Colchester / Ipswich Wedding Dress Shops

If you're willing to travel a bit, this place in Chelmsford is supposed to be pretty good...

http://www.divinebride.co.uk/

https://www.adorebrides.co.uk/

(thanks to LannyB for the tip!)

I went to Beautiful Designs, Norwich Road (and my dress is from here).

Grace and Lace have some gorgeous ones (my number 2 is from here).

Just a Day on Norwich Road and La Vinia Bridal (my BMs are from here) which is underneath what used to be Liberties/Fire and Ice.

Not a clue about Colchester because as you can read above, I didn't need to go!

If you can go a little further North, Lavender and Jude in Stradbrook is meant to be absolutely fabulous, all of my friends have got their dresses from there and when I pluck up the courage to go I shall def be making an appointment. X

Didn't go here myself because my sister got her dress from there but Mum said there service was as good as Beautiful Designs.

Also went to Brides @ Hot Bobbins in Little Blakenham - there were more dresses there than at Beautiful Designs but they were nowhere near as helpful.

I went here too, forgot about that. Was pretty uneventful to be honest. They had nice shoes though.

I also went to Hearts Brides when they were at the Holiday Inn and was there for about 5 minutes. There was one dress that was ok and it was in a size 24. When asked how long it'd take to make in a size 12 (out of interest) they said that they're all one off pieces and it'd be adjusted to fit me. At that point, I left!

I bought my dress from beautiful designs

great service too!!

i cant remember the one on the oposite side of the road but they were rude and the samples werent great either.

I adored Grace and Lace in Ipswich! Would have loved to have got my dress from there, and had narrowed it down to 2 of theirs and one in a shop near my mums, unfortunately I went for the one near my mums so couldnt go back, but they're such lovely people and were so hopeful!

I also tried Just a Day in Ipswich after being recommended them, but I found the lady there really bossy. She clearly new her stuff, but I felt really intimidated with her that I didnt want to voice my opinion on why I liked incase 'it didn't suit me'..

Both shops had a different range of dresses/designers so I'd recommend going to both of these atleast so you get a mix of like Justin Alexander, Maggie Sottero, Romatica of Devon, Mori Lee etc..

I'd also been recommended Lavender and Jude in Stradbrook too but never got round to visiting them. There was surprising a lot more wedding dress shops in our surrounding area than I ever thought!

That's Just a day.

I'm in for my first fitting next week (at Beautiful Designs) , I'll tell them they're getting good Hitched reviews. Oooh, if we've all got our dresses there, wonder if any of us are the same? I'm not flashing though because I'm convinced there's someone on here I know!

My dress is from Just A Day on Norwich Road Ipswich. They were fantastic. The owner Sharon is strait with you. If she thinks something isn't right she will tell you. And she's usually right! They were all lovely in there and their new shop is lovely, so much better than the old one! The fitting rooms are lush.

Grace and Lace are wonderful too....sooooo helpful. And they have loads of bm dresses and mother of the ride outfits too. They were so lovely in there. I did t try wedding dresses on in there, but will got back to look at tiaras and veils etc.

I'd stay clear of Pronuptua's or what ever it's called down by cash converters. They were rude when I looked at wedding dresses and bm dresses. They wouldn't let me know the names of dresses I liked and said they had noted the names down so I didn't need to know!!

Grace and Lace in Colchester were lovely too. Their shop is lovely.

Hilary B's in Colchester were fantastic too.

the wedding shop in Colchester opposite William and Griffin were ok. I only looked at bm dresses, but was impressed with them in general.

I did dress shopping in Colchester this weekend.

DO NOT use Grace & Lace in Colchester - there treatment is awful & if your of a larger size your out of luck - most their dresses are 10/12. Despite having an appointment she handed me the tags & walked off - no questions about me or what I was after - just plainly told me not to remove dresses from the racks!!!

It was my worse nightmare & if it had been my first stop of the day I'd have gone home crying & depressed!!

http://www.serenitybrides.com/index.html

They were AMAZING! Ashley is fab & so helpful (this is where I got my dress)

I also liked Mili Mili & Hilary B's

I agree with Sarah 8313, DO NOT go to grace and lace in Colchester- they made me feel total crap. i booked an appointment and they did not give a damn, just told me to look but dont move them, didnt suggest or ask what i was looking for. didnt seem to want to bother at all. In the end I left as it was horrible.

