When I met Barbara, my Bijou seamstress, every single drop of worry melted away. When my dress arrived, I was very anxious about it fitting because of all of the awful pressure out there in the universe for brides to be perfect. My dress arrived, in one piece, after being sent over the border to Poland, earlier than expected. When my mom called in a panic to say that we needed a back up plan or a dress B, they were firm and confident in the fact that that would be unnecessary.
#Bijou bridal paramus update
The Bijou team and their communication was absolutely remarkable and sturdy during this unbelievably unpredictable and stressful situation, calling me every week or so to update me not only on the status and safety of my dress but also of the dressmakers. Lo and behold, my dress was actually being made IN Ukraine. When the war in Ukraine broke out, roughly three months before my wedding, I vaguely remembered that my gown was being made somewhere in Eastern Europe, and was expected to arrive in the coming weeks. Two weeks later, we returned to buy the dress.
I felt fashionable, dramatic, bold, unique, and somehow still very classic and bride-y. But, when I put it on, even in the tiny sample size, I didn't want to take it off. This dress was one-shoulder, all-ivory, and had a giant-ass bow on the back.
I was thinking pop of color, sleeves, higher neck, tons of embellishment, something boho. When she first showed it to me, my mom and I side-eyed each other because it was NOTHING like what I imagined I would wear. I showed Sandy a picture of the dress, and she was like "oh.we are going to do so much better than that." I didn't believe her at first, but she saw into the future, for sure! The first dress she showed me, on the mannequin, was the dress I wore on my wedding day- and she told me it would be. We had just had an awesome appointment at a plus-sized bridal boutique down the street (which I do also HIGHLY recommend), and were 99% sure we had found "the" dress. When my mom and I went to Bijou, we weren't sure what to expect. The best that NYC boutiques could offer me within my size and budget was frumpy, lacy, BORING, spanx-required depression- with hefty sales tax!!!Įnter Sandy, Lisa, Barbara, and the whole Bijou squad. As a person who works in the art world, and who loves fashion, and who was planning a big and colorful wedding, I wanted a statement gown that matched my personality and also complimented my fiance's statement outfit. Nowhere had anything in my size, and especially anything in my budget, and coming out of dressing room after dressing room spilling out of size 4 samples of dresses that were two times my budget, ready to surrender to spanx and overspending, was an extremely un-empowering and upsetting process. As a petite, curvy (size 14) bride, working with a fairly modest budget, shopping for a wedding gown in NYC was plainly awful. Then, (we're fast-forwarding like 20 years here) I got engaged!Īt first, my gown shopping experience (elsewhere) was honestly very painful and confusing. When I was little, I remember driving past (the now old/previous storefront of) this bridal salon, and seeing all of the gowns glistening in the windows, and always thinking that it looked so luxurious and glamorous. I truly don't know where to begin with this review, but I guess I can start with a little context! I grew up in New Jersey, and now live in Brooklyn.
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