Confetti & Lace Lakeside

I want to try and make this as fair as possible as there are some scathing reviews and there are some positive aspects to this store and my dress shopping experience there.

Firstly, we were unfortunately running about 10 mins late due to traffic and that wasn’t a problem, and I didn’t have to wait to be seen once arrived. (I did call beforehand to give them the heads up)

My stylist was very nice and she did her job very well in terms of pinning me into dresses and adding touches I wouldn’t have thought of, which I haven’t had in a few other stores.

There was a LOT more of a selection than I thought, all at very reasonable price points.

As a size 16/18 and reading some reviews, I was worried about not finding any sample sizes to fit but there was a huge range.

The store aesthetic in itself is lovely, clean, and bright.

The dressing area was lovely and still felt private even though there’s other brides being seen.

Now the not so positive aspects….

I did not have a budget for my dress- and of course I was aware that they work on commission so any dresses they would recommend would be in the upper price bracket- this was highly noticeable and almost as if my actual likes for a dress were ignored and just the most expensive dresses picked for me to try.

I had found some dresses online I would have liked to have tried- I wasn’t asked if I had found any specific styles and I couldn’t actually even see half of what was online in the store.

I wanted to be really open minded and try different styles, my sister actually chose a dress that was completely opposite to what I thought I liked and this ended up being the favourite. The stylist was a little scathing and commented “you’ve chosen exactly what she said she didn’t want” and could tell wasn’t very interested until she saw my reaction of loving it.

I had already told her my plan was to decide on Sunday, as I had one more appointment I wanted to honour. I am not an indecisive person and I wasn’t messing around umming and aahing over dresses I didn’t like. When I found the dress I loved, I was very pressurised into saying yes. I repeated my decision is tomorrow and I asked questions regarding deposits and payments etc and come back appointments if I was to say yes to that dress. She tried to make me book a come back appt on the spot- I said no, I would need to wait and see until tomorrow. She then commented how she didn’t understand why I was bothering with going tomorrow if I loved this dress- which I thought wasn’t a necessary comment. I could sense a major shift in attitude as soon as she realised I wasn’t going to make a decision at that moment.

I feel like if you were on your own, or perhaps didn’t have a plan in mind like I did, you could be easily forced into purchasing a dress that may not be right for you. It was a shame because the majority of the appointment went well, much better than expected considering previous reviews I had read but the ending was quite spoilt and marred by the change in the stylists behaviour.

I would say if you have a sizeable budget and want to buy your dress ON THAT DAY then go for it, but just be mindful the selling techniques and behaviours from the staff.

After seeing a dress online and calling the shop to see if this dress was in stock, I visited confetti and lace with my future daughter in law and the rest of her bridal party. Initially we were impressed with the vast selection of dresses on display. We soon realised it didn’t matter how many dresses there are in a shop the feeling you get from this shop wasn’t comfortable.

Our appointment was for 2pm but we were kept waiting until 2.45 although we we told on a couple of occasions how sorry they were for keeping us waiting. Eventually the bridal consultant introduced herself as “from Say Yes to the Dress” and that we were lucky to have her as she has over 30 years of experience. My daughter in law explained what she was looking for and had picked out the dress we came to try. The consultant turned her nose up and said she knew what would suit her figure best. The bridal party had picked out 3 other gowns which matched the brides brief however theses were all dismissed by “Sue” as unsuitable because they wouldn’t be right! We continually heard “ I’m from Say yes to the dress” and “you’re lucky you’ve got me” although at no time did my daughter in law feel lucky, quite the reverse in fact. The whole experience at Confetti and Lace has spoilt what should have been an afternoon to remember and dented the confidence of a bride who was self conscious about trying on wedding dresses. The consultant didn’t listen to what my daughter in law was saying about what she wanted but kept bringing dresses she thought would be right. We eventually insisted she try on the dress she came almost 70 miles to try which actually suited her and was a lovely dress but because of the attitude and manner of the consultant we decided to leave and look at other bridal shops closer to home. I wouldn’t recommend this shop to any future bride. This experience should be one to remember which this will be but for all the wrong reasons.

Do not shop here.

This bridal shop have no compassion.

I have read about the poor bride who's groom who has passed away leaving 4 kids and a devastated bride.