I ended up getting my dress at Abigails in Colchester. It was lovely! made me feel sooo special! And perked me right up. ladies in there are lovely! HIGHLY RECOMMEND!

I'm so pleased it wasn't just me!!

I would love an email address to complain - going on the hunt tomorrow for it!

Also I have been to the Wedding Shop in Colchester- they are lovely as well, it was simply that I found the dress I fell in love with in Abigails.

Wow! Thank you so much ladies for all the advice and recomendations! You've been a huge help! Going to book some appointments for the end of September so will let you know how i get on.

Thank you again

Karen x

Hiya - I had my first appt today at Beautiful Designs, the ladies in there were fab, try as many as you like, and take as long as you like! I fell in love with one, oh so slightly (ahem £600) over my budget though!!!

Hi All - Just to let you know that i've booked 4 appointments at the end of September in Ipswich - I've done it over 2 days, 2 a day - Booked in at Beautiful Brides, Just a day, Grace & Lace and La Vinia Bridal.

Thanks so much for all your recomendations! Going to have a look at booking some in Colchester now for the following week!

VERY EXCITED!

KJ x

Quote user="Doddyclaire"]

Hiya - I had my first appt today at Beautiful Designs, the ladies in there were fab, try as many as you like, and take as long as you like! I fell in love with one, oh so slightly (ahem £600) over my budget though

This is something I'm worried about! Do most of the bridal shops do a mix of lower, middle and high price dress's - Dont want to go somewhere where everything is over my budget

Beautiful Designs certainly do - my original dress was £720 & the one I changed to was £600. If you have a strict budget tell them that when you get there and say you don't want to see dresses above that.

Also, go with an open mind, try on at least one dress from the main styles even if it's to discount it and ask the girls to pick some out for you.

La Vinia Bridal will almost certainly be the most expensive. They stock fairly high end. Dresses start at about £800.

They do a good selection of BM dresses too. I got mine there, Jasmine B2.

If you want Dessy, the Ipswich stockist is Just a Day and Alfred Angelo at Grace and Lace. I think Grace and Lace have the most dresses too and there's a section at the bottom that are the ex-samples. They have great BM's, a MOB/G section and lots of space for trying on.

Beautiful Brides do you mean Beautiful Designs? ALways LOVE what they had in the window and despite never thinking about weddings until I met OH, I somehow always knew that my dress would come from there! Say HI to Gemma for me

I've just booked an appointment at Abigail's Collection in Colchester for middle of September. I picked it from the recommendations on this thread - thanks guys - I'll let you know how I go. I'm also waiting to hear back from The Wedding Shop, Colchester to book an appointment for later the same day. Excited but a bit nervous! I've read a few threads on here about rude staff so I'm glad to get a view point from people who've been to these shops before.

I personally didn't use The Wedding Shop as I know some of the ladies who work there through school and wasn't comfortable getting helped in & out of dresses by them!

Rather have strangers do that!

Yes sorry, Beautiful Designs! So excited i cant remember where i'm going!! Lol - Have now also booke 4 in colchester over 2 days the following week;

Abigails (so sweet on the phone!)

Serenity, Hilary B and the Wedding Shop

Watch this space! xx

oooo pelase tell me its in a lunch hour so i can pop down and sneak a peek ?

I got mine from Just A day on norwich road in ipswich, although did look in the shop opposite, Beautiful Designs!

It's in a lunch hour?!

neeed a second opinion!??

It's too late to change my mind on the dress but you're welcome to come and see it and give me hair and jewellery, bouquet shape advice because I'm totally sh1te at that sort of thing! You'll be only the third person to see it though! Eeeekkkkk.

? i ma MORE then happy to, its ten mins if that from my work!!! message me if you like

I've messaged you Flow in a conversation but I've never used the function before so don't know if it worked?

it did

OOooooh can't believe I missed this thread!

I got mine from Abigail's Collection and I can't recommend them enough. The lady who helped me was the possibly the nicest person I've ever met! She obviously adored her job, she even called the dresses "her" and "she". ?

I ordered my dress in January and collected in August, and as soon as we walked in she remembered who we were and asked loads about how the planning was going, etc.

The dresses themselves were GORGEOUS. They had a lovely range, not stupid amounts to chooses from but enough to really try out different styles. One of the most important things for me was that they had a stock suitable for a beach wedding, and I left with Mark Lesley Paradise Bride, that came in at under £800

One thing they don't offer is in-house alterations, but have lots of people to recommend in you area to do it for you.

Hope some of this helps!