I went to this shop a few weeks back on the referral of a friend who purchased their wedding gown here. Fairly certain we didn't get the same salesperson, as the woman I had was truly horrible. I know that all brides say this, but you'll have to trust me that I'm about as calm and low maintenance as a bride will get. The sales lady (named Vera) was very indifferent to helping me from the moment we got there, and the tone of her was anywhere from condescending to stern throughout our entire visit. She even insisted that my mom (who was emotional) put the tissue box beside her back on the table, and we were the only people in there!! She never really asked me anything about what I was looking for, and returned with a dress style I didn't really like. When I asked her if we could look at some different styles, she told me that she would be picking what I was to try on. After trying on three dresses, none of which were even close to what I was looking for, she continued to tell me which dress she liked on me, irregardless of the fact that I didn't like it. She brought me in the fourth dress and said "this is the only other dress I have for you." to which I replied "Ok, I'll try this one on and then we'll be out of your hair." After that, she became very confrontational and began asking me why I would say something like that. I tried to play it off and said it was just a phrase, and there was no intention behind it, as I really didn't feel like arguing with her, but she just wouldn't drop the issue and continued to ask me why I had said that. At this point I was feeling very uncomfortable and just wanted to get the last dress on and leave. Once I had tried the fourth dress on, we asked the sales lady questions about pricing for certain dresses and she was very evasive in her answers (ex. - "this one is more than that one" but without actually telling us prices). She gave me a card with the last dress I tried on as well as the first dress that she liked the best. As I was leaving she said "I put the dress that I liked best as your first choice, and the one you liked as second."

All in all, the actual shop was alright, the only other thing I didn't really like was that the room you change in is with the people you brought along. Not that I mind with my mom and best friend there, but there is no door on the room so anyone walking by can see you changing.

I must say after having a horrific bridal experience at L&J bridal, i went across the street to Gala. Everyone was so welcoming and Lucy took the time to have me try on dresses. I found my dress and Lucy truly added to the experience. I would definitely recommend this place!

In early March, my future daughter-in-law and I went to find a gown for her big day. There was nothing under $1,000. We felt pressured into buying a dress. I put down a $500 deposit. We were not told of any refund policy or cancellations at the time of sale. A couple weeks later my future daughter-in-law found a much nicer, better fitting, less expensive dress at another smaller boutique. We returned to Promises & Lace hoping for a refund, since the gown would not even be in the store until at least the end of June. We were told by the consultants working there, that they would not give refund and that e should 'live with it and get over it, pay for the gown and then sell it on Ebay'! How rude! The owner, Lynn, called me the next day to discuss the issue. She said she would not/could not refund my deposit. That's $500!! She said when and if the gown was sold she might consider returning my money! As if that's going to happen.!! Beware of purchasing from this store.

Sposa Italia in Woodbridge - buyer beware!

I tried a dress on that I really liked and when I asked who the designer was she said "Sposa Italia". The price was far more than I wanted to pay so I kept looking at other stores.

By chance, I found that same dress as the main pic on another bridal gown store's website. I thought, hey wait that dress looks EXACTLY like the one at Sposa Italia. Turns out that the dress was designed by Anjolique, and either Sposa Italia copied it to a tee, and more than doubled the price for 'their unique design', or, and more realistically, they didn't tell me the actual designer so I would buy it from them at their ridiculously marked up price!! I called several other stores to check the price and they were all the same except at Sposa Italia, which was 2X the price! Crazy! Be careful. I also saw other stores in Woodbridge (I think Amandalina) rip the designer tags out from the dress so you wouldn't know who the designer was!

Just be careful ladies, and if you can, try and shop around to compare prices on the dress you want.

Below are the most accurate comments. This store has amazing dresses but the women makes you not even want to try them on Even if you had a $10 000 budget. Her attitude was demeaning and she did not even assist. There was no one else in the store, and it was difficult even getting help. I wanted to try on a few styles but she said they didn’t have what I wanted, so I took my budget elsewhere. Lucy across the street at Gala bridal was sooo helpful. I recommend that place instead, they took time to help and even though I didn’t get a designer gown I got the service and was treated like a princess like any bride should. Don’t even bother going to L & J.

I bought a pair of wedding shoes from them recenty. When they arrived they were too big and color wasn't right so I sent email asking if I could exchange and they replyed me right away said they have the color and the size I asked for and they gave me returning shipping rabel. They pay for shipping ony if you are exchanging. I shipped the shoes the same day and they shipped the other ones 2 days later. I was running out of time for my wedding date and I sent them lots of emails asking the situation(when they are arriving, etc), they replyed to me each time gave me answers. I was amazed by their great service and efficiency. I recommend to anybody to buy your wedding shoes.

