Brides N’ Belles

I bought a wedding dress here today, and I had a lovely time. I would recommend this shop to anyone looking for wedding or bridesmaid dresses.
Melissa, my consultant, was amazing. She was so personable and friendly. She clearly knew her craft from the very beginning. She asked me what I was looking for and really listened. I was all over the place in what I wanted (I indicated a love of satin and organza and chiffon and lace, oh, my!), but at the same time, I showed her some pictures I had pinned, and she responded with interest– and pulled accordingly. I felt listened to from the very beginning. She didn’t need to measure me– she pulled a bunch of dresses just by sizing me up– as a seamstress myself, I found this very impressive.
The fitting room was appropriately sized for the volume of a wedding dress. The store was well-​lit and well-​mirrored. As my dad can attest, the sitting area where the entourage awaits the bride to come out is comfortable and inviting.
They had a great selection overall, with around 300 gowns. Part of the reason I came in was because their website listed designers that I had been eyeing online. While Brides and Belles has them, some are bridesmaid dresses only, so be sure to ask when you make your appointment if you have your heart set on a particular designer or style. Mori Lee, who I had been lusting after, was one of their bridal dress options.
Melissa encouraged me to look at the in-​stock sale dresses while she went upstairs to pull gowns. I tried on several of these, and it turned out that the first one I picked was the one I bought. Not to diminish Melissa’s skills– she pulled two that were nearly identical to it. In the end, I had to debate on relatively minor features (two already had corset backs, one had a seam placed where I didn’t like it, one had a better drape of the skirt, the size of the pleats) and a difference of about $ 150 between the highest and lowest of the three.
Everything she pulled was in the budget I had identified. Period. The only gown I tried on that was over budget (by $ 20) was one I had pulled from the sale rack myself. At no time did I feel pressured to spend more money.
Though we didn’t plan for alterations here, I do recall that I was cited the price of swapping a zipper for a corset back, and it was half of what David’s bridal charges.
In the end, the wedding dress I bought was perfect for me, and I looked awesome on my wedding day.
Overall, I had a great experience, and I would recommend this shop to all of the future brides in Wisconsin.

I looked and looked for dresses until
I drove up to brides and belles! They listened to what I wanted and by the 3^rd dress I put on… I found the «one»! Reasonable prices with such a big variety! All the employees were great! I’d recommend to any bride looking for a unique, perfect dress!

Awesome service! Came here to get my prom dress. We were greeted right away and a lady even grabbed all of the dresses I wanted to try on and put them in a dressing room for me as we were searching. They were all very nice to us. I found the perfect dress, but the price was a bit high for us. They were willing to work with us! They took about $ 100 off for me and also made sure to write down what dress I got and what high school I went to so no one else could get the same dress as me. Love!

One of my best friends is getting married, and asked me to be her Maid of Honor! She took me to Brides N’ Belles to show me some options. We had an appointment set up for the two of us to go so I could try some on, and got there right on time.
We were greeted as we walked in by a very friendly woman who checked us in for our appointment and had the bride fill out a form with info on the wedding. She said she would send our consultant our way, and told us we could wander and look at some dresses while we wait. Since I wear plus size dresses, I asked if there would be any sizes I could try on, and she assured me that while they only get sent certain sizes by the designers, the owner makes sure she orders dresses in that are larger so more people can try them on, and I shouldn’t have a problem. I was thinking I was going to have some luck!
The bride and I started to look through the one rack of bridesmaid dresses that were on display, and after about 5 minutes or so we had a consultant. She asked what we were looking for, and said she’d pull some dresses and be right back. She took us to a fitting room and hung about 8 – 10 dresses on a hook outside it and said we could try them on and she would check back with us. Sadly, I could only fit into one dress, but that didn’t really surprise me, and we made due. After we looked through them, we waited for a few minutes by the dressing room and never had anyone check back. We went back to the rack of dresses on the floor and looked through them again, comparing them to what we had been given by the dressing room. After another 5 minutes or so, we realized that our consultant was helping a woman who was shopping for bridal gowns.
This is where we realized we would not be buying our dresses from Brides N’ Belles. I understand that if you’re working commission, a bridal gown will make you more money than 4 bridesmaid dresses. However, we had an appointment made, which means they knew we were coming and either overbooked or just decided that we weren’t important enough to give attention to.
The bride decided we would look at the veils and mother of the bride dresses, and then head out. The girl who greeted us when we first came in approached us and asked if we had any luck, and we told her that we had looked at some but didn’t find anything and hadn’t gotten any more attention. She asked us what we were looking for, and went to pull a few more dresses for us, which we looked through and found a couple worth writing down. Ultimately, however, at that point the way we were treated had already rubbed us the wrong way.
On a side note, most of the dresses here have a $ 30-​$ 50 charge added on for sizes over a 16. This may not be an issue for some, but I did think it was worth mentioning, since this was the first store we had looked at that charged more for larger sizes.
All in all, the wedding gowns that they had on display were gorgeous, the store was very clean, and they had a good selection of dresses from what we had seen. However, if you have an appointment you should get more attention than what we received. I can’t say I would recommend this store.