Melbourne Brides

Not even worth one star – Not even worth one star. Terrible customer service, complete lack of communication. Ended up going elsewhere as they told me my dress, that needed alterations, 'should' arrive 3 days before my brother's wedding, mind you, I ordered it 4 months prior and was told it would arrive in plenty of time. Refund was initially refused, took a month for the refund to be dealt with

One of the worst retail experiences of my life – After having the extreme misfortune of having to deal with melbourne brides, I am deeply regretful that we even entered their store. The woman in charge managed to turn what should be the happiest time in a bride-to-be’s life, into a terrible experience that will be remembered, for all the wrong reasons. I cannot give details at this time, but… Read more

I will say that after reading the negative reviews written here, it is incredible how similar our experience has been.

Their main line of defense seems to be that they do not take any responsibility for any delays or problems. It seems that everyone else is at fault from the factory in china, to maybe even the person driving the fork lift, unloading at the docks. Almost as good as "the dog ate my homework".

But of course according to the woman in charge, it was never the store's fault and any chance of any apology was out of the question. Trying to get a straight answer from her was like trying to get blood out of a stone.

As it has been stated, Ladies, Definitely Beware!!!

Please do your research very carefully, before deciding on where to shop for your wedding or bridesmaid's dresses.

If you value what will be one of the most important days of your life, please read carefully what has been written here before deciding.

After our experience, I have no doubt whatsoever that all of the negative experiences described here are all true.

I have rated one star, only because I had to click one to submit the review, but I would rate them 0 or minus 1000, if it was available.

Ordered 9 months in advance but still only got frocks just before the wedding, one only the day befo – I was mother of the bride twice in 2013, once in May then again in December, so I got to deal with many different bridal stores. So I know the timeline on this one was not right & not typical of other stores. 9 MONTHS BEFORE THE WEDDING: In March 2013 we ordered 4 bridesmaids frocks from Melbourne Brides in Ringwood and paid a 50% deposit that… Read more

day, for a wedding on 21st December 2013. We were told they would be ordered immediately. The sales contract stated that we would need to allow up to 5 months for delivery. (ie by August)

We had seen the exact same model frock at another store, for about $60 cheaper, but what persuaded us to go with Melbourne Brides was the fact they advertised the dresses would be made to measure, so there would be no extra dressmaking charges (it was understood that this applied as long as the girls did not alter in size)

We discussed the need for straps on a couple of the gowns and were told wider straps could easily be done by the shop's dressmaker once the frocks arrived and that all frocks came with spaghetti straps in any case.

5 MONTHS BEFORE: My daughter rang in July to get some idea of when the dresses were due in & to arrange payment of the balance owing but the owner [name removed] seemed unsure of the order and was not able to tell her the outstanding balance. I paid several hundred dollars off via internet banking, tagging the payment with name and wedding date, as well as sending a follow up email to alert them to look out for payment. This was not credited to the account. After a couple of phone calls, I got onto [name removed] and to her credit, she did rectify the situation immediately for me, but really, it should not have happened in the first place. All other shops I dealt with had details like this at their fingertips.

4 MONTHS BEFORE: I rang in early August to ask when the frocks would be in and was told September.

3 MONTHS BEFORE; I rang in early September to ask when the dresses would be in and was told definitely October. It was at this time I mentioned to [name removed] we might have a problem with one of the frocks as one of the bridesmaids was pregnant, and would be 4 1/2 months by the time of the wedding, so the dresses needed to be in as we would need to see what could be done in the way of alterations. Note: It wasn't the shop's fault we needed alterations but we did need the dresses in in time to see what needed to be done and deal with it..

2 MONTHS BEFORE; I rang in early October and was told they did not know when the dresses would be in and they would not know till they unpacked boxes as they arrived at the shop. I reminded them we needed those dresses as one dress would need alterations.

I asked them to contact the suppliers to find out about the dresses. I was told no, they could not do that, it was too complicated a process and no one at the Chinese factory spoke English.

Now I expect a business to be able to contact suppliers and find out basic information such as if a dress is still being made, or if it is finished and awaiting shipment or has been shipped. I don't think that is too much to ask for.

