With around 40 stores up and down the U.K it’s fair to say WED2B is on many a brides radar when it comes to wedding dress shopping. With super affordable dresses at a fraction of the price compared to what you’d pay in a boutique store and all dresses been of the peg it’s a fuss free way of dress shopping not to mention a budget brides dream. WED2B was on my radar as soon as I started thinking about my wedding dress and when I popped along to my local store I made sure to carefully think about my experience and come up with some tips for if you’re planning on visiting a WED2B store too.
I actually said yes to the dress at WED2B so I think it’s fair to say I can provide a pretty good overview of what to expect at one of their stores. You can read all about my personal experience at the Rotherham store here.
WED2B dresses were actually a great lifeline of my wedding and my whole wedding planning experience. Being a small budget bride I wasn’t sure I’d get the proper wedding dress shopping experience and figured I’d probably end up getting a dress from ASOS or Monsoon, which there’s nothing wrong with at all. However I knew I wanted a the wedding dress shopping experience but didn’t have the budget to shop at a boutique so WED2B was the absolute perfect solution.
Go early
WED2B doesn’t operate an appointment system. Basically you go and pick four dresses at a time to try on. When you’ve got your first four you head into a changing room and try them on, if you’d like to try more on after you go back into the store and pick out four more dresses. If the changing rooms are full you have to re-join the queue and wait for a room to become free. If you’re trying on a lot of dresses this of course can be quite time consuming but it is a fair way of operating in an off the peg store. Obviously this is a very different system to shopping in a wedding dress boutique where you’ll have the store to yourself.
My advice is to get to the store for it opening that way you’ve a better chance of getting in at least two trips to the changing rooms without having to re-queue. We went on a Sunday and got there 15 minutes after opening time at which point there was only one other bridal party in the store. It did start to fill up quite quickly after that though. By the time I was paying for my dress around an hour and a half after getting there (we had a break with some coffee and cake to think about a dress. I actually only had one trip to the changing rooms!) the changing rooms were full and there was a queue. I actually wanted to try my dress on one final time before buying so they kindly put me in the bridesmaid changing rooms as I was only trying on a dress I was very likely going to buy so I didn’t have to queue.
Do a stock check
If you’ve picked out some dresses online that you’d like to try on, contact WED2B on Facebook messenger with your list of dresses, your size and the store you’re visiting. Do this the day before your visit, preferably in the afternoon as the stock check will be the most accurate then. This will help you create a list of dresses and speed up the process a bit when you get to the store, which again will help with getting into the changing rooms quicker. If you’re unsure of what to say, here’s what I asked: “Hi, could you please do a stock check of the following dresses at the Rotherham store in a size 10 and 12 please as I’m unsure which size I’d need” I then listed all the dresses separately that I wanted checking.
Don’t panic if the stock check doesn’t come back as you’d hoped
I sent a list of 14 dresses to WED2B, out of those 14 only one was in stock in either size. All the others were completely out of stock in both sizes. I panicked. Those dresses were the only ones in my budget and I didn’t know what to do. If this happens I highly recommend still going to the store. According to the list I created and the stock check results I got back I should have only been able to try one dress on within my budget, I actually tried on 4 dresses that were in my budget and my size so I think there’s dresses there that aren’t online as I tried one dress on that definitely isn’t online. I went thinking I wouldn’t find anything in budget, I was only going to figure out what styles suited me and I left the store with my wedding dress in my hands!
You may need to go up a size
I’m a size 10 in pretty much everything but I guessed that some dresses can run quite small which is why I’d asked for a stock check in a size 10 and 12. I think this is pretty standard for all dresses, regardless of where you’re shopping. When I got to the store I was told corset back dresses are true to size but for zips and buttons its always advised to go up a size. I think it’s worth pointing out though that sizing absolutely does not matter and you should wear whatever you’re happy and comfortable in regardless of what the label says.