I went to best for bride because i heard they had cheap beautiful dresses my friend didnt lie. The first dress i tried on i fell in love with it but for the sake of it i tried another one one but it just wasnt right, the store clerk she was patient with me even thought i tried my dress on for 3 times before coming to a final decision and she did not complain at all . Thank you so much for your great service keep it up.

We went to Madeline's searching for prom dresses for my twin daughter's and as soon as we walked in the store we were made to feel very welcome and special. The owner Nick was very attentive and helped the girls pick the perfect prom dresses. My one daughter loved it when he asked her, "So is it yes to the dress?" They needed to go back for serveral alteration fittings and the seamstress and Madeline were always very accomadating to the girl's specifications and made them feel like movie stars. Several of the girl's friends also went to Madeline's and everyone had great experiences.

Dear Veronica, Marianna, & Mona,
How can I thank you for all you did for me & for your fabulous service...
You made my experience an unforgettable one & I wish all the best especially veronica with the new baby :)
With love,
Olivia

"I looked all over Chicago and Toronto for a dress for my upcoming wedding, and am ecstatic to be wearing a Lea Ann Belter dress. I can't say enough great things about the designer and this boutique!

The dresses at Lea Ann Belter are gorgeous. Attention to detail, unique design, beautiful fabrics and a very personalized shopping experience. The boutique is fabulous and the appointment there was so relaxing and positive I fell in love with most of the dresses I tried on. I went to many of the other places on this list and there is no comparison. Lea Ann Belter is the place for brides looking for a couture experience without the exorbitant price tag!

I am pretty sure a few of my friends who accompanied me will be returning here for their dresses..."

Erin

Mrs Maria Belo ,Susan, Linda and staff . I just want to Thank you all soooo very much for making our wedding day such a Beautiful and Memorable experience! Thank you , Belo Fashions for all of your help and support during my engagement process with my wedding dress, my jewelry, the bridesmaids dresses, veil, alterations and advice. I couldn't have asked for a better team of professionals! From the timely service with our dresses, to the excellent customer service and most importantly your honesty and friendship, you ladies were AMAZING!!! On behalf of my husband and our bridal party I just want to extend my sincerest THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU AND THANK YOU!! :) I would definitely recommend you ladies and WILL be back for cocktail party and Christmas party dresses!

let's begin by saying that I have been to Windsor Bridal for about 10 years since I have been in 10 different wedding parties. Most of my experiences have been HORRIBLE but yesterday took that cake. I went with my bridesmaids because they wanted to check out the prices of some dresses they found at Ritche (which had better service). I knew that Windsor sucked but I was never treated as badly as yesterday. I went with my girls and when they wanted to try on some dresses, we were told by some young girl that because we didnt have an apppointment that we could only try on 6 dresses.....the thing that got me was that all the changerooms were empty and there were like 2 people in the dress area looking at dresses. This young girl was also so rude to us when we did actually have to ask a question or when we were trying to do anything at all.......when an "appointment' actually arrived, she kicked us out of a changeroom, which is fine, but honestly, do you have to be rude about it! Overall, it was the worst experience . I know that they had some of our dresses for a better price, but we left....we'd rather pay more than deal with them. If you want good service, go to the smaller stores, like The Bridal Suite who treated us like GOLD and got our servcie on the spot! BRIDES- DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME AT WINDSOR...your wedding dress and bridesmaid dress shopping is suppose to be a good experience...one that you enjoy, not one where the people treat you like a number or worse..if you don't have an "appointment".....

I had booked some appointments at the big bridal stores outside of the city, then I was told to check out Bridals on Spadina. I live downtown so thought, why not? I ended up buying my wedding dress and didn't even bother with my other appointments. Nicole was great in picking out a dress that suited me perfectly. And the price was great! I am now going to get my bridesmaid dresses from here too. Great job!