ONE MONTH BEFORE THE WEDDING: I rang in early November and was told they had no idea when the dresses would be in. I was further told that if the suppliers got a big order from elsewhere, that took precedence over this shop's order, but not to worry as even if we only got them a day before the wedding it would still be in time. I reminded [name removed] that one frock would need alteration! The bride was now extremely stressed and sometimes in tears, wondering if the dresses would ever come in at all.

The dresses finally arrived in mid Nov. Three girls went in on Saturday to pick up the frocks. The dressmaker is only there Tuesday & Thursday 10-5. But we expected the frocks to fit. All were too long. We were told it was the way girls stand, but the girls stood the same way when they were measured. One of the bridesmaids insisted on the hems being adjusted free of charge and they eventually agreed to that. They said they would just take the top layer up a couple of cm, no need to see the dressmaker. This worried me a bit but time was short.

The frock for the pregnant bridesmaid was much too small across the back (now this is not the shop's fault, do not get me wrong, but the timeline IS their fault). I was told the dressmaker would need to take out the zip and make a panel but they would have to send to China to buy the material needed and this would take a couple of weeks.

TWO WEEKS BEFORE THE WEDDING. I rang to find out how the hems were going and if 2 of the dresses were ready to be picked up. I spoke to the dressmaker. She said she was waiting for the girls to come in and be fitted. Now I can understand she would prefer that, but why had no one rung us in the previous 2 weeks to tell us this and make an appointment??? As it was, all the girls work and had to scramble to try to make time. One girl did see the dressmaker after hours at the dressmaker's home, so that was a positive. But a definite lack of communication between staff. dressmaker here.

I asked if the lace up panel in the frock for the pregnant bridesmaid had been inserted. I was told the hem could not be done till the panel was in and they would call and make an appointment time once they had it in. I reminded them we also needed straps for this gown. I asked them to give us notice of an appointment in advance as the bridesmaid would need to change rosters at work. They didn't.

Tuesday 10 Dec (11 day before). I rang the shop, dressmaker answered. I asked if the lace up panel was in and was told no, she had another wedding she was working on that was urgent for that Saturday. I reminded her our wedding was the following week! I was told that in that case, the bridesmaid had better come in on Thursday for a fitting and the dressmaker would try o have the panel done by then. I was a bit annoyed no one had even bothered to ring us but I was told if she was not in on Thursday the dressmaker would not do it.

Thursday 12 December The bridesmaid went for her fitting, I asked when I could pick up her finished frock-maybe the following Tuesday? After all that was the week of the wedding! I was told no, the dressmaker had 4 other bridesmaids' frocks she would be busy adjusting that Tuesday, for a wedding on Thursday and that would be her priority and she would not start the hem or straps of our frock till Thursday week (2 DAYS BEFORE THE WEDDING) and it would not be finished till late and if the bridesmaid could not be there, then I would have to sew the straps on at the back myself..

20 Dec (DAY BEFORE THE WEDDING) A friend and I went to pick up the frock with the bridesmaid. Hemming was well done. Straps attached in entirely the wrong spots at the front. It was a symmetrical sweetheart type design and one strap was in middle, other on side, very odd looking. I was told the bridesmaid's shape 'must have changed since last week.' and it shouldn't be any bother for us to take them off and re sew them should it? My friend took 3 hours that afternoon to fix it up. The shop had used the spaghetti straps from the other 3 dresses to make the lace up loops for the back of the frock, without asking us. This meant one of the girls did not get the straps she had asked for on her dress. We paid $350 for the dress alterations (which is not the issue) The issue is that because of the tight time line, there was no time for them to be completed. I think the dressmaker is quite competent but the mistakes here were due to being under the pump-too much to do in too short a timeline. Not jus our wedding but it seems they are always finishing things off for a wedding that week!! It shouldn't be like this and it never was in any of the other bridal stores.

------------------------------------------------------------

I have been detailed and tried to be accurate as I can be,

Basically, this business needs to tighten up its time line. We received 3 of the dresses only one week before the wedding and one frock, with alterations incomplete, the day before the wedding. That is nowhere good enough considering we ordered 9 months prior to the wedding.

