Bells and Bows Bridal Centre

BE CAUTIOUS! Very rushed appointments, very poor Grad dress shopping experience, phony store manager! And maybe even charging more for already expensive dresses!

Here's my experience:
- I bought my dress back in February for the 2023 Grad. We called in to book an appointment and was told that there would be a $25 fee to enter the store, which wasn't a problem but weird to have to do. Over the phone call we were even told that we would have plenty of time to try on 14 dresses in my size especially since I was an insecure girl and didn't usually wear dresses - When entering the store we went straight into looking at all the beautiful dresses that they owned (we were told that all the dresses are different from every other store) It was very rushed picking out dresses, and one of them was picked out from the owner of the store! Which happened to be the most expensive dress and it wasn't flattering at all but she told me that it was my kind of dress and that it's good to step out of your comfort zone (I guess but not when it comes to what YOU want when Grad dress shopping) - Coming to try on the dresses everything was rushed. In the dressing rooms it was dress on, the next dress is thrown over your head, barely any time to see what dress was next or to adjust your bra if it were falling off (LITERALLY) - I was told "we are all girls here" meanwhile the owner's husband was in the store at the time - which I'm not saying is bad but I literally could not fix my bra because the dress was jus thrown over your head as soon as the previous dress got taken off and to be told that 'we' are all girls when there is a male in the store and the dressing room door is like half open? Yeah no.

When it came time to walking out to show your family, that was also rushed, I wasn't even allowed to get a feel or decide which dress I liked it was a "yes or no to this dress" right in the standing mirror then it was on to the next dress. I even heard the owner of the store say "Okay.it should not take that long" when it was only like 10 seconds of me trying to decide what dress I liked when seeing it on my body! (You are NOT allowed to take pictures of the dresses you try on either! Which is absurd.) When I found the dress I absolutely loved the owner kept trying to convince me or trail me away from buying that dress, she would say things like "It was just shipped in last night" or "are you sure this is the dress? " she would even try to persuade me sometimes into buying the dress she picked out. - That is definitely something that makes a Grad feel VERY lovely and welcomed when they pick out a dress.

(Going back to previous thing about trying on 14 dresses)
We were supposed to arrive early but we were a bit late but as we got there the previous clients were just leaving- I was given an hour to try on 14 dresses but I actually only tried on 9, because I found the dress I wanted. The other client came 25 minutes early so there's no argument for a 'rushed' appointment because it was 'a busy day. '

Once I picked out the dress, we were told that we could either pay with cash or card but if we paid with card it would be more expensive since taxes. They charged $900 for my dress but when I got home I google imaged the dress just to find out that it was actually a $800 dress and my mom was charged $100 extra. (Could be because of taxes or wherever the dresses came from) - The owner of the store is phony as well because she offered me a hair piece over the phone then changed it to a necklace in store that was apparently $200 (that's what the owner said) but it was put in what looked like a Dollar store packaged box wrapped in thin ribbon. The necklace felt like it would've came from Claire's - definitely not a $200 necklace that I just got for 'free' - she's also phony by putting on this 'act' that she's the best dress shop and the greatest dress seller! - doing things such as to hug you and tell you ''welcome to the family! '' - when we were leaving she literally told us that she loved us. We found that weird.

Save your time and money!

Would definitely recommend bringing your children here For grad very helpful. Great service Helpful and amazing dresses.

SAVE YOUR TIME AND MONEY! This place is absolutely HORRIFIC between the management and quality of the items in this store. The lady who owns the place seems to think she is always right, and never wrong about the quality of products that she does manage to sell BUT.just be aware she takes money from the vulnerable and has no desire to make your wedding an exceptional experience.

The best place to buy a dress. I have bought quite a few dress from them. They have amazing team of staff and friendly service. There product is amazing. They have a great selection of tiaras that are amazing I have one to go with each dress I buy. They also have some cool necklaces and earrings set in store. They even come in late to help you find the perfect dress and also on holidays. The staff goe above and beyond to make sure you find the dream dress. This is why I vote every day for the best of the best. You guys rock keep up the wonderful work.

