Brides of Buckingham, Buckinghamshire

My daughters friend ordered 6 bridesmaid dresses from Brides of Buckingham in February 2015 for her wedding on 21 August 2015. The bride went into the shop on 23 May and was reassured that the dresses would soon be available - some may have needed slight alteration and a seamstress would therefor need to be booked. By end of June still no dresses and the shop was closed with a sign on the door saying 'closed due to sickness'. Several attempts to contact the business by phone and email failed although a facebook contact sent by 'the owner' said she was away in Jamaica until 8 July for a family wedding. To cut a long story short, it became evident that NO bridesmaid dresses had ever been ordered although she had taken the deposits in February. At this stage the owners son got involved and the deposit for the dresses was thankfully returned, however with less than 6 weeks till the wedding it has proved almost impossible to get 6 dresses to suit 6 bridesmaids in the right color. Considerable stress, time and expense have been experienced due to this apparently dishonest woman, not only to this bride but to many others if all the reports on facebook are anything to go by. My advice is DO NOT CONSIDER this shop.

I have never written a review before, not because I have never received bad service, but because I have never received this level of shockingly awful service.

I ordered my dress in April for a November wedding. I was told that my dress would be in by August - Plenty of time for it to arrive and have a couple of fittings.

The dress had still not arrived in September, by which time I was getting concerned. I tried to contact the shop on many occasions and no one got back to me, my mum also tried.

When we finally did speak to the owner, she said that they were unable to give her an exact date of delivery, but not to worry; the dress would be here on time.

Not satisfied with this, my mum contacted the supplier, they explained that they were unable to provide any information as they would only speak to the person who ordered it. But they did say that every person gets an expected delivery date.

Unable to contact the owner, my mum travelled to Buckingham to speak to her in person and to contact the supplier in front of her. She then gave us a date of arrival for October, 4 weeks before the wedding, which left me time to have just one fitting (which was not enough)

If this was not bad enough, we also ordered Bridesmaids dresses from her. We ordered them at the end of May and were told they would take a Max of 12 weeks to come in. 12 weeks came and went and we sill had no dresses, and more to the pint, we had no contact from the shop explaining there was a delay, or that they were trying to chase the order up. Four weeks before the wedding (approx. 16 weeks after purchase) we again had to drive to the shop and ask that they contact the supplier whilst we were there. They said that they would be able to confirm the date of delivery on the following Monday. It was then that the owner contacted us to let us know that the dresses would be in the week before the wedding. This left us no time to have fittings, so we had to cancel the order and go shopping for new Bridesmaids dresses two weeks before the wedding – not the most relaxing of experiences!

All of the practicalities and stress around the dresses were horrible in the lead up to the wedding, but the thing that angered and hurt me more was the complete lack of concern the owner showed. At no point did I have a phone call saying that the dresses would be late and that she was sorry but was doing all she could to get them in. At no point did she ever apologise for the inconvenience, or stress that this was causing. At no point did she give us any explanation as to why they were so late. There was no communication from her; it was always us trying to contact her to find out what was going on.

I’m not sure why they took so long to come in. My only conclusion is that she did not order them on time? Either way it was not a pleasant experience and I strongly advice that you do not trust this shop with one of the most important dresses you will ever wear!!

We ordered our dresses at the end of February.... 9 weeks later they arrived. Wrong sizes and wrong colours- absoloutley devastated! They never answer the phone or reply to emails- worst customer service I have ever received. I will never shop their again or recommmend this store to anyone.

I ordered my wedding dress 10 months ahead of getting married so I had plenty of time for fittings as I wasn't local. 2 months after it was supposed to be delivered and after ignored messages and emails my mum went in and it unravelled that they hadn't ordered my dress and were just ignoring me. They had to get an express order and pay more and it only just turned up in time. Terrible communication and service throughout.

What a brilliant experience! Could not do enough for us. Very genuine service. This shop is all about finding the perfect dress. When I found mine here they encouraged me to try some on in other shops just so I was absolutely sure. Felt so comfortable here. Janet should be really proud of the business she has built and a lot of other shops can certainly learn a lot from here.

Want to get married again just so I can go back!! Would recommend to anyone. Beautiful dresses too.

