David’s Bridal

What should have been a fun, special event was extremely lacklustre when I visited this bridal shop a few weeks ago. While nothing went wrong– the selection is really limited and the lady helping me had no idea about the stock, sizes or anything. Was no help to pick out matching veils or shoes or anything. She seemed decidedly disinterested in weddings. It all just felt a bit flat– you felt like you were just on a conveyor belt of brides.

Searching for your perfect wedding dress is a real headache. There are how many shops in London again? How many in outer London? And they all have different dresses from different designers and different prices and fittings? How will you ever be able to cope with this on top of the thousands and thousands of little details you are arranging for your wedding?
One thing that is so good about this shop is convenience. It’s a huge shop space situated in Westfield Stratford. Bridal dresss? Book an appointment and go upstairs! Bridesmaids and mother of the bride? Shoes? Go downstairs please, browse the racks and racks of multi coloured dresses to your heart’s content!
As per the other two reviews already available for this shop, when you book your first bridal appointment, you get an hour to try on a few dresses. Usually they only let you try on 3 and this is where you try to figure out whether you fit into an A-​Line, drop-​waist, princess, ball-​gown, fish-​tail, etc etc. Sometimes if the lady is really nice you could even try and squeeze into 5 gowns in one session, but you better be quick getting in and out of those dresses!
Have no fear however, if one hour is not enough. I recommend coming back again on another appointment, although sometimes you feel like they just want you to pick your dress right there and then in that hour, it’s just not possible for something this expensive! You should narrow down your type of dress and come back and try it on again.
I tried on my dress 3 times before I decided to buy it, and I also made sure to go to a wedding show where David’s Bridal had a stand because they give you a £50 voucher off your dress. Once you bought your dress here you also get given a VIP card and 10% off all accessories.
In January they had a sale and even in February the shoes were marked down from £85 to £15 so I grabbed a pair for my mum and ordered another pair full price which wasn’t available because the shoes (from Rainbow Club — and also available at John Lewis next door at more expensive prices) were very very comfortable indeed and I could imagine myself wearing these at my wedding. Veil was also 10% off with the card!
I’ve had good and bad experiences here but it really depends on who is serving you because this is a very busy store. One Sunday I turned up at 12 and people were queuing outside! This wedding business is stressful for everyone involved so just try and take a step back, because trying on wedding dresses is a fun experience and don’t let the stress of not finding the one take over!
Things to consider:
Dresses are delivered from their USA branch. Usually takes maximum 3 months to arrive. You can get it delivered to your house at a cost or pick up in store for free.
Alterations — you should take your dress back to the shop 2 months before your wedding. Charged separately.

Hmmm, I feel a little mean posting this as they don’t have any other reviews yet… but I wasn’t very impressed with David’s bridal. We just had a look around, so didn’t need an appointment… but you’ll need to make an appointment if you want to try anything on.
They must spend tonnes on advertising as I saw them in my facebook feed loooads when I first got engaged… and (I’m a sucker for clicking links) so I took a peek and liked the look of some of their bridesmaid dresses online. I also liked the way you can choose a dress shape, and then choose the colour… so your bridesmaids can choose a style that suits them, and you can just choose the colour to be match-​y.
However when I wandered in to take a peek at the actual dresses (with my girlies) they just didn’t look that nice. The quality seemed pretty rubbish considering the high price tags… and lots of them were just so, well, chavvy. It was fun to have a giggle and look at some of the slightly loopy styles, but I’m just not quite mean enough to ask my friends to wear something like that.