Frequently Asked Questions

Before Your Appointment

The time of year and type of venue will heavily influence the type of dress that you eventually choose. Therefore we like to have all brides to have a confirmed date and venue booked before booking an appointment.

Our made-to-order wedding dresses can take up to 6 months depending on the designer to arrive from the date of order, and then we need to allow time for any alterations. Therefore we recommend that you start looking for your dress 10-14 months before the date of your wedding, and place your order no less than 8 months before to allow for a comfortable timeline from date of ordering to the date of the wedding.

Possibly, some of our designers can deliver in less than 24 weeks and as little as 12. However, this is classed as a RUSH order as we need to specify the date we need it. Rush orders may incur a 10% -20% charge; the designer sets this as they have to reschedule all parts of the process to push your dress to the front of the queue.

Yes we operate on an appointment only basis.

APPOINTMENTS - We charge £25 for all of our appointments, which last up to 2 hours and include refreshments. This fee is redeemable when a dress is purchased during this appointment.

RETRIALS - Whilst most brides say ‘yes’ when they find the dress we also know that some brides need to think about it or they have other shops to visit. so we charge £10 for retrials, and this is redeemable if a dress is purchased.

Appointment fees will be rising from 01/12/2024 to £35 for our 2-hour appointments and £15 for retrials.

We don’t open in the evening or on Sundays

We do open on occasional bank holidays. A note will be placed on our booking page if we are.

We allow you to bring a maximum of three people with you (this number includes any children) to your appointment. Our appointment area is really small, and will comfortably seat you plus two guests, but three guests at a push. There are no exceptions to this number.

We adore children and babies, but bridal shops are unsuitable for small people. As this is your special moment, we kindly ask that you leave all mobile babies, toddlers and very young children with a trusted friend or relative. Notwithstanding that, we do allow babies under the age of 12 months.

Bringing a Baby to Your Appointment

This is a very important purchase, and you do need to be able to think about yourself. If at all possible, please leave the little ones at home. If they become irritable or fractious, we may need to pause the appointment and rebook you free of charge for another day. However, I will be led by what you want to do in this situation.

Pushchairs - all pushchairs can be brought into the shop, but they have to remain by the front door to help keep the floor clean and to protect our gowns

Baby Changing Area - We don’t have anywhere suitable to change nappies, as the shop is not geared up for babies.

Bringing Children to Your Appointment

Bridal appointments for most children are dull after the excitement of the first dress or two, therefore it is best not to bring them. Please remember that we like a calm and peaceful environment so if you are bringing a child or ovlease bare in mind:

• Tablets/Phones - Please bring earphones, so that we are not competing with what they may be watching/playing. No earphones = no electronics

• We don’t allow snacks, and whilst we provide drinks we only have elderflower squash or water available. If you wish to bring a drink, then we request no milkshakes.

• Children will form part of your guest numbers

If one of your guests wishes to bring a child/baby to your appointment, please ensure they know our policy beforehand.

Your Appointment

We recommend that you wear nude or very light underwear, which you will be comfortable being seen in. No VPL knickers are great and if you need a little support don’t be afraid to think Bridget Jones. A good fitting bra is a must and preferably with straps to keep the girls where they should be.

We provide shoes in full sizes from UK3 - UK8, these do have a 3-inch heel.

As you will step into most dresses, it’s fine to wear makeup. All we ask is that you don’t wear bright lipstick such as Reds / Wine / Pinks as these do stain. 

If you have long hair, bring a bobble or clip so we can pop your hair up. This lets you see the neckline with your hair up and down.

Fake Tan causes permanent staining on the delicate fabric of wedding dresses. Please avoid having a fake tan applied a few days before your appointment. This includes using a moisturiser with tanning agents.

All of our gowns are Made-to-Order and range in price from £1500 to £3500.

The majority of our gowns, though are priced between £2200 and £3000

This cost includes no changes/rush orders or final alterations.

Yes, we do. We hold two sample sales a year in March and August, where we reduce our gowns between 50 and 85%. The easiest way to hear about these is by signing up for our emails.

But, if a gown you love fits you perfectly, you can take it away on the day of your appointment for between 10 and 25% off the retail price, so you don’t have to wait for a sale. This mainly applies to any gown over 12 months old, but we occasionally have some that are newer, and we also have the odd one that is a little older that we are not quite ready to let go of.

Please don’t be afraid to ask during your appointment if it is available off the rack, as each time we sell a dress this way; we can buy a new one.