Thank you

Having been to a few bridal shops before coming here, I thought I had a good idea of what to expect but what awaited us was the best experience by far of any shop we had been in. We were given champagne and even though they were busy, they made us feel as though we were important.

The approach that Janet and Penny took was relaxed and they encouraged me to try on anything that I wanted, and even threw in a few based on the criteria that we had given them that we didn't spot ourselves. I felt completely comfortable, which is no mean feat when you are in and out of dresses and spend large amounts of time hanging around in your underwear!

They take a genuine interest in you and your day and treat every single person as if they were the only bride in the world who deserves to be treated as such. They were patient when I was indecisive and made sure that I got a really good feel for the dresses that I tried on. Compared to another bridal shop where I wasn't allowed to move from a footstool, this was fantastic!

There was no pressure to buy anything and even when I had made a decision, they checked that I didn't want to go away and think about it before buying. They have some beautiful dresses and offer you honest opinions about what looks best. They are willing to go the extra mile to make sure that your dress and therefore that part of your wedding day is absolutely perfect.

I would recommend Brides of Buckingham to anyone and in fact after our visit, my mum ended up getting her outfit from there as well. And next week we're heading back for my friend to try on some potential dresses for her wedding as well.

Even if you don't buy your dress from BoB, you should DEFINITELY pay them a visit. You won't regret it and chances are you'll find something fabulous.

Having already ordered my wedding dress at another shop, BOB was the first place i went to look at for bridesmaids dresses. I sent a few e-mails before-hand just to make sure they stocked the designers I liked and finally made an appointment. My sister and I were greeted by Janet when we arrived, it was really cold and she offered us a cup of tea/coffee straight away which was wonderful.

The shop is very spacious and well set out, with rows of wedding and bridemaids dresses. Janet let us choose as many dresses as we liked and my sister tried them on with much laughter and giggles. The shop is on the 2nd floor so you don't worry that people will be able to see you through the windows.

When we came down to the last few dresses, Janet threw a few in that we hadn't picked. We were looking for a short dress but she brought out some long ones which could be shortened. Because our colour was quite limiting it did narrow our choice down as some dresses only came in certain colours, although they do have a very wide range! Hint for brides - chose your bridesmaids colour before the groom chooses his!! Finally we had narrowed our choice down to the 2 long dresses Janet had picked out. She was great and let us take pictures and try the dresses on again... and again until we were sure which one we wanted. Finally we came to a decision but Janet did not push us at all, she even let our appointment go over the time, I think we were there for over 3 hours!

I can't wait for the dresses to come in and see my bridesmaids in them. I would definately recommend Janet and Brides of Buckingham.

Janet was very helpful and made my first wedding dress shopping experience a very memorable one. I could tell that Janet loved putting me in all the dresses and was really honest and helpful when giving opinions. Nothing was too much trouble and attention to detail came naturally. I loved the process she used of getting you to choose the dresses you wanted to try on, it made my experience very unique. She led me to finding my perfect dress and helped by following up my appointment with emails with the details and decriptions and similar style dresses. In the end i went back to the one she stocked and she helped to locate stockists near where i live. While Janet knew i wasnt going to buy the dress through her, she still couldnt help me enough and for that i thank her.

Under the new ownership of Janet. A warm welcome awaits you with cakes, chocolates, bucks fizz & coffee & you can try as many dresses on as you like! Janet & Penny were so friendly & helpful and made our day a wonderful fun experience. There was none of this 'You can only try on 5 dresses'. or 'You only have an hour & a half!' that we had from other shops! We were made to feel so welcome and the day was relaxed & fun. You feel under no pressure to buy, the girls simply want to help you find the dress for you!

Bride's of Buckingham have been taken over by new management so i'd ignore the previous negative comments left from a few years back. BoB was my first trip to try on wedding dresses and i was really nervous, but the 2 young girls in there made it so enjoyable and i relaxed instantly. I was allowed to try on whichever dresses i wanted and i was encouraged to try on styles i wouldn't have considered - these girls know what they're talking about! We were given cake and bucks fizz to add to the experience and the staff did everything they could to help. Not at all pushy in BoB and I can't wait to go back to try on the dress i think is 'the one'. Also fab value for money with a wide range of prices and deals including free accessories which makes it even better value! I'd definitely recommend Brides of Buckingham to any brides currently looking for their dream dress :)