I shopped next door at Carmen's Designs for my bridal shower dress.
I would not recommend shopping here. They are extremely unprofessional.
I ordered a dress and made it very clear that it had to be a new dress because I didn't want the one off the floor as it was damaged. I was promised a new dress would be ordered.
A month later I received a call that the dress was in... and guess what?! It was the same dress I had originally tried on. I was told that the manufacture must have sent a floor model - right!
Anyways, that dress became a thing of the past and I ended up ordering two other dresses and had no choice but to go with one of them since I wasn't given the option of getting my deposit back.
Slight alterations had to be made to the dress near the bust. From one Saturday to the next the seamstress said I must be bloated because the dress was too tight!
She insisted that she didn't take the dress in too much and it was my fault that the dress was now too tight. After much arguing and convincing, she finally adjusted the dress. At this point, 2 weeks before my shower they said they would give me back my money and I could go elsewhere. Where was I going to find a new dress in 2 weeks?! All they could say was these things happen!
After visiting Carmen's Designs for almost 2.5 months, I would not recommend purchasing a dress here.
I was planning on purchasing 2 flower girl dresses for my girls at Carmen's Design for Children, but they lost that sale!

I went to San Jude's Bridal with a dress I bought at another store, the dress had been ordered several sizes too big for me by the other place. I had heard of San Jude's Bridal from a friend and decided to get them to fix the dress for me. With only a week to go to the wedding I didnt want to take any chances so I asked the people at San Jude's if I could contact some of their previous clients as reference, they have hundreds of written testimonials in their store and I called a few. All their past clients seemed really pleased with the work so I went ahead with the alteration. They did a perfect job! I was told that I may have to come for several fittings on consecutive days (with it being so close to my wedding) and I readily agreed. They really saved the day for me. One thing that really impressed me was that not once did they trash the other bridal store that ordered my dress too big for me, they just stuck to their job and made it perfect. I found them to be really professional and friendly. Thank you for the great service!

worst service in the world. dresses took 6 months to arrive, wrong dresses were ordered. stay away.

I would be cautious about purchasing your dress here. My mother lives out of town and so she came in for a busy and fun weekend of dress shopping. We went to a few stores and in the end purchased the dress from Beckers. The dress chosen was a choice from the sales lady and I am so grateful she asked I try it on. Everything was great at this time! We decided to pay for the dress in full up front. When it was time to start the fittings, which you don't do until a couple of months before, I went in with a girlfriend since my mom wasn't going to be back in town until the big day. The 1st fitting was good and was told that I wouldn't need any other fittings seeing as there was only minor alterations needed. Having said that, you must pay for your alterations up front. (these are NOT cheap!) Of course since I was a blushing bride I probably did not think clearly. I came back a couple of weeks later to find that the alterations which were to be complete were not and that the dress still had the pins in it from the first fitting. Only one minor thing was done, which still needed work. I came back a 2nd time alone (as my girlfriend wanted the final dress to be a surprise). I STRONGLY suggest brides, please take someone with you. I had to come back for 4 fitting times (and all I needed was the hips out a bit and the hem up slightly). My mom was in the Wednesday before my wedding and we went in so she could learn how to do the bustle (which turned out differently than originally was told). During this try on we found that the underskirt was never hemmed. The seamstress pinned it and said it would be complete and ready for pick up on Friday. My parents came to pick up the dress and it wasn't ready until 1 hour past when it was suppose to be. My mom asked if the underskirt was hemmed and started to lift the layers of the dress to see - she was pushed away and told to "trust her.. that it was done". They bagged the dress and off they went. Five minutes before I was leaving out the door to go to the church, we saw that the skirt was not hemmed. We didn't have pins, so did the best we could. Obviously I was tripping on it and it wasn't great but it was my wedding. (it had to be hemmed 4 inches). Part way through the night, part of my dress was ripped and we had to tie it off and pin it.. oh my. I was having too much fun to care, until when I saw the damage later.

A few days past and I called and spoke with a lady who apologized and said they would at least have it cleaned for me, but she would have the owner call me. I spoke with her, and she was not friendly at all. Even commented how "all wedding dresses get trashed by the end of the night" - how horrible!!! How does she know what I was to do with the dress afterward. She said she was to speak with the ladies and call me 1 week later. 2 weeks past and I called her, only to have her again be rude to me and now I must go in with my dress. I realize I will not win this battle. I really would like some money back as the service of alterations was not completed.

This is a long story, but what I do recommend is brides, we are on cloud 9 during all of this, so please don't go alone to appointments and secondly, I would consider going elsewhere for alterations (the lady who did mine even called me to leave me a message to say she was still learning.. yes, we are all growing, but to charge a 1/4 of what my dress cost to have unprofessional work.. eeks!).

Enjoy your day and have it be just as you dreamed!

