Cardiff Bridal Centre, Cardiff

Never in my life have I dealt with such rude unprofessional people! They were lovely to begin with and couldn't help me enough. They failed to change the name on my contract to the correct name, making the contract unenforceable. The manner of the person I dealt with is beyond appalling and disgusting. Her attitude and response to me was "I am above the law and my decision is final", appalling, stay clear and shop elsewhere.

I bought my bridesmaids dresses from here for my wedding in April 2011. Whilst we were very pleased with the dresses themselves in the end, the whole shopping experience left a lot to be desired.

The shop itself is very unwelcoming, with a security guard at the entrance who makes you feel like a criminal before you've even stepped inside. Then you go upstairs to an extremely shabby, cramped, stuffy and old-fashioned shop.

The fitting rooms are absolutely dreadful - very small, with old curtains that fail to give you total privacy. You have to step outside of the fitting rooms to look in the mirror, which is standard in a bridal shop, but the lack of space means that often brides and bridesmaids-to-be are fighting for an opportunity to use the mirror. You also don't get any privacy as there are usually several people with each bride / bridesmaid - making the whole experience very public.

I had assumed that the unpleasant shopping environment would mean that the bridesmaids dresses would be cheaper than average, but no, they were quite expensive. They also took about 6 months to be ready.

Added to the basic price of the dress (at least £175), they charge for fittings (£10 - which I thought was quite a cheek) and alterations. You are bound to need the fittings / alterations as they deliberately make the dresses extremely long (despite the fact that they measure you when you order the dress).

As I said, we were pleased with the dresses in the end, but I would definitely not recommend the shop to anyone - there are far nicer bridal shops in Cardiff, where you will not be treated like cattle.