Bella Bridesmaid

We had a fantastic experience working with Meredith at Bella Bridesmaids. The dresses were exceptionally beautiful, the service was wonderful, and our bridesmaids looked gorgeous on the day. Also, I selected a reception dress from the store, which was a total hit and enabled me to tear up the dance floor in true style. Great store, great people!

I had the greatest experience at Bella Bridesmaid in Madison... The staff was extremley professional, knowledgable and friendly. I didn't feel any pressure when shopping and I felt like I wasn't being pushed in to dresses or something that I didn't love. Meredith listened to what I was looking for and made suggestions accordingly while providing her expert opinion when I needed it. They wrote down for me all the style numbers, designers, colors, prices, etc. of all the dresses that I liked as options and provided me with fabric swatches of the colors that I was interested in as well. Unbelievable service and attention to detail!!! Something that I have never received in other dress shops that I went to... Though it is a small store, it is by appointment only, and I loved the personal attention that I received. I also liked that they have locations nationwide, so for the girls in my bridal party that could not get down to Madison to be fitted, they were still able to see the dress and get sized properly at another Bella Bridesmaid. The dress selection that they have is extensive. They have so many varieties of dresses and fabrics all of which are fashionable and great quality. The dresses that they carry are very wearable, so if you want a dress that your bridal party can wear again, this is the place to come. Additionally, they were very accomodating when it came to matching a trunk show discount price for me. I went to another shop before going to Bella and they were having an Amsale trunk show around the same time as Bella was having theirs. The discount however was greater but I did not want to do business with this other store (which is now closed) as I didn't have a good experience there. Immediately, I called up Meredith once I decided on my dress styles and asked if they would honor the other stores trunk show price, without hesitation they did. Overall, I would highly reccomend Bella Bridesmaid in Madison to anyone looking for bridesmaids dresses or even someone looking for a single dress as a wedding guest or MOB/MOG (I wound up purchasing my shower and rehearsal dinner dress there as well). They helped to make the process painless and fun and I walked away feeling confident in my decision. Go to Bella....you will not regret it!!!

I cannot say how disappointed we were with Bella Bridesmaid in Madison. We were looking for a small store with personal service and had been to several places before getting to BB. We had an appointment but found there was another bridal party at the store at the same time. Normally this is not a problem but the shop is very small and very "bare bones". We did not bring the entire bridal party and still with only three of us we could barely find a place to sit and had absolutely no privacy. In any case the selection of dresses was very nice and we did pick a dress. Each one of the ladies in the bridal party went in separately to be measured. Of the 4 women in the party only one dress came close to fitting. As a veteran bridal party participant I know this is par for the course. However, in two cases the dresses were ridiculous in terms of not being close to the correct size. The one dress that presented the most problems was a young lady who normally wears a size 2! She was measured and the sales person said she was a size 0. We took her word and it was so ordered. When the dress arrived it was at least 2 1/2 inches too small at the bodice and could literally not be zippered. Now the "run-around" began! We were told that the young lady in question must have been "working out" and this caused the dress not to fit. We were basically told this was our problem and the dress could "let out" with the existing seam allowence. I took the dress to my seamstress who found this laughable. No one bothered to retake the measurements until I called the California office of the founder of the company and prevailed upon her to call the store owner in Madison. At this point they remeasured the young lady in question and found that her measurement had changed 1"! The founder of the chain in Cal. agreed that even if the young lady had grown by 1" the dress should have at least zippered up if not been comfortable. After several unpleasant conversations BB finally agree to pay for the the extra materials necessary to alter the dress-we had to pay for the alterations which were considerable. This was all very frustrating and disappointing. I would not recommend BB to anyone interested in professional service.

I worked with Meredith at Bella Bridesmaid in Madison, New Jersey and she was so helpful. I found my bridesmaid dresses on dessy.com which lead me to Bella Bridesmaid. They were so nice and easy going with my bridesmaids. All my girls had different body types so the original dress I wanted was very flattering on some so Meredith suggested an alternative dress that was very similar style to the original dress. The alternative dress was perfect and fit every girl like a glove! Because I had 8 bridesmaids, Meredith was able to give the girls an additional 10% off their total. After the wedding she followed up with me to make sure the wedding day went smooth, which as a customer I thought that was very professional. She also posted a picture up of me and the girls on their facebook page where we received many compliments. All the dresses came in within 2 months of ordering which was promised. They also gave me the opportunity to come pick up the dresses myself or ship them to each bridesmaid. I opted to pick them up since it wasn't that far of a drive. All the sizes were in and fit the girls great! Thank you Meredith and...