Lack of communication between dressmaker and owner.

Lack of forward planning. Okay, so the bridesmaid could not go in till a lace up panel had been inserted. Surely to god though they could have calculated when that would be and made an appointment in advance?

The main issue is if the dresses had come in in August as they were meant to be, there would have been plenty of time for a panel to be put in. Having dresses arrive a month out from a wedding just leaves not enough time. Hemming for a pregnant bridesmaid was best left till the end, yes, but the lace up panel and straps could & should have been in at least 6 weeks in advance. Would have made the whole process less rushed. The quality of the frocks is fine, prices are fine. But if you must order from here, my sincere advice is to lie about you wedding date and advance it by at least 2 months as no matter what date you tell them, I think they operate on th system you don't need it till a month before, and quite frankly, that isn't always long enough a time frame.. Badly organised, lack of communication or forward planning re appointments. We ordered 9 monts befoe the wedding yet 3 frocks were no ready till he week before and one frock was not ready even the day before, despite us paying an extra $350 in dressmaking fees, we had to finish it ourselves. There does not appear to be adequate communication between supplier and shop owner as they never had any idea when dresses would be in and said they couldn't ind ou from supplier. Not good enough.

Custom bridesmaids dresses are not advised ! – Ladies beware! This store is not a store to trust with your weddings! If you are told you should have your dresses custom made then run. Run as fast as you can ! They charge a premium price for a service that is non-existent. You would be better off buying locally made or ordering online yourself. Both options would have better prices and better… Read more

service. The turnaround times are ridiculous and we probably should have known that we were playing with fire when our measurements were written on scrap pieces of paper... it should not have been a surprise to us that 5 months into the process we were told one of the measurements was lost and would need to be sent to them again....

As we started to panic 3 weeks out from the wedding the only dress that turned up was that dress that was re measured and the the bridal gown (thank god) but somehow the bridal gown had been put together wrong...I believe the manager of the store actually exclaimed... oh! Why have they put that there? Someone needs to tell her that "they" is her as it was her we paid the money to for the order. If this is their speciality - the thing that sets them apart from other boutiques? I'd say they failed.

Needless to say we were saved by the lovely ladies at Forever New - all 4 dresses sorted in one night - no hemming or straps to be done and we saved a fair whack of money too!

Please don't make the same mistake we did... it's just not worth the stress on your special day.

We thought we were paying for premium but what we got was peanuts.

Side note: The dresses in the store looked lovely if they have your size I think you would be fine to buy off the rack.

Ordered 9-10 Months in advance and the bridesmaid dresses never arrived! – When I first went into Melbourne Brides in February this year (2014) the girls and owner were very nice and quite helpful. It seemed relatively easy to order my dress and my 4 bridesmaid dresses with it. I even also decided to get a flower girl dress. As they had the colour I wanted for the bridesmaids I thought it would be easier for everyone to… Read more

just get it all in the one place at the one shop.

I was a bit concerned about getting them on time so asked when we could expect them. Either the owner [Name Removed] or another girl working in the shop at that time told me that they tell the supplier you are getting married a month before your actual date so that the dresses would arrive within plenty of time. My wedding is in November (this week) so if they tell the supplier a month before, that would mean they tell them I'm getting married in October and the dresses would arrive in September. I was happy with this as I believed the dresses would arrive within plenty of time.

We ordered the dresses in February, and all were fully paid and measured for by May as we were told they would not start making them until all dresses were paid for.

July/August - We were told to bring the Flowergirl in around this time to get her measurements, so when we did this, decided to ask about how the dresses were going and confirm that the order was ok as we had ordered additional material for straps to be placed on the bridesmaid dresses. We were told it was all on track and ended up purchasing the flowergirl dress that day as they had one in the shop.

