Bijou Bridal & Special Occasion

Reviews 4

MA

Maggie&Bill Strowhouer

Unfortunately, I had a terrible experience at this establishment. My party, a total of 4 people, were not greeted when we entered, 5mins early, for our appointment. After sitting on the little couch in the foyer for a few minutes, I personally went to the receptionist to let her know we were there. She was on the phone. No problem, obviously, thats totally understandable. It was the woman who walked over next. She was very abrupt and asked me, very uninterested, what I needed. I enthusiastically told her my name and that we were here for our scheduled appointment. She was dressed unprofessionally and had this attitude like we were bothering her. She handed me a small clipboard and told me to fill it out. No smile. I sat down and filled it out hoping she was only a greeter. She was not. Her name is Chrissy and I dont know if she hates her job or what -- but what was supposed to be one of the most exciting days of my life was most certainly not. Chrissy had no enthusiasm or excitement the entire time. She asked what we were looking for and I showed her about 10 pictures. She did not suggest anything, she just told us to "look around." My MOH had to ask Chrissy for shoes multiple times, she carried the conversations with suggestions of alterations, and had to ask Chrissy to help us find certain dresses/accessories. It really seemed that Chrissy never got the hint that she was supposed to be selling us something. Her attitude remained bleak and annoyed when were nothing but nice and sweet to her. For instance, there was a part of a dress that I had a question about and she commented on my "short torso" instead of talking about options to have it altered. What kind of response is that? I need to buy a dress and I could have bought it at Bijou. I dont have a "budget" and am ready to spend what is necessary to get the perfect dress. I have 10 bridesmaids who need dresses. I could have brought this boutique a lot of business but I cant imagine wanting to return to this establishment after being treated so poorly. Also, like one of the comments below, I understand that many women come in and their makeup comes off onto the fabric of the dresses but Id hope that someone would be more on top of the cleanliness than what we experienced. Besides the alarmingly amateur and unprofessional saleswoman and the discolored dresses, the place itself is pretty dirty. There were random, dented water jugs behind the seating area that seemed pretty strange and I would have thought that wed be offered water or something/anything. There is no sense of organization with this boutique -- in fact, this unorganized theme was actually pointed out to us by Chrissy herself! This is just one instance, of MANY, when my MOH and I exchanged looks of confusion. My bridesmaids even eavesdropped on other parties to see how the other saleswomen were assisting their brides and they were SHOCKED to witness helpful and friendly saleswomen! We certainly got unlucky the moment we walked into the door to have been stuck with Chrissy. I honestly almost feel like Chrissy may have given us a fake name so she could try to get some other "Chrissy" fired. She was sincerely insulting and, again, very obviously must loathe her job. To sum up, what should have been an amazing day resulted in a rant on here and a bride who still has no idea what shes going to wear for her wedding. Im not worried because I know there are other boutiques that will treat us with respect; however I sincerely do not suggest Bijou based on my experience. It was a waste of time, a complete let down, and I wish someone would have warned me. I am truly saddened and equally embarrassed to tell my friends and family that I went to such a subpar establishment to try and find my wedding gown. As a salesperson and as an employer, if I owned this place, I would be VERY concerned with how certain staff members were treating my clients.

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JO

Joy Little

I shouldnt review this salon until my experience is complete, but so far Ive been quite pleased. After going to several salons to try on dresses and feeling frustrated that I didnt have a good idea of what a place had to offer before making an appointment, I asked to stop by after work and take a look. While you need an appointment for this, too, they were very nice and accommodated my somewhat unusual (?) request. I looked around to get an idea of price ranges (probably most are under 4-5, except for a couture section, with many between/around 1,000 and 2,000). I quickly decided to make a real appointment to try dresses on after seeing the selection and having 2 "must-try"s in mind. My appointment to try on dresses went wonderfully and I was under no pressure when I stated that no matter how much I loved a dress I would sleep on the decision. Apparently Bijou consultants are not on commission (how refreshing!). I returned several days later, being kindly worked in by the staff, so that I could show the dress to a friend to make certain I wasnt crazy before buying. I left having put a deposit on the dress! I ended up interacting with 3 of the women who work at Bijou and was pleased with all of them. I felt like I was getting honest feedback (although some praise always has to be taken with a grain of salt, I feel like... its just part of it). Also interesting, Bijou offers a somewhat all inclusive alterations package. You dont have to choose upon purchasing the dress (you can wait until the dress arrives) and while you sign something saying that you take responsibility for the size ordered, they also state in the contract and verbally that taking in (or letting out) the bodice, hemming, and a standard 3pt bustle are included so I didnt feel uneasy about ordering a size up. Again, this is only the first part of my interactions with them, so there will be more to come after my dress arrives.

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DA

Daisy Varughese

BRIDE BEWARE. I came in as a first-time, happy bride to their IL location, trusting the seamstresss expertise and the beautiful decor of this company. The seamstress assured me that despite my feeling the dress was too tight, that I would be just fine. I unfortunately went along with this even after her racist comments about me marrying outside my race. Not a good feeling. This trust cost me over $1000 and the grief of not wearing my dress on my wedding day. My photos of my friends in agony trying to help me with my dress and more proof were enough to show this was not made up. Upon voicing complaints about the seamstress and requesting a refund of at least the seamstress free, the owner of the company showed more care about her bottom line than providing compassionate customer service and her associate claimed that anyone could falsely claim a tragedy and return a dress. Please do your research when finding stores to buy your dress and my suggestion from a lot of grief and frustration with this company, would be to find somewhere else with a seamstress who listens and an owner who cares.

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CH

Christine McLaughlin

Everyone was friendly and very accommodating...so no complaints about the personnel. However, I felt like I wasnt listened to entirely and ultimately I regret not being more steadfast in my requests. The dress I selected was beautiful, it took all alteration sessions to get it even close to where I wanted it, but in the end I was still not in love with it and the fit. I kept saying (not very authoritatively so thats my fault) that I felt like it didnt fit quite right and I wanted it "tighter." However I relied on the seamstresss expertise when she advised that we shouldnt make it tighter. I wish I would have insisted as my dress was falling off me (and it did have sleeves so that was not a result of it being strapless). My advice to Brides is "dont be shy" and make sure its right! The dress was lovely but overall fell short for me, and I paid way to much money for it to not have loved it (and again, it was the fit mostly that I was not happy with).

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