All the girls at the store were so helpful with my large bridal party. They really helped throughout the entire process and helped each girl look her best with fit and style. The selection of dresses is great and the whole experience was perfect.

Initially I was so excited about using Bella Bridesmaid! The collections they offered were exactly what I was looking for--modern and fun, yet also traditional. On our first visit in August 2009 my bridesmaids tried on a ton of dresses and the owner was great--very helpful and attentive! We decided on their dresses and I found one for the rehearsal dinner and we went back in December 2009 to order them. After that our experiences went from great to atrocious! The girl working that day was very snotty and could have cared less about helping us, being that we were only ordering 3 dresses. She measured my 2 girls and proceeded to announce their measurements aloud for everyone to hear and then totaled up their amounts incorrectly--after they'd already written their checks for the first amount. Without apology, she said oh well void it. While we were in there her next appointment showed up and she told them they couldn't look around while she was working with us and to go walk around Madison or something---they had a baby with them and it was very cold out! We left feeling disillusioned and I was so disappointed in the service!! One of my bridesmaids needed to be remeasured as she originally left her skirt size TBD in case she got pregnant. When she went back she decided to try the dress on again, undecided whether she wanted a boatneck or a v-neck, the two girls in the store were discussing how drunk they got at the shore that weekend, completely ignoring her in the dressing room. They were very prompt in calling us when the dresses came in, but we all picked them up separately. Each of us was rushed out of the store, never asked if we would like to try anything on, and when on of my b-maids asked for help in how to tie the sash she was blown off! Luckily her sister-in-law works for a Bella and she can get help from her. To top things off the dress they orderd my for rehearsal dinner is very, very tight up top and I have lost weight since they measured me! When I went to the store to show them the girl who helped me jammed the zipper up and said "See it fits." Yeah, if I didn't want to breathe---obviously I was measured wrong! It is unfortuante because their stuff is PERFECT for a fun, modern wedding! I would have loved to recommend them to people and even go there for other events dresses, but after my experience I never would!!!

I cannot say enough great things about Bella Bridesmaids Madison, NJ and New York, NY locations. I had the pleasure of working with almost all of the Bella ladies in both locations. I first looked for my dresses about a year in advance and unfortunately the dress company went bankrupt and refused to process the order TWO months before the wedding. The Bella ladies called me immediately, asked me to come in WHENEVER I wanted and helped me pick out a new dress, rushed the order, and had everything ready for me in 6 weeks time. They also reimbursed my girls for their orders and did not charge us for the new dresses. We chose dresses from THREAD's City Collection and they were PERFECT! These ladies know how to run a business! Thank you so much to Meredith, Danielle, Amanda, and all the other Bella ladies! My girls looked stunning on wedding day.

I ordered my four bridesmaids' dresses from the Madison Bella Bridesmaid for our June 2010 wedding. My bridesmaids and I were spread all over the US (from Florida to LA to Boston). On top of that, we ordered two different dresses from two dressmakers in four different colors (plus a length of matching silk for the flower girl's sash), and they did a nice job of coordinating everyone and getting all the dresses shipped promptly. The benefit of Bella being a chain was that my bridesmaids could each go into a shop near her and try dresses on there, then send her decisions and requirements into the Madison shop for ordering. I have only two criticisms: first, it was hard to get someone on the phone. They're only open by appointment, and the answering machine always picks up if you try to call. Since I'm never home, this resulted in a fair amount of phone tag. I had more luck getting responses via email, but it tended to take a while to have those conversations, whereas if I could just get someone on the phone it might have been over in 5 minutes. Second, their size-ordering instructions are as complicated and weird as bridesmaid's dress ordering instructions always are, and inevitably nearly everyone (per instructions and encouragement) ordered several sizes too big and had to have her dress taken in a huge amount. Nota huge deal, but you could tell. If they could figure out how to help people order the right size, it would make a huge difference. But apart from that, the staff were nice and attentive, the shop is lovely, and we got what we wanted.

Bella Bridesmaid was the only boutique that carried my preferred bridesmaid gown line, Simple Silhouettes. My girls had every type of request for their dresses, so the flexibility of Simple Silhouettes was a perfect solution. For the girls that were able to physically visit the Madison store, the experience was enjoyable. There were enough samples of the dress line to confirm my instinct that this was the direction we wanted to go. And the staff provided us ample time to work with the swatch book and design options. I concur that there was some pressure to purchase dresses a size larger than usual. In my experience, stores seem inclined to do this so that there won't be stress if their measurements are slightly off. But in at least one case, enough fabric was taken off that a whole second dress could have been made. All in all, we had a good experience and am grateful that this shop carried the designer I was looking for!