September 16th (2 months before the wedding) - I received an email from the owner informing me that the supplier had emailed her saying that they did not have one of the girls measurements and they couldn't find them in the shop either and didn't know what was happening as she had everyone elses. I emailed back saying I didn't understand why she couldn't find them as this particular bridesmaid had left her measurements at the very first visit! The owner's only response was that someone wasn't working for them anymore so it was a bit hard to check. As well as being extrememly annoyed at the lack of any explanation or addmittance on her own part that she had lost them, I become concerned as obviously the dresses hadn't even been made yet as the supplier was only just now looking for or at the measurements. It was only 2 months before the wedding and we had ordered them 6 months ago! The bridesmaid was overseas at the time so she had to send them to me so I could get them to the shop asap. [Name Removed] said that any alterations would be done for free, which was good as it was no longer going to be a professional measurement.

September 24th - As they had lost one of the bridesmaids measurements, I wanted to check in to ensure the rest of our order was still ok. When I asked about the charge for the extra material for the bridesmaid straps, I was told that the material hadn't been ordered yet as they weren't sure what was happening with the Flower Girl Sash, which we originally wanted. If I had not checked in, would they have ever contacted me asking about it? Also, we had already bought the flower girls dress in the shop and said we didn't need the sash anymore!

October 15th (1.1 month before the wedding) - As I hadn't heard anything since the last conversation in September about the bridesmaid measurements, I decided to call and ask if the dresses were in or would be in soon. I expected they would be considering they told me in the beginning that they give the false date to the supplier. The owner told me that they would be in at the end of next week October 24th. She was very short with me on the phone and made me very upset and worried as I couldn't understand why the dresses weren't in yet.

October 24th (1 month before the wedding) - I called on the Friday as this is when [Name Removed] told me the dresses would be in, they still hadn't arrived and she said they would be in at the end of October, so they end of next week. She then said she would call as soon as they arrived and quickly hung up on me at the end of the conversation. At this point I became even more concerned about when the dresses would arrive and I didn't want to speak to [Name Removed] again as she was so rude to me on the phone when I called.

October 30th (3 weeks before the wedding) - At this point I was extremely stressed about the dresses not being in and that everytime I called, the owner was so rude to me, so I asked my maid of honour to call as I couldn't face talking to her again. When she called, the dressmaker told her that some boxes had come in that day and our dresses were probably in it. My maid of honour told her to open the boxes while she was on the phone to check they were there. The dressmaker opened them and said she could see my dress and one of the bridesmaid dresses. We were told that all dresses would come in together so she assumed all the dresses were there. My maid of honour said we would be in tomorrow to get them. I was so relieved to know they were in and that we still had some time to get alterations done.

October 31st - The owner emailed me saying that the dressmaker had told her we were coming in to get the dresses today, however it wasn't my dress that was in, only 1 of the bridesmaid dresses had arrived. This was again very distressing as we were told all dresses would arrive together and it turned out the dress that had come in belonged to the bridesmaid who's measurements they had lost. We had no idea why her's had come in first when her measurements (the second time) had been sent last. I also can't understand why I was sent an email rather than a phonecall as I would answer my phone right away rather than constantly checking emails. I called my maid of honour, who was heading into the shop to tell her about the email and to find out what was going on. She spoke to the owner, who couldn't give us any explanation as to why only 1 dress had come in or where the other dresses were! All we were told was that she was checking with the supplier and that the dresses had been shipped and they would definately all arrive next Thursday (2 weeks before the wedding). My maid of honour said ok, you can expect us in next Thursday then. You can imagine how unbelievably stressed I was at this point!

November 13th (2 weeks before the wedding) - My maid of honour checked in with the store to ensure our dresses would be ready to try on and possibly pick up today as she said they would be in. All she was told in an email was that everything was on track.

When I arrived at the store for the appointment, my maid of honour told me that only my dress had arrived and not the other bridesmaid dresses. I was half relieved that my dress had finally arrived but where were the other bridesmaid dresses!? My maid of honour said [Name Removed] was checking so I went into the changerooms to try on my dress. As soon as I put it on I knew something wasn't right! It was so tight around my hips that I could not move my legs! When I told the dressmaker, she didn't understand what I meant so [Name Removed] came in to check if everything was alright. I told her the same thing about not being able to move and both of them kept saying that the dress looked fine! At that point I was so distressed, I had waited months for my dress, gone through all that stress of wondering where it was as it hadn;t shown up when they told me it would and now was wondering why it wouldn't fit me, thinking I had put on weight or they had mucked up the measurements! Finally [Name Removed] decided to take a look under the dress and said "Oh that's not supposed to be there". I had no idea what she was talking about and finally said that they had placed an underskirt under the dress and it wasn't supposed to be skin tight. The dressmaker then took a look as she was going to be fixing it and responded with 'Why have they done that!?' Finally [Name Removed] decided to tell me that it was fine and it would be an easy fix, but it did not make me feel any better at this point. It was an awful first fitting experience! I also wanted to be able to invite my mum and mother in law to see a fitting, however this wasn't going to be possible as the dresses had come in so late and we had to get in there quickly to get it done.