WED2B dress sizing isn’t too bad but I do think it could be improved. They do offer dresses in sizes 6-30 but in my experience both in store and browsing online, sizes 8-14 tend to be more readily available then any other sizes. Now if you are going by the sizing up rule then a size 14 will actually fit more like a size 12 so I personally think they could do a little better with the sizes they have available. That being said their plus size collection does have quite a good range of dresses rather than just a token couple of dresses. I do also like that you can try on a dress that would be a close to your size even if small alterations are needed. I think that’s much better than trying on one sample size dress that either has to be pegged in place or doesn’t fasten up.
They don’t do alterations
WED2B is an off the peg store, what you see is what you buy. They do provide you with a list of local and reputable wedding seamstresses though when you buy a dress which is great. It takes the hassle out of trying to find a good seamstress yourself. Quite a few of the dresses I tried on would have needed alterations on the shoulders as I’m only very slim on top. The assistant helping me in and out of the dresses was wonderful as she explained what the seamstresses would do and tucked and folded the excess material so I could see the actual shape of the dress and what it would look like after alterations.
All the dresses can be taken in by up to two dress sizes
I was assured that buying my dress so early wasn’t a big deal because if I lost any weight closer to the wedding with the stress etc then all WED2B dresses are made to be taken in up to two dress sizes. Whilst I don’t plan on losing two dress sizes worth of weight, I would like to lose a little and now I can do so safe in the knowledge that my dress can be altered no problem! I also think this point is worth noting just in case there’s a dress you fall in love with but it isn’t available in your exact size because you can always buy bigger and have it altered.
You can reserve a dress for two weeks
If you’ve found a dress but would like to see if anything else comes in stock you can reserve a dress for two weeks for £50. At the end of the two weeks you either buy the dress which then the £50 reservation fee gets knocked off the total or you can transfer your £50 over to another dress. This does mean you’re tied to buying from WED2B. However if like me and you’re on a tight budget, it’s likely to be the only store you’re shopping at so it’s a great idea. I didn’t need to reserve my dress and I knew it was the one, I did take some time away from the store to think about it but we only went to a coffee shop across the road from the store so they just put the dress to one side for me.
I didn’t visit any other wedding dress shops so whilst I don’t have anything else to compare it to I’m really happy I went to check out WED2B dresses. For me there was no point in going to a boutique and trying on dresses that were way out of my budget. I can say I had a wonderful experience, from what I’ve seen of other brides who have shopped there too they’ve also had a really positive experience. The general consensus seems to be for any store that the staff are extremely helpful and friendly, the dresses are good quality and the prices are so much cheaper than you’d pay anywhere else. So if you’re planning on shopping at WED2B then my number one tip would be to just enjoy it and have fun!
If you have any other WED2B tips then leave them in the comments below.
Save this!
I went with my future daughter in law to my local shop. She found a dress she liked and put a deposit down. She felt a bit bad because her Mum was not with her so 2 days later went to another branch with her mum local to her. She actually found a dress she liked better. Now comes problem! She asked if her deposit could be transferred from the other branch to this branch and they said NO they do not do that. She put deposit fine on the new dress she found and rang up the other shop to explain what had happend and vould she have her deposit refunded and they said NO. It was only 2 days later and I thought this was very unfair. On top of all that when you pay the deposit she was told she had to pay the full amount in 2 weeks! Hardly worth it.
Sorry to hear your daughter in law didn’t have a good experience. However WED2B’s payment policy is clearly stated on their website though I do think it should have been clarified to your daughter in law too. Everyone has different experiences in different places. Personally I loved my experience with WED2B and I think they’re an amazing option for budget brides but you do need to do your research when it comes to paying deposits and paying in full wherever you’re shopping. I hope your daughter in law loves her dress no matter what!
Hi can your dresses be let out I bought a dress but it’s a tiny bit tight at the back and you didn’t have it in a bigger size
Hi, I don’t work for WED2B, this is just a budget wedding blog so I can’t offer advice on behalf of the company. All dress do have the capability to be altered slightly though so I shouldn’t be a problem.