Belle Bridal and Formal Shoppe

when I looked at dress that I thought I might be interested in, a woman said excuse me, can I help you in the most rudest tone as she looked me up and down. It was absolutely terrible. I mean I was wearing jeans and a blouse, it wasn't like I had gym clothes on. Didn't buy a thing. They were very rude.

t to me for a significantly cheaper price, including alterations. The staff there is friendly, but I was disappointed with my service there. I ordered my dress in August, and I was supposed to get it in December. So, when the time came around, I heard nothing from the shop. I called and called and every time I called, they said, "It'll be here soon". Finally, after weeks of waiting, I demanded to talk to the owner, she eventually tracked down the dress which had been sitting at a warehouse out of state for almost a month. Then, we finally get it to the shop and I have my first alteration, and everything went good. then, the night before my second alteration, I get a call at 10 o' clock from the alterations lady and she says, "Hey I haven't gotten your dress done yet, do you mind rescheduling?". I really didn't have a choice, so I had to reschedule. I was not too happy because my maid of honor had traveled hours to come to that alterations with me, which never happened. Plus, the alterations lady had two months to simply take 1 inch off of the bottom of the dress...

ce rack, and I wasn't sure if I was ready to buy, but she said she knew it was my dress so she would hold it for me until the end of the day. I went back a couple hours later and bought it! Great help!

ittle disappointed with the bustle that was out in the dress. It seemed costly and did not hold up on the day of the wedding so my train was stepped on all throughout the reception and my dress ripped almost all along the back..

y were also great over the phone when we called them the next day to say we wanted the dress.

ordered a bridesmaid dress in white. I will say that service you recieve seems to correlate with the money you are spending.

help you find your dress, and everyone there is wonderful to work with. I live in Seattle, but I drove up to Bellingham because I had tried maybe 25 dresses on and hadn't fallen in love with one yet. Even when I forgot my garter that they give to you for free with a dress purchase at their store, they mailed it down to me in time for the wedding. My dress is a beautiful fit and flare with a lavish, beaded corset, and a tool bottom. I felt like a princess in it and it was only $899. They are all exceptional ladies and will do everything they can to make your wedding day perfect!

mpleted ahead of time). I would definitely suggest that brides check this shop out to see if their perfect dress is hiding there. My one complaint would be that the staff didn't quite get the alteration right when taking the dress in and I ended up with a dress that wasn't as fitted across my bosom as I'd like. When I brought this to their attention at the final fitting they said there was nothing they could do and suggested a padded corset (um, no way).

nd one dress I liked and it was the same dress I found at Alicia's, but more expensive. I did find a style of bridesmaids dress that I liked, but that too was pretty pricey so I passed on that.

ng). Then we went to Belle Bridal and tried on a couple more dresses. The saleswoman there wasn't nearly as nice. Unfortunately I ended up purchasing my gown from Belle because they had an in house seamstress (who is GREAT!) and they didn't charge for shipping. If I had to do it all over again, I would have definitely purchased elsewhere, but more because I lived an hour+ drive away from Belle. I do have to say the alterations lady there is wonderful though!!

Elaine picked out a gorgeous Maggie Sottero "Dakota" gown for me to try on. It was so comfortable and best of all elongated my short waist and even made my baby bump look smaller because of all the rushing across the stomach. Some of my wedding guests didn't even realize I'm pregnant! The back of the dress laced up like a corset which is great because I wasn't sure what size I'd be by my wedding day. They did a fantastic job altering my dress, it barely grazed the floor, had a 5 ft long train and they added a bustle so that I could dance in it during my wedding. Every single guest loved my dress. The shop owner has every person entering the store take their shoes off. They take care of their wedding dresses. I noticed that at other bridal salons we went to the bottoms of the dresses looked dirty from the associates accidentally stepping on them. The dresses here were very clean and had no missing beads etc. Every customer gets their own spacious dressing room with a private room to show friends their dresses. It is like a mini Kleinfelds, but way more affordable. I bought my designer dress for under $1000 but looked and felt like a million bucks!

e shoulder straps and have a custom veil to compliment the applique on my dress. And they did it! My dress and veil were perfect and if not just what I wanted but better. They helped me package my dress to ship to NY where my parent s live and were the wedding was.

on we know, my stepfather, drop the Bitch word. From being overpriced ($160 for a simple khaki suit) to arguing with us about our best man's pants being four sizes too large, to not being even remotely willing to order a new pair of shoes for our groomsman whose shoes came defective and broken and two sizes too small, they really left a great impression on us. It wasn't until I called and had my first ever and only bridezilla moment that they suddenly became willing to work with us, not against us. Two thumbs down.