bridal in Stretford - a dream!

Name + shame please so I can avoid this shop!

I'm off dress shopping with my daughter next week..... and we're planning to go to a few in Wakey - dare I ask which one in Wakefield it was - if you tell me whereabouts it is, I will know as I know Wakefield very well!

Yes. I had a very bad one in a place near Altrincham, can't even remember the name of it now I got out of there so fast! She didn't even let me look at any dresses, told me she had the perfect one that would 'hide my belly' (ok I'm no stick insect but I'm a size 10 and regardless of anyone's size, that is NOT the way to go about making them feel like a beautiful bride!) After that I did not enjoy her whisking me upstairs and telling me to undress in front of her. It was a very nice dress, but she then tried to push me into buying it there and then, despite knowing it was the first one I'd tried on. My mum got me out of there pretty quickly as she knew I wasn't going to be able to control my temper much longer!.

If you are anywhere near Sale/Altrincham I can thoroughly recommend both Pronuptia in Altrincham and J'adore in Timperley. Gorgeous dresses, lovely staff and fantastic service.

I think I've been quite lucky. After I'd ordered my dress I googled my shop and was terrified when I saw some reviews of it - but the dress was near perfect when it arrived. Also the girl there makes me feel like a princess and is really helpful without doing a big sell (for example last week she let me try a veil on, but said "have a think, there's no rush".)

Ally - I wish I had a size 10 "belly"!

tink i sooooo can't wait to try a dress on in my size!!! haven't seen anything near it yet. obv i appreciate they've got to cater for everyone but totally agree it's pointless trying on something that you're going to be just swimming around in. as i said to my mum when we walked around these shops, i wouldn't go into Topshop and pick up a size 16 top or pair of jeans and try them on "just to see" the design, so what makes a wedding dress any different!

although it's also disgusting reading the other accounts on here from the other girls about their experiences too, some dress shop staff seriously need to watch the attitude. i always thought dress shopping would be ace fun but so far it really hasn't been!

Defo agree....i just want to find a nice shop with nice ladies in now so i can choose my dress (although i think once it eventually arrives i will have to seriously resist the urge to randomly wear it around the house at all times!!!)

if i worked in a wedding shop i would be so overly excited for every bride and want to make everyone look their best....but maybe that's just me!!!!!!!

That's terrible in Bridal Couture in Altrincham. The woman was completely horrible. She told me she couldnt help a customer like me.

Her first question was which wedding are we on.. What difference does it make to her

Hi everyone!

This is my first post! Just had to respond to this message, as I was treated badly, too. It sounds like you may have gone where I went, emsa1!!!

I went to one in Dorset and the woman in there was quite rude - the owner practically ignored me & my mum when we walked in, she took ages to get the dresses together and then snootily said "I would order today if I were you". I should have gone elsewhere at that point, but as they had my perfect dress, I didn't feel as though I could. At a later appointment I asked if I could take my bridesmaid dresses in there to colour-match them to my maid of honours' dress, and she said "I don't think so". Very rude!!! They were nice as pie the whole time that payments were being made, but if I said "hi" to any of the staff in the street, they would just blank me!!! VERY rude!! They weren't very welcoming and were quite unprofessional - I wasn't expecting silver service, but seeing them in something other than an old jumper, leggings & bare feet would have been nice! Why they continue to get business is beyond me, as their shop window now resembles a fancy dress shop with a cheap display. When they first opened, it looked great, but it's gone downhill now, which is a shame.

From reading the other posts, I'm glad that most of you had a good experience buying your dress! : )

Starstruck makes a good point about the dress stockage, and TBH I wasn't that concerned about not trying on a dress in my size. All the ones I tried on swamped me but the staff in the shop I bought from made an effort to pin, tuck and pad the dresses in a way to make them hang naturally, and we really good at explaining where the bits of the dress that weren't quite right would be when I had my own.

I'm sorry so many of you had bad experiences. I must have been really lucky with the shops I went to as everyone was great and didn't put me under any pressure at all and were really good at letting me and my mum make the choice and not pressuring us. I hope you all manage to find what you want somewhere you actually want to buy it from

xxx

p.s. I ended up buying from Pronuptia in Leeds. Lovely women all of them

Not in Manchester, I had a traumatic experience in Bedford lol.

I went in early March for Halloween wedding, so 9 months which I thought was plenty of time. Walked in to the shop (which was completely empty just 2 staff looking bored). They glared at me and asked if I had an appointment. I said no, just looking. They sighed, rolled eyes etc and made it quite clear they didn't want to help. Asked when wedding was. I said October. Got told that I had left it too late to look for a dress and they couldn't help me. Asked if I could at least try some, and they said no, they were expecting someone to come in for a fitting (there were 2 staff there and 3 changing rooms so couldn't see the problem!). Needless to say I went elsewhere at that point!!

Just so you know, this is an old thread which has been bumped...

Oh for gawd sake - I thought that post was little too much like advertising but for once didn't think to check the dates. We seem to be getting a spate of trolls resurrecting old threads again. Yawn.

Ah, I was confused by the dates on the first several posts. Advertising troll explains it all. SPAMMER!!! Off you sod...! Go on.. that way!

I had a very similar time in one place. I'm only a size 16 but this one place said I couldn't try some styles on as they didn't have them there in my size, although other shops just did it up and tucked it in the way it would look if it was my size and fitted correctly.

She made me feel like an elephant and I walked out of there very upset.