There were many things that I wanted to know when I was looking at booking my appointments for wedding dress shopping: would I be able to afford any of the dresses? Could I take pictures? Would they be mad if I brought my entourage of 4 in? Would they watch me strip to my underwear? Would I have the changing room to myself etc. So I thought I would do a little summary of the shops I have visited so far which might help people searching the forum in the future, Essex brides feel free to add your own experiences and maybe people from other areas want to start their own posts if they think it is useful? (Remember Hitched has rules about libelous comments so this for information only, not complaints!)
Divine Gowns, Chelmsford
Prices of the dresses I tried on: from £400 to £1300
Sizes of the dresses I tried on: 8 to 20
Length of appointment: 1 hr
Photography allowed: Yes
Other bits: My first wedding dress experience and it couldn’t have been nicer. We were all offered drinks and then the sales assistant left me and my Mum, sister and two other bridesmaids in the room to have a good old rummage and pick out 6 or so dresses to try on. Once the dresses were selected they took us into another room where the changing room was. This room was massive so plenty of room if you want to take a big party in with you. Plus there is only one changing room so you get the shop to yourself! The assistant came into the changing room with me once I was in my underwear to help me into the dresses then I went out and stood on a little box in front of a massive mirror to check myself out. After my 6 dresses the assistant had an idea of what I wanted and selected a dress herself. Before I tried it on I asked her the price as I didn’t want to fall in love with something I couldn’t afford. She was very understanding and told me the price but said that if I wanted the sample I could have 25% off which was unexpected and nice as she had previously told me the dress had only come into the shop 2 weeks ago. Best of all they are very happy for you to take pictures! I thanked the lady and she said well you can get the pictures of the dresses on the internet anyway! Which is exactly what I think when shops say no to photos. Brilliant shop and service!
Favourite dresses: La Sposa: Mani £1295
Adore brides, Chelmsford.
Prices of the dresses I saw: from £300 to £1500
Sizes of the dresses I tried on: 8 to 16
Length of appointment: 1 hr and 30mins
Photography allowed: Yes
Other bits: This shop only opened a few months ago and it is really beautiful when you walk in. The staff gave me 6 tags to put on the hangers of dresses I wanted to try on, but when I couldn’t decide they gave me a few more. You get an hour and a half appointment here which is lovely as you don’t feel at all rushed. We were again taken to a massive changing room that had plenty of room for all of my 4 guests. We were offered drinks including wine but as it was 11.30am they all went for tea. I spent ages in the dresses I liked and the shop assistant was happy to fashion some straps on some of the strapless dresses. This time the lady left me to step into the dresses and waited for me to come out of the changing room and then laced me up in front of the mirror. There was no hard sell, she was aware it was my first day of trying on and suggested I try on as many different styles as I could to get an idea of what suited me best. They also let you take pictures in here which is useful to ensure the day doesn’t end as an ivory blur! Again, I couldn’t fault the service and shop.
Favourite dresses: Lou Lou: Milly £700; Sophia Tolli: Martina: £1099 Modern Vintage Mimi: £700
Grace and Lace Chelmsford
Prices of the dresses I saw: from £700 to £1500
Sizes of the dresses I tried on: 10 to 14
Length of appointment: 1 hr
Photography allowed: No
Other bits: Quite a small shop, not as many dresses as I thought considering the number of designers listed on their website. The changing rooms are also in the same room as the dresses and they take two brides-to-be in at a time, so although you have separate changing rooms, you have to share the mirror when you come out. Also only really enough seating for 4 guests so 2 for each bride-to-be all lined up together, so the other brides-to-be family would see you in the dresses too. I was lucky that the other 2pm bride-to-be didn’t turn up because I think I would have felt uncomfortable checking myself out in the mirror in front of strangers (that aren’t staff at the shop). On the plus side the lady helping me was very knowledgeable about alterations and couldn’t have been more helpful, she let me try on my 6 and then picked one out herself which ended up being my favourite one in the shop (and it was also much cheaper than the ones I had picked!). They were also the only shop that gave me the alteration estimates (as I wanted sleeves added to a strapless gown) with the price of the dress at the end which was really helpful. By the way here they left you in the changing room in your pants to step into the dress yourself and then just came in to do you up.
Favourite dresses: Phil Collins PC1380 £695
I’m off to Birds Bridal (Chelmsford), Matchmaker and New Beginnings (Brentwood) at the weekend so will update later.
Hope it is useful to someone one day
