Couture Bride & Groom, Chelmsford, Essex

This is the typical wedding dress shop where the shop assistants have been dealing with happy bride to be's for so long that they've got bitter!

I made an appointment with this Chelmsford store in January 2009 and was left waiting downstairs for a while before being pushed up the narrow staircase to a room with dresses crammed in. All the dresses looked the same. There didn't seem to be a variety. On telling the shop assistant that with my shape I needed a A-line dress with an empire top (with straps) - this didn't seem an odd choice because the wedding magazines were full of them at the time - I was given 3 dresses (not picked by me I hasten to add) that didn't fit the criteria - all strapless and made for size 10 models with no hips! She then gave us the impression that she was bored of us, sighed and got someone else in to help us (who was the dressmaker and much nicer). When the shop assistant returned to find out which dress I was going to buy I explained that they weren't really what I was looking for and she shrugged and said "well, I guess you won't find what you're looking for then". At this point, my friends and I walked out.

It was only later that I found out that she was not a shop assistant but the shop manager! Says it all really...