All gowns are sample gowns and we only carry one size per gown. We try to keep a selection of sizes between 8 and 18, and the majority of our samples are in High Street sizes 10, 12 & 14. But are experts in making dresses fit up to 3 sizes bigger/smaller.

We know we can do better and are committed to increasing our mid size samples so by September 2024 the majority of our samples will be in High Street sizes 10,14 and 18.

When you say yes to the dress we will take your measurements and order it in the closest standard size to your largest measurement. Remember that alterations will always be required to make your dress fit you perfectly.

Yes, before your appoinment, we ask you to choose the 7 dresses that you want to try on. When you arrive we will review your selection together and using a mix of our expert knowledge and the answers to your pre-appointment quiz decide if we should change any of the gowns. We are experts in helping brides find their dream dresses. So please trust us, as we may select other styles and designs for you to try on that you may have previously dismissed.

I have looked at your website and I love a dress by one of your designers but I can’t see it on your website, do you have it available for me to try on?

The dress selection at & Wolf Bridal has been carefully curated to reflect our taste in bridal fashion. We have recognised that over the years, we can’t please everyone and stock every type of gown in every fabric, neckline and with and without sleeves, so please be aware that we don’t run ‘I’m Just Looking to See What Suits Me’ types of appointments.

Instead, we aim to help you achieve the vision and vibe of your wedding and not confuse you. We know our gowns inside and out and will use this knowledge and the brief of what you are attracted to, how you want to look on your special day and anything you have been pinning on your board to help you find the ‘yes’ dress.

I know that every shop is different and has different rules around this, and the short answer is ‘no’, but read on.

Your consultation with & Wolf is to find your wedding dress. It is not to take photographs of every dress you try on so that you can ‘remember them’. These dresses probably won’t make it into your top five favourite dresses. I don’t want to be a total killjoy either, though, so at the end of the appointment, when we are trying the favourites back on when we have narrowed it down to one (maybe, very occasionally, it will be two), I am more than happy to take photographs for you on your phone this way you can control who sees the pictures. But I take your photographs mainly because I know where to pose you in the best light and angles to get the best phone photo.

We don’t allow anyone else to take photographs. I would appreciate you making everyone in your group aware of this to avoid any awkwardness if I ask them to put their phones away and be in the moment with you.

Your Dress

This is the part that most girls hate, but please don’t get hung up on the size of the dress, as wedding dress patterns are still cut using pre-war measurements, and bridal sizing does not relate in any way to high street sizing. It’s also worth noting that EVERY designer uses different measurements for the same size gown.

When you order will take full measurements, look at the designers’ size guide and then discuss this with you. Remember it is easier to take a dress in where it is too big than to let it out.

We don’t advocate losing weight for your wedding, and your dress should fit you, not you fit the dress. In reality, many brides will want to tone up and get fit to feel their absolute best.

We recommend ordering your dress as soon as you know it’s the one, and don’t wait to lose weight. Your basic shape won’t change by dropping a dress size or two, so what suits you now will still suit you in three/six/nine months and in reality, to drop a dress size in bridal is approximately 7kg. All dresses can be taken in by up to two dress sizes.

If its more than nine months until your wedding, and you have brought your gown, then we can arrange a remeasure between 20 and 27 weeks before your wedding, meaning you can comfortably order, get a gown close to your size and not have to pay RUSH FEES, as you are already in the designer’s system.

You can pay the full amount but as a minimum, a 50% initial payment is required at the time of order, when it arrives in store, we will invite you in to try it on, the balance is then due within 14 days of the dress arriving in store.

We can offer a payment plan scheme, where you can spread the cost over 4 payments. Please ask for more details at your appointment, if this would be of interest to you.

We don’t offer any finance options. However, we can offer a payment plan to help spread the cost of payments. Please ask about this at your appointment.

ALL sales are final, and cancellations for any reason will not be accepted. As we will instruct the designers to put your dress into production, and this also includes remeasures as the fabric and time to make your dress will have been allocated. We explain all of this in our T&Cs, which you will sign.

The balance will be due within 14 days of the dress arriving in the store.

We are no longer offering in-house alterations. We will gladly refer you to a trusted external partner for all your alterations needs. However, you are more than welcome to take it anywhere you want and are in no way obliged to go with our recommendation!

Whilst we don’t offer an in-house service, we aim to ensure continuity of care throughout the process and will liaise with your chosen seamstress.

Any alterations will incur an additional cost, which is not included in the gown's price. This is paid directly to the seamstress.

We encourage you to take your dress home once it has arrived as we do not offer alterations. However, we can store it for you at a cost of £8.50 a month, this is to cover the cost of additional insurance for your gown.

Have more questions?