Wedding Forum - Awful experience...

Hi all I'm new to the forum although I joined a while ago. I am looking at dresses at the moment and have had an awful experience at a local bridal shop. I'm a size 16 and when I went for my appointment they made me feel like I was too fat to look at any dresses apart from the plus size dresses. I was ushered to the plus size section and wasn't 'allowed' to look at any other dresses as they said there was 'no point' as I wouldn't be able to fit in the sample sizes! I tried on a few dresses but didn't really like them and to make matters worse staff members kept wandering through the fitting area to get to the kitchen whilst I was stood in my underwear trying on dresses! People in the shop could see me in my undies as the staff kept opening the curtain to walk through the changing area. I saw one dress I liked but they wouldn't let me try it on as another bride was coming to try it on later that day. Which I really didn't understand as it was a sample on display. I was in tears and my mom and sister were appalled at how I was treated. This shop is an award winning shop that stocks a lot of designers that I like. The whole experience has put me off wedding dress shopping completely. Any advice on nice bridal shops would be appreciated- I'm in Staffordshire but willing to travel xx

So sorry to hear it was a bad experience. Wedding dress shopping shouldn't be like that. Hope you get a better experience with the next shop you try. They're not all bad.

Thats terrible take your money elsewhere im nt in your area so cnt help but i would be putting a complaint into that shop to managers attention x

So sorry you had to go through that experience Rebbeca :( I've not tried any dresses on yet but this is something that really worries me. I'm not a skinny girl, I vary between sizes 12/14/16 depending on where I shop from, so I'm really worried that I'm going to need a larger size wedding dress and I've heard they come up a lot smaller. It's terrible that they treated you like that and made you feel so awful.. I will never understand why some shops are like that. Their most important aim should be to provide excellent customer service and make their customers/potential customers feel so special and a million dollars!! I know it's hard to pick yourself up after you've been made to feel like that but definitely try another shop - the first one doesn't deserve your custom! Maybe read any reviews you can online before you book an appointment so you can get an idea of what they are like xx

That's terrible they have no right to decide what dresses you should and shouldn't try on! Definitely take your money elsewhere! Can't advise on any shops in that area but maybe read some reviews of local shops online, I have learned alot about the shops in my area from reviews. I hope you get a better experience next time! x

Can't remember name of the shop hun but there is one on pershore road, Birmingham that stocks some bigger sizes really friendly too x

It's so wrong of them Rebecca. It should be a magical experience trying on dresses for your big day and made to feel special. The first shop I went to to try dresses on weren't very nice to me either. I'd lost 2 stone already of the 4.5 stone that I wanted to lose but still felt like this wasn't good enough. The dress I tried on was definitely 'the one' I wanted for my wedding day but the lady that helped me to get in the dress was so disrespectful and saying it doesn't fit you need a bigger size (even though it was 1 button at the top that wouldn't fasten) and I'd told her I was still loosing weight. She just looked me up and down as if To say I was too fat for the dress. After all the comments she kept saying I'd had enough. So after my mum had come in and saw the dress I took it off and told the lady I wouldn't be coming back. I'd of bought the dress too but didn't think she deserved my custom so I went somewhere else and this is where I did find my dream dress x

Hi Rebecca,

So sorry to hear that you have had such a bad negative experience when trying on dresses. I'm also a size 14/16 14waist but due to hips and boobs tho I'm considered a 16. It's awful the way they acted while you we're in store. Please don't let this put you off when making future appointments at other stores. Unfortunately I'm in suffolk so I can't advise you of shops. However I've not had one negative comment so hopefully you will have a better experience next time. Xx

Good luck with the next shop :-) xx

It's awful that some shops treat people like that. Not everyone is naturally designed to be a size 8. Some samples are bigger anyway, I ended up buying a sample that was a size 14. At the shops I went to everyone was sensitive about my privacy, and even the ladies helping me to try on did things in such a way as to see as little as possible of me in my underwear. If the sample of a dress is small it's usually possible to try it one a bit at least, as they can put string at the back to fasten it more loosely.