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Ok, I did promise (ages ago!) that I would put a thread up for you to praise or shame a store where you received excellent or poor service because of your size, in order for other bigger brides to be to find a store for them! And finally I have added it.
To keep it simple, just copy and paste this text into your reply box and fill it in as appopriate. Be constructive - dont just say a shop was crap - say why! And remember to list good stores, and mark out excellent shop assistants too!
Name and area of Store:
Reason for listing?:
Marks out of 10:
To bold the text just put [ b ] without the spaces in front of the line and [ /b ]without spaces again at the end.
Fantastic and personal service. The first shop I went into where I wasn't just left to my own devices, nor was I pushed around. Served by Kate and Sandra who were fab in helping me find something that would flatter my HUGE figure and would look fantastic - absolutely did not see my size as a problem to finding a good dress, and did not try and put me in frumpy old fashioned cover up jobbies. Made me feel incredibly comfy, and not at all conscious of my weight or appearance. Had a fair range of larger size gowns, although most still had to be pinned - personally I didn't find this a problem.
Marks out of 10:
9 - dropped a mark just because it would have been great to have an even larger selection of gowns to choose from, but really I'm being picky.
Absolutly fab, great selection of dresses in larger sizes and very very helpful served by the owner Ellen and daughter Lorainne, I was there for 2 1/2 hours trying dresses on and they couldnt have been any more friendly or helpful,i also had my youngest Bmaid (6) and they even took her off to try flower girl dresses on,they made both of us feel like princesses.
Marks out of 10:
10 I would definatly reccomend this shop to anyone.
Reason for listing?:
found my dress there and the staff were so helpful unlike other shops id been to
Marks out of 10:
8 1/2 beacuse they dont allow men into the store.
they were robbed by armed robbers three weeks ago and the owner is still shaken up so they dont allow men into the store.
__________________ Stace. xx Married my sweetpea
Phew that was hard work!!
My little baby yeah not so much now my little man is now almost 3 years old !! not a baby no more
My little ginger man speaks spanish!!
Name and area of Store: bridal Emporium-Lady Nova. Reading
Reason for listing?: Really unhelpful. the owner was hardly there, and left an old lady in charge who couldn't fit dresses, so you could only look until she came back.
Was very unfriendly, made me feel like I was wasting her time. Only allowed me to try on one dress, as she said nothing else would fit me.
Assistant didn't believe me when I said I wouldn't be loosing weight before the wedding, said I needed to!
Marks out of 10: 1 at least she had one dress in my size.
Reason for listing?:Lovely and helpful! had most dresses pinned, but a lot didn't fit so stayed in changing room mostly (didn't mind one bit as they were so nice!) Lady thought I might feel bad that I couldn't come out as a lot didn't fit, so spent ages trying to find a dress (any dress) that was in my size so I could come out and twirl like everyone else! bless her!
Marks out of 10: 9 needed more selection of bigger sizes, but were just SO lovely!
Name and area of Store: - Confetti & Lace, Farnham
Reason for listing?:- They are the most wonderfullest shop I have ever walked in, never once mentioned my size, never asked if I was going to diet, and I felt generally loved!! This was the only bridal shop that I went in.
Marks out of 10: 10, couldn't have found better if I tried!!!
Reason for listing?: I went in knowing what dress I wanted, went back a week later as they had dresses out the back in the colour I was ordering (emerald green)
Really helpful when I went to try the "shop dress" on and make my payment & have my measurments done!
The shop didn't have a massive range of larger dresses BUT the staff make up for this!
Marks out of 10: I'd have to say about an 8
H
__________________
The day I married my best friend September 21st 2002, Brecon
name of store
London Bride and Groom Location
Walworth Rd elephant and castle london
Got lost on huge subway system but well worth the vist, the staff where incredible helpfull and most indignantt about a bad experiance i had with a shop in Weybridge who told mw not to even visit, they even had samples in my size altough oppted for a a pinned dress hope it will be ok on the day. Berkertex Regent Street where also very good and went so for as pinning material in the gape at the back so i could prance around like the other 'ordinary' brides
Hope this helps rating
London Bride and Groom 9/10
Berkertex Regent Street 8/10
__________________ Emma
Smuggie since Oct 2002
After lots of help our little born on 28th Jan 2008
when I kiss you goodnight I will
hold you a little tighter, a little longer. It is then, that I will thank
God for you, and ask him for nothing,
Berketex Manchester - Both in the Arndale Centre and Debenhams
The dresses they sell are lovely and when you're browsing it's great because they leave you alone, however, they are wingy about appointments and really not very helpful, I got no help and guidance or opinions and they pretty much left me to it.
Not so good when you're trying to buy!!
I'd probably give them a 6, they had some realistic sized dresses too...
