Who are we?
A roundup of our mission and our story so far.
Here at The Case of the Curious Bride, we take a slightly off-the-beaten-track approach to the bridal buying process, offering a range of relaxed and contemporary styles that celebrate individualism.
We want brides to feel confident, comfortable, and most importantly, like themselves.
Our price points start from £750 and go up
to £1,800 with most falling within the
£700 - £1,300 range.
Who are we?
We are a small, friendly and approachable team headed-up by our chief stylist, designer-manager and owner Melanie. Melanie has always been known for her keen design eye, having been in interior design and accessory design for some years. The ambition to go into bridal was catalysed by the needs of brides contacting her through her accessory brand who were struggling to find reasonably priced dresses that reflected their personalities, a need that she was already too familiar with from her own and friends' wedding dress quests.
So...
She found a shop, adorned it with vintage-upcycled awesomeness (or as we say 'Melanised' the joint), carefully curated dress styles from ethical sources and The Case of the Curious Bride was born. We offer a stylish, quirky and comfortable environment to match our aesthetic and personality so that every bride can have the shopping experience they deserve when looking for their wedding dress.
What do we sell?
We sell bridal dresses, separates, veils, head pieces, shoes, jewellery, and we offer bridal alterations (subject to availability).
Stocking wedding dresses with personality is our game, from the bohemian-spirited individual to the vintage-lusting nostalgics out there, incorporating one of the biggest selections of bridal separates in the UK, we aim to offer a real depth of choice within our friendly and welcoming corner of the industry. For more details on our current designers, please see dresses.
Appointments.
What can you expect from an appointment with us? We have a few types of appointment: Stylist (for dresses) and Accessories (well you probably got that one). Our stylist appointments are an hour and a half long. They will be taken by one of our bridal stylists, (most likely, boutique owner/manager; Melanie) who will guide you through our collections and then let you loose to choose some starters and then we can add from there, based on what you like/don't like and any aims/styles you have told us about.
Alterations Fittings Appointments/Terms & Conditions
We offer these firstly to our Curious Brides, who have bought their dresses from us. If we have the time to accommodate, it's Melanie who does the alterations and takes the fittings. We can offer these appointments on availability-only as we are a small, soft-run, independent business.
In an initial, alterations assessment an estimate will be given on work needed and the deposit will be 50% of that estimate. It is important to note that due to the nature of altering garments this can change as you can never know how things are manufactured until you really start taking them apart.
We can offer alterations to outside brides also, (who have not purchased their wedding outfits from Curious Bride). It is possible that alterations made on garments, not bought from Curious Bride could incur extra charges as type of manufacture can really differ from brand to brand and some (especially outlet-bought styles) can really be troublesome to deal with because of unusual practices in manufacture. Usually you can expect a rate starting from £20 per hour for bridal alterations. We advise starting your alterations around three months prior to the date of your wedding to allow enough time for anything that may crop up and also allow for these to be completed over a manageable period of time as it is quite heavy work on the neck and spine and is a highly skilled operation.
It's important to note that once you have paid your 50% deposit for your alterations and left your garment with us to alter, you have agreed to enter into a contract with us, in which you agree that you will attend fittings as requested to get the best fit for your garment and agree that you will attend your final fitting, paying the remaining balance either prior to or during the final fitting. You agree that Curious Bride Ltd will take possession of your garment until you have attended the final fitting, and paid your remaining, outstanding balance.
In leaving the boutique with your garment you are agreeing that your garment is in satisfactory order and you agree you are happy with the fit and condition of the garment. We will accept no
comebacks once the garment has left the store. However if you notice anything that needs attention please do get in touch before going anywhere else.
We care about our customers and the reputation of this small business and will always listen to what you have to say.
Curious Bride Ltd reserves the right to keep garments in our possession until the original customer attends to try on the garment and pays the balance, this is whether the garment was bought from Curious Bride Ltd or elsewhere.
We reserve the right to refuse to deal with any other person, other than our customer (usually the bride) in communications regarding purchases, appointments and fittings. This complies with data protection laws and our customers right to this.
Appointments are booked online by selecting '1st Stylist Appointment', you can then choose from what is available that best suits you. We ask that you only bring 2 guests per 1st Appointment as we are a cosy sized boutique. If you really want to bring more we have a VIP Appointment option to book which welcomes up to four guests and a selection of cakes, 'nosecco' (non alcoholic bubbly) and an accessories gift voucher for the bride.
Usual 1st Stylist Appointments are 1.5hrs in length and cost £20 to book. This £20 is refundable from any boutique purchase within 28 days of the time of the 1st Appointment.
VIP appointments are charged at £50 and cover the cost of the appointment plus you also get the £20 accessories voucher to spend within a year of the appointment.
Though you are more than welcome to drop by for a gander in passing, we operate on an 'appointment only' basis, even if it's just a 'pop-in appointment'. This is so we can ensure someone is there to give you a hearty welcome, If there is already an appointment in progress we will not be able to open the door due to the nature of the state of undress any of our customers may be in and it also stops us from giving our attending customer the service they have booked.
We occasionally close earlier than our listed opening hours to attend events, visit designers, conduct photo shoots, or to collect a poorly child from school (the most glamorous of all!),