BEAUTIFUL OPTIONS. I literally went here because it was the only dress shop open. They squeezed me in appointment free and there was very good service. Everything was personalized and I loved it. They take amazing care of you as a customer and there is no pressure to find the perfect dress. There were plenty of beautiful options and they help dress you. Thank you guys so much for helping pick out the perfect dress.

Absolutely HORRID experience from the moment we stepped in the door. A $25 deposit was required to try on and would be returned if a dress was purchased. Our two grads were rushed to choose only 7 dresses and the owner pushed her own dresses that she referred to as the best and were covered on magazines. The owner and her assistant were attached at our hip the entire time, leaving not an inch of breathing room and rushed us to make the choices. When trying on dresses, they didn’t use clips for oversized dresses but instead their hands which didn’t allow the girls to really experience the dress. The girls left with scratch marks and felt violated during the changing of dresses. The owner would snap and lay demands at her assistant and her husband who was helping grab dresses. She laid down a “humble” speech about being a judge and all her accomplishments about how high and mighty she was. We were told we had 2 hours but after rushing an hour, finding nothing and our girls crying, we left. Do not waste your time!

Great place to look for dresses they have every color out there. They have all size and also do appointment after hours. The staff are friendly. They go above and beyond. They are a one of a kind store.

If I could do zero stars I would, The owner is pushy, arrogant and wreaked of body odour. From what I saw, she treats her staff like servants, literally snapping fingers at them. She was more interested in telling us how important and successful she is than asking our graduate what she is interested in in terms of a dress. There is a $25 booking fee to try a maximum of 9 dresses. $5 more if you are using a credit card. The whole thing was a terrible experience. Frankly I’m not sure how she stays in business.

Do not shop at Bells and Bows. Prior to coming into the store for a grad dress my experience with making an appointment on the phone wasn’t good. The owner Angeline was rude off the bat. On the phone were told there was a $35 admission fee which was fine, they were staying after hours for us which we were thankful for. However we never asked them to do this, they offered, but made us feel like we did. We were told that the $35 fee would be returned to us if we bought a dress at their shop. When she charged us for the admission fee she charged $40 dollars instead of $35 like she said on the phone. We thought that wouldn’t be a problem since we did end up buying a dress and were promised the money back. The $40 however was not returned to us and when we called and asked about it we were told that since she dropped down the original price of the dress she shouldn’t have to return the admission fee. She claims that she told us this in the store which she didn’t. There was 3 people with me and none of us recall her telling us this. She shouldn’t have kept our admission fee regardless if she lowered the price or not. Or she should have atleast informed this principle to us. This was very unprofessional.

My actual experience in the shop (trying on dresses) was also horrible. I had a clear idea of what dress I wanted and she continued to show dresses that she loved, continued to brag about the “never seen before” color’s and designs. It was strange because sometimes she’d just stand there and admire her dresses when I was waiting for her. I was manhandled on the podium, I was being pulled and pushed because instead of clips they were grabbing the dress to adjust it. The owner was very rude to her assistant, which made me and my family very uncomfortable. She barely let me look at the dresses when they were on, I understand that they stayed late but they were very rushed which pressured me. When I would ask my family how they felt about a dress, Angeline would interrupt every time saying “Nobody else will have this color, ” “The color is beautiful, ” “I’ve never seen anything like it. ” I just wanted my families opinion. Because they were using their hands to make the dress fit, they didn’t let me look at the dress I picked for long because they “don’t want to touch it anymore. ” When I found my dress the ladies at the store were more focused on the money and rushed me out of the dress before I could get a picture. Grad dress shopping was meant to be a fun and monumental experience for me and for a lot of girls and I’m disappointed in the outcome, please consider this review before you come here.

I graduated in 2020 and wish I could give this place zero stars. I have a whole story written in my notes with every bad experience I had from here including the owners allowing me to buy the same dress as another girl at my school, and then trying to bribe us to pay them more money to make that girl get a different dress. I also did not receive my dress in time for graduation and received a nasty call saying it was purposeful as I wouldn’t pay more money to get that girl to switch dresses. Thank god for Covid or I wouldn’t have had a dress to wear to graduation. So on top of my grad being cancelled due to covid, I didn’t have time to properly get it altered and the lady on the phone made me cry from how mean she was. Never recommend. Was lied to multiple times. Worst business in Lethbridge and have only heard bad things since