__________________
Friday 5th/ Saturday 6th July 2002
Imperial Hotel, Torquay
Name of store: Jasmine/Belsoie Bridals, Nr. Oxford St.
Reason For Listing: Absolutely wonderful service, beautiful shop & products, friendly staff and no appointment needed (stunning for London!!) Also, the dresses are fairly unique since Jasmine isn't know that well in the UK and they make them to measure rather than ordering the nearest size and then adjusting it. Great if you're out of proportion!!
Name of Store: Pronuptia (Richmond) - menswear section.
Reason for listing Staff weren't very good - didn't even bother to take proper measurements. Messed up bill, so we were in there for ages. very stressful. Also, lighting does your head in!!
Marks out of 10: 6 (being generous here because the suits themselves are nice)
Feedback : Assistant suggested I should come back with my fiancee to select what colour/style suit I should choose. Excuse me, I think I can choose myself!. She seemed a bit patronising, a "know it all".
Marks : 4/10 : A poor selection of outfits generally and not at all welcoming staff
Feedback: Absolutely wonderful shop with the most fantastic staff, no-one even mentioned that I wasn't a size 12!!! and they made me feel like a princess, AND I found the dress of my dreams!!!!!!!!!!!
Marks: 10 out of 10 Would highly recommend to anyone in the Essex/London area.
On the other hand
Name of Store: Kerriann's
Location: Wickford, Essex
Feedback: Not very impressed staff were nice enough BUT had only a few dresses larger than 14 and when I decided to try on the only larger dress that wasn't horrible the assistant said "larger girls like yourself shouldn't wear a hooped underskirt"
Thanks God I'd already found THE dress otherwise they would have out me off for life, made me feel aft and ugly!
All of these wear good
Chic brides Eaves lane chorley she was lovely 8/10
Brides of Distincation Eccleston nr Chorley 10/10
they wear fantastic even had dresses to fit from the likes of Catherine jane they very nearly had a sale
Brides odf Leigh got my dress and where very nice But what let them down is they had no proper chancing room a little embarrasiing when the cvurtaines area is open and being large the dress does no wear near fits and they had no samples in larger sizes 9/10
__________________ Emma
Smuggie since Oct 2002
After lots of help our little born on 28th Jan 2008
when I kiss you goodnight I will
hold you a little tighter, a little longer. It is then, that I will thank
God for you, and ask him for nothing,
Name and area of Store: Cameo Brides, Portsmouth, Hampshire
Reason for listing?:
I was visiting from out of the area, and my Mum had checked that they had dresses that I would be able to fit into beforehand. As it happened they only had a couple in my size, and I would have been better off had I been a couple of sizes in either direction. But one did fit perfectly and the owner was so excited and enthused about my "perfect size 18 figure". I did try to say that I would rather be a perfect size 14, but she didn't seem too bothered by my size. She tried to squeeze me into a smaller one to see what it looked like, but I wanted to be able to do it up!
Marks out of 10:
8 as I was very much made to feel at home, but didn't have much to try on.
(By the way, I found a beautiful Vera Wang dress in the Vogue pattern book that my Mum is making for me, and I am very excited!)
Name and area of Store: Dreams Bridal Studio, Sandwich, Kent
Reason for listing?: This store is owned by a wonderful lady called Barbara and her husband. When I was looking through all the size 16 and 18 dress she told me that it I didn't have to try the ones on in just those sizes, if I saw one I liked in a 12 I could still try it on!! She gave me loads of advice and was really honest, if she didn't think a dress suited me she told me in a really nice way that didn't hurt my feelings. I felt like a queen when I was parading round in my dress, I didn't give a thought to the pegs she'd used to attach the fastening to my bra because it wouldn't do up properly!! My dress is a 2 piece, because I'm only 5ft 4 and I have quite a short body, all the dresses never sat right. the 2 peice really slims my body down. When I tried on my dress she said "that's it, that's the one" and my best friend and I both agreed. She really knew what she was talking about, she never rushed me or made me feel fat. Her husband was just a lovely added bonus because he takes care of the "groom" side of the business and we're hiring all the male bridal party outfits from there to!!
Marks out of 10: 20
__________________
Mrs Sam Maidment
Happily married to Phil Maidment on
29th June, 2002
Name and area of Store: Holmfirth Bridal Cottage, West Yorkshire and Juvon Bridal, Brighouse, West Yorkshire
Reason for listing?: Holmfirth Bridal Cottage are really helpful, lovely people who tried their very best to help me even though I didn't buy my dress from them
Juvon were fab helping me find a frock from their sale rail, and didn't bat an eyelid about being asked for a size 18 or 20 AND do thier own alterations on site. Totally unflappable and laid back.
Name and area of Store: Pronuptia, Hatton Garden - London.