Once I got out of my dress I went to the counter with my maid of honour to ask where the other dresses were. The owner [Name Removed] told us she didn't know and was emailing the supplier to check, however he was on a plane so we would likely not have any information until tomorrow.

November 7th - My maid of honour had to call the next day as the owner would never contact us with an update, to see if there was any further information about our dresses. As we suspected there wasn't and the owner was going to email the supplier again. I can't figure out what would be the point of emailing the supplier again when he didn't respond to the first urgent email. A phone call would have been a lot quicker, but obviously the shop and supplier have very very poor communication.

It was at this point that I could no longer handle the stress of it all and asked my maid of honour to send an email to the owner, saying that if the dresses were not in by next Thursday (1 week before the wedding) we wanted a full refund and would purchase dresses elsewhere. We recieved no response to this, again not surprising!

November 11 (1 week and 2 days before the wedding) - As we had not heard back from the owner regarding our email, my maid of honour called again. [Name Removed] , finally admitted that a mistake had been made with our order and that when the first bridesmaid dress came in on its own, she realised the other dresses hadn't been ordered! I don't know if this was a mistake on the her part or the supplier, it was probably both, because as usual we didn't get a full explanation and she was unwilling to ever admit any fault. She then told my maid of honour that the dresses would not be in by Thursday (1 week before the wedding). My maid of honour then asked when would htey be in, to which she responded with "It could be Friday or it could be Monday". Essentially she still didn't know! She also said that after receiving our email about the refund, she had been looking around to find alternative dresses for us that were similiar but there was nothing out there and we wouldn't find anything. So rude! We said we would be in on Thursday that week to pick up my dress and get the refund. We then had to go and find alternative bridesmaid dresses.

November 13th (1 week before the wedding) - We went into the shop to have my final fitting and get the refund. Thankfully my dress had been fixed and fit perfectly, which I was extrememly happy about. The owner had also arranged the refund and provided my maid of honour with a receipt. She was clearly very uncomfortable when we went in there and did not come out from behind her desk or look at us. At no point did she apologise or even act apologetic for their mistake and lying to us for the past 2 months.

As I have an extrememly awesome maid of honour, she managed to find a beautiful dress at Forever New that would suit all the girls and the girl at the store was kind enough to let her and my mum in after hours to purchase them as she felt so sorry for us when they explained the situation. She also said she couldn't imagine what she would do if that happened to her!

This is the first review I have ever written and the main reason for writing it is because I am absolutely appalled at the way we were treated, the lack of communication, the lies about our dresses and most of all that not once did we ever receive an apology! All of this could have been avoided also, if the shop had done what they told me they would in the first place and told the supplier my wedding was a month earlier than what it was. Also, if we were told that there was a mistake with the order 2 months ago, we could have organised something else a lot sooner, rather than everyone being put through so much stress 2-3 weeks before the wedding adn having to buy new bridesmaid dresses a week and a half before the wedding!. I cannot understand how the owner [Name Removed] can operate like this! They need to have better communication with their supplier or get a new one and your customers!!!

As per the previous reviewer, if you decide to go into this shop, lie about your wedding date so your dresses will arrive within plenty of time! Also be prepared to have to follow up with the shop as you will never hear from them until/if your dresses arrive, even if it is 2 weeks before.

Whilst I love my dress and very glad it arrived and I now have it, this awful experience really tainted what was supposed to be an exciting time of getting fittings and everything coming together.

My wedding is this Friday and I wanted to get all of this awful experience off my chest before hand so I can finally start enjoying the last week leading up to my wedding.