I came here with the bride and bridal party to purchase our bridesmaids dresses. At first we were quite happy, as they had the dress we wanted to try on available and were willing to match the price to another store (so they took it down about $15.00). The 2nd time I was at the store was to have my measurements taken. The lady on the main floor measured me, and put in the order along with the other girls. The 3rd time I was in the store, several months later, was to pick up the dress. Unfortunately, it was a size too small - the lady who took my measurements had ordered the wrong size (at this point I was 5 pounds lighter than the 3 months before when they were taken). They said no worries, they can let out the lining and it will fit beautifully, and they'd even do the tailoring there free of charge. I was happy with that. The 4th time I entered the store was to try on and pick up my newly tailored dress. Yet when I pulled it on, it was the same fit as before - too small. Turns out, they can't let out the lining (couldn't tell me why). No phone call to let me know or telling me before I tried it on. This is where I started getting upset, because it was too late to order another dress in before the wedding. Their only suggestion was to take the SAMPLE dress, alter it down several sizes to fit me and offered me free drycleaning for the dress. As I needed a dress to wear, I grudgingly agreed. The 5th time I entered the store, I sat and waited 45 minutes after my scheduled appointment time because they forgot about the appointment so they weren't finished altering my dress. When they finally brought the altered sample dress up for me - it was WAY too small. They had to tear out all the stitching done and repin. At this point, they also started calling me Lindsay (which is not my name). I felt after 5 appointments and with my name written in the book, they should get it right by now. I left the store very disappointed. The 6th time I went to pick up my dress, it was ready to try on when I got there. Unfortunately, the top was too big and still needed to be taken in and the left side of the hem on the skirt of the dress was uneven and created a weird bump halfway down. I left, AGAIN without a dress. The SEVENTH time I entered the store, the top of the dress fit (with strings hanging from the seam). The hemming on the skirt hadn't been touched, but by this point I was so pissed from driving back and forth that I took the dress as is. I should have mentioned, each trip to the store took almost an hour and a half of driving back and forth. So, after 7 trips back and forth to the store due to incompetent staff, I wind up with a $300.00 SAMPLE dress (no discounts were ever offered by the staff) that is unevenly sewn with strings hanging from the seam and a small, faint stain on the bottom of the skirt. Believe me, I will never, ever, EVER step foot into that store again, and I will never, ever EVER recommend someone to buy from there - I can only imagine the stress if it were a bride's dress instead of my own.

Please don't shop here. Save yourself the aggravation. The manager for this store is rude and aggressive. She doesn't listen to the customer's needs or wants and is highly insensitive. The receptionist is just as rude as the manager. I feel sorry for the sales girls that work here and have to put up with them. I ordered my bridesmaids dresses from here and did not get what I ordered. All the dresses had issues with fit (there were drastic alterations that needed to be made not sure why they took down measurements at all!) and quality of poor garment construction. The store manager took no accountability for the poor manufacturing instead she made excuses and insults and caused more aggravation. You are better off going to a mass retailer to purchase your dresses. Good luck to those who have already ordered from here.
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I bought my wedding dress from Bliss bridal! That came in perfect when it came time for my bridesmaids let me tell u what kind of an experience i had. We ordered them in January 2011, told us they would take 4 months to come in which is standard. I have 6 bridesmaids dresses so it's not like we didn't spend any money there on top of my wedding dress. Five out of the six bridesmaids dresses had to be sent back. One of my dresses were four and half inches to short on one of my bridesmaids who is six feet tall. We were informed when we recieved the dress that this specific dress does not come in tall sizes (thanks for the short notice!) as well as three others had bleeding in it and one was dirty had big black spots on it. So they sent them out at the end of may to be "fixed". Well 2 months later which today I got them July 5th 2011 when my wedding is in August 5 come back and the lovely surprise i got was a black spot on one of the dresses, pulling on another dress, and dark blue lines on the other dresses, GREAT SERVICE BLISS! So my bridesmaids dresses are pretty much ruined and there's no time to get new ones thanks to the 7 months of waiting to receive the wonderful dresses I was suppose to have. A word of advice to Bliss bridal and to future customers going there: DO NOT BUY YOUR BRIDESMAIDS DRESSES FROM THERE if you can avoid it! To the employees at Bliss make sure to tell your customers where the dresses are coming from, what the effects are of the fabric, IF SOMEONE IS 6 FEET TALL make sure to tell the bride if it doesn't come in TALL SIZES!!!!

Please future customers I highly suggest going to other places before stepping into Bliss you will be treated better and you will not have these problems.

P.S. I've heard many horror stories before this so I am not the only one who has had an awful experience.