This company is still asking for the remainder of the dress balance and refusing any refunds.

This bride will never wear her dress but she needs to Bury her groom and feed her children.

No compassion from this retailer please think twice before you shop they don't treat their customers as humans just £signs.

Although there’s a big selection of wedding dresses to choose from, my general experience at the shop was very negative. Myself and my family were hugely disappointed in the customer service we received. The lady that served us was extremely rude, intimidating and made us feel incredibly uncomfortable. She was rude to my mum when she was giving me her opinion on the dress saying in a very rude tone ‘it’s not about what you think, it’s about what she thinks and I’m her boss today not yours’. It is very much my decision on whether I want my mums opinion and my mum was disgusted at the way she was spoken to. I was then told by her that I was time wasting for asking to try a hoop under a dress that I potentially wasn’t sure about and that she felt I was just playing dress up rather than actually focusing on trying to find a dress I liked which was completely not the case and made me feel that I shouldn’t stay in any dress too long or try on too many in fear of annoying her. She then said that it is ‘very easy for us to tell if brides are here to play dress up or if they are actually here to find a dress which I felt she was implying that I was there just to play dress up. I then found a dress I really liked but wanted to compare it to a previous one to see the difference in the bodice, something I feel I am completely entitled to when spending thousands of pounds on a dress. She told me in a very intimidating and aggressive manner that it was ‘very strange that I wanted to retry a dress I didn’t like aspects of and that she was very confused that I wanted to try a dress on that I have ruled out’ very much putting words in my mouth that I had ruled it out when I hadn’t explicitly told her that this was the case. I felt that I couldn’t truly speak out my thoughts about the different dresses in fear that anything I would say would just be shut down by her. It made what should be a really exciting and fun experience that I have had in previous shops, a really negative one and myself and my family left afterwards in shock at the awful service we had just received. Although I really like one of the dresses that I tried on in the shop, I am completely put off coming back to the shop so am sourcing it elsewhere to order it from.

Honestly I knew this place had a bad name but wow …. I have worked in the bridal industry for many years but left to have my children .

It was a convenient setting for me and the bride to meet and try dresses on so we were looking forward to it ! I didn’t want to play the know it all card as there’s nothing more annoying for a consultant than that . But perhaps if I had we wouldn’t have been spun nonsense. The consultant was plain Rude her attitude was appalling the dresses were dirty … the prices insane for such a poor level of service and to be told all bridal shops are the same was just ridiculous. We went to another shop later in the day and the difference was incredible . The bride brought a dress nearly 2 thousand pounds over her intended budget ! So interesting given when we talked about budget she looked down her nose at us and deterred us from trying anything on! Perhaps if she hadn’t we would be spending nearly 3k there instead of somewhere else !! So maybe she did us a favour ! Lucky escape !

Just awful all round really words fail me!!

I visited in the summer to try on some dresses. If the reviews were for my advisor Rose than this would be a 5* as she was amazing. Many of the sample were a UK 6-8 (some actually smaller) and she was clearly embarrassed that this meant many wouldn't fit me (I'm a size 14). This is the only shop I've been too where so many of the samples were in limited sizes. Rose worked really hard and was very respectful of my likes and dislikes.

I found a dress I liked there, however the behaviour and attitudes of the other members of staff are why I chose to find this elsewhere. During my fitting I could hear other staff, including the supervisor/duty manager talking negatively about Rose. I generally couldn't believe it was happening, not only with her nearby but with a customer nearby. The supervisor then decided to aggressively interrupt discussion I was having about how certain styles I find uncomfortable, telling me I wouldn't because why did I think they had been in business 30 years and talking about their seamstresses. Considering all the negative reviews and direct feedback I've had from people I know has been about the quality of the alterations service I found this somewhat of an interesting moment. I have worked in customer service for a number of years and can honestly say the attitudes of most of the staff are the worst I have ever encountered.

It may be on the day I visited a certain person was having an off day. However considering how anxious the younger members of staff were I find this highly unlikely. This is the first time I've ever felt strongly enough about service to leave a review on Google.

Of most interest to me today is that the reviews on Facebook suddenly date back only a few months and are also all 5*. I can tell you know that when I previously looked in here there were many mixed reviews. It will be interesting to see how long it is until this one is deleted!!