Dress Shopping - help please!! (Birmingham)

I'm not from Birmingham so not really any help there, but the way I went about it was to have a look on the internet for any designers whose dresses i liked, I then researched shops which stocked a wide range of the designers dresses, from there I looked at reviews of the shops online to see what others who'd used them thought of the service etc.

I ended up buying my dress from the first shop I went to, from a totally different designer to what I'd been looking at. Not the plan at all so be prepared for something to try something on that's different to your expectations but makes you feel like a "bride" and not want to take the dress off!

The dress shop I used brought us all glasses if champagne (cup of tea for me!) and kept them topped up for the 3 hours I was in there. They then gave me a bottle to take away to celebrate buying my dress. I could have quite happily sat there all day watching other brides to be trying on their dresses and being looked after :-) they're based in leeds so probably won't be any good to you but I'd be more than happy to recommend them to anyone.

Good luck with your dress hunting :-)

I would recommend the dressing rooms in Halesowen, just outside of Birmingham. Lovely girls and nothing too much trouble. There are lots of dress shops in Solihull and surrounding areas too. The one shop I was advised to try but had a bad experience is Your Wedding Shop, in Kings Norton. Birmingham City centre has a few shops too but never tried there though.

There is only a couple of shops in the city center itself, Bertex Bride & Go Bridal. The is also a shop in the bullring that called Sonique which has a few wedding dresses in the back. A short drive away is The Dressing Rooms in Halesowen, but my recommendation is California Brides in Blackheath (about 10 miles out) which is the outlet store to The Dressing Rooms, they sell dresses at brilliant prices and are ready to take on the day. Hope this helps x

Your wedding shop! It's just outside the city centre ( cotteridge ) reasonably priced and lovely ladies

Im not sure if its the same one but I went to the Wedding Dress Factory Outlet shop (London branch) and it was fantastic and all the dresses are under £450, I ended up buying the second dress I tried on! It is a designer dress and is worth about triple what I paid for it, you don't need an appointment and there was no pressure. I am afraid there was no champagne but for the savings it is worth a visit.

I bought my dress last month!

I looked at Berketex, Go bridal and formal affair.

Berketex were really helpful, explained what shape i was and what types of dresses would compliment my body shape.

Go bridal were very snobby and quite blunt to be honest.

Formal affair were very friendly, they had a range of dresses at very reasonable prices compared to Berketex.

In the end I came back to Berketex and bought my dress.

I always thought when you went into bridal shops for an appointment, you would have a glass of champagne and try on dresses but maybe ive been watching too many movies. felt almost abit regimented.

Thank you all so much - can't tell you how helpful this is! It's impossible to know where to start! Will report back! (Though looks like it might be April now for dress shopping!) x

If you can get to Olton, which is a short train ride from the centre of Birmingham I recommend Lisa's Bridalwear. Its a cute old chapel and the staff are lovely. Not pushy at all and actually encouraged me to look at different shops to make sure i tried lots of dresses for my shape and size. I didnt end up getting my dress from there but I did buy my bridesmaid dresses from them and they were just as helpful with choosing those. It is appointment only though so you would need to book before going.

xx

I didn't get Champagne in any of the shops I went to and I tried on some £4.5K dresses. Tea in a lovely tea set but no bubbles ?

Hi swbvr If you want to go alittle further afield from Birmingham try Georgina Scott Bridal Pedmore near Stourbridge & Merry Hill Shopping centre.I got my dress (LouLou LB 36 , i think it is called Joanne) i also got my x2 bridesmaids dresses from there.Staff are very helpfull & give you lots of attention and positive feedback with each dress you try.Enjoy your shopping trip & let us know how you get on x

Lisa's Bridealwear in Olton/Acocks Green is great.

As are Wedding Belles of Four Oaks.

xx

I've brought my dress from Go Bridal and had an amazing experience, only looked upstairs, lady who dealt with me was lovely and took her time "/