Reason for listing?: Just felt more at ease with them than anyone else. The girl (Jo) was honest but still got me to try on things I had planned to, even when she knew they wouldn't look right on me. Much better than just 'dictating' to you. She also discussed the style of wedding I was having in relation to the most suitable dress.
Plenty of room for friends etc to sit comfortably.
They had dresses in my size - only a few, but even sale ones!
Marks out of 10: 9 as still too few larger sizes.
Name and area of Store: Debenhams, Oxford St. - London.
Reason for listing?: Told me I didn't need an appointment when I went in and enquired. Also the assistant was completely patronising. A glutton for punishment, I turned up with my bridesmaids a fortnight later and was refused due to no appointment!!
I explained that I had been misinformed but to no avail. She wouldn't even let me try one dress on in the evening wear fitting room next door, with my bridesmaids only and no assistant.
I complained by email and got an apology.
Marks out of 10: 1 - had some nice reasonably priced dresses even if I wasn't allowed near them!
Name and area of Store: Just For You, Bond Street, Bristol, Avon.
Reason for listing?: Fantastic, friendly service; wide range of designers; huge range of sample sizes. The girls in this shop are real Bristol girls. They give honest opinions and go out of their way to give you the best possible shopping experience. I was pretty nervous, so called beforehand to get an idea of their sample sizes. They run from 8 through to 30 in their samples so I decided to go there...
The dresses are beautiful and the assistant I was with wasn't intimidating at all like some places I've tried to go to before... She brought me armfulls of veils and tiaras to try on with the dress I really liked and wrote down the details of everything for me. The prices were pretty good too! I had a really fun afternoon
Reason for listing?: Good range of plus size samples. I was able to try on a lot of size 24s (yay!) and they had samples going up to 30. Assistants were helpful and picked out great tiaras and veils to go with each dress I tried. They also gave advice on colours for bridesmaids as one of the dresses I tried definitely would not go with my cream and red ideas
Marks out of 10: 7 - the dresses were fab, but the shop was very messy, didn't have a good range of shoes to wear with the dresses when trying on, and the cubicle I was in had pins on the floor (still convinced I have one in my foot). On the other hand, I'm willing to believe that this wasn't normal as it was very tidy when I visited previously. Also, I didn't like that I was left to struggle into dresses. I much prefer them putting the dresses over my head, especially when they have built in nets!!
Mmm, it does look like I have a huge list of moans, but they really were quite good. Just not as personal as Just For You in Bristol, but I suppose this is to be expected of a chain...
Name and area of Store: Amaryllis Bridal Wear in Alton, Hampshire
Reason for listing?: Absolutley Fantastic! Can't fault them at all! Only went to look or CBM dress ideas- had to make an appt (was 20 mins late as had no idea where I was going) They were soooooo helpful.
I found 'The Dress' and a dress for my CBM - they helped us both in and out of the dresses....found me a tiara and veil to put with it to get the 'overall look.' Found CBM a box to stand on and some high heeled shoes (bless her- she was a wee bit too short for the dress!)
Would recommend them to Everyone!!
I'm not a 'big and beautiful bride' (?short and semipassable instead?!) but I do have to mention McConnellCurrell in Melbourne. Not once have they ever mentioned any sizes in anything, from trying stuff on to making mine - not once!!! Because they are couturiers they don't have a lot of sizes etc in stock, but they do have a range of sizes and they have a whole load of ready made up accessories so that if you don't fit a dress properly, they can still get it to look good with bits of material and hooks and pins etc, and change necklines. They are also honest in a nice way, making suggestions to highlight your best bits which also happen to disguise the not so good bits. For me, they talked about my waist (which is a foot smaller around than my hips - so my backside is not so small!). But they talked about fitting it in tight on the waist and 'skimming' from there down to about mid thigh - so not tight, but not a big skirt to give away the 'hiding big bum' idea! Top stuff. I tried on my dress yesterday and it makes me look minute - I'm small anyway but at least it has kept some curves instead of the boyish thing they try to do to small women.
__________________
my get up and go has got up and gone...........
Not too sure how to paste and cut lol but here goes
Shop - Special Occasions in Stanford Le Hope
They are very good and I am a size 18 - 20 and not once did they mention my weight even when I said i was going to diet they said if i was happy with who I was then what was the point. I tried on a few dresses and they fitted every one of them, the one I choose was too big and it will need to be taken in but I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it.
I went into ******** and lace in jeans and t shirt and they looked down at me as if I should not have been in there, just goes to show the smaller shops are much more personal
The best and the rest!
Stace. 
xx
Married my sweetpea 
not a baby no more 
Ian & Nessa married 02.11.02 
Jake Edward born 01/04/2004 
& 
born on 28th Jan 2008
when I kiss you goodnight I will 
Angela & Dave 
ok ok dont shout at me but
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