Olivia Bowen Bridal — Attraction in Melbourne

Sierra was extremely rude to me and unprofessional. She didn’t let me into the store until 30 minutes past my appointment because someone before me was late. When I got to the store at the time she said they’d be done she made excuses about how far they had to travel but I also had to travel over an hour. She told us we can go get a coffee instead of having the late customers out by the time she said they’d be done.

She said sorry but seemed agitated instead of understanding. When I got in the store she didn’t remember at all which dresses I specifically asked to see. I emailed her the dresses and repeatedly asked her if she had them before driving all the way there. She only had 1 out of the 5 I asked for when i got there and never bothered to let me know they were gone before my appointment.

She got an attitude and said “do you want to have an open mind and look at something else?” Really snotty and rude. I did want to look at others i just wanted to see the ones she said she had first. I showed her other pics on my phone of dresses I wanted and said I didn’t want her touching my phone and she had an attitude again. I had to explain that it was because of covid. She had grabbed the index card with the dresses I wrote down earlier so I didn’t want her reaching out again which she was. She never said hi to my fiancé and the dresses she did have were over my budget which she didn’t ask about.

When we left early because she was acting really catty and fake, my fiancé reminded her that she could have been nicer since we were on time. She kept saying sorry sarcastically , tried to talk over me when I said she could have prepared for the appointment, and then she just turned her back on us.

Really unprofessional person. Never sent a confirmation email. I always had to reach out to her first. Very rude and fake person. Also the fitting room is just a curtain a few inches away from the mirror. She also never told me her business moved to a different street. Just a bad experience with someone who kept telling me I can shop somewhere else. And I’m glad I will. Response to owner’s comments.

Sierra clearly is just as unwilling now to accept any fault as when I was there. She said one line of apology in her response and the rest were excuses. Nothing will excuse an owner with a sarcastic and catty attitude who is unwilling to be held accountable.

Telling me ahead of time that she's giving more time to another appointment doesn’t make it okay. 10 minutes was actually 30 mins late.

She said you can get a coffee, she didn’t say where and was visibly annoyed when my response to that was that I’m on time and traveled over an hour too.

She acts like my contact with her was lacking. But I was the main person keeping in contact. Her contact effort is unprofessional as noted by her not having a confirmation system in place. I also texted her when I was there, patiently waiting, where's the new location...no response.

Also having sample sales doesn't excuse her inability to email me and notify about not having the gowns. Why would I trust doing business with someone like that? And be honest, she only had 1 dress I asked for and two others I asked for on the spot that were both out of budget.

My refusal to try on a single dress only happened at this store. I went to 5 other stores and tried on dozens of dresses because everyone else was kind and helpful. My refusal was because I felt so disrespected. Telling me “do you want to keep an open mind” was said in a really aggressive unsmiling catty way. She’s lucky I stayed a second longer after that to see what else she had.

My fiancé was so mad with the way she said that. I’m glad she didn’t have to see me undress, see me in my special gown and get my money.

I know her tone and attitude was uncalled for. I don't do business with unorganized rude people. She should have been more sincerely sorry for making us wait and not emailing me in advance when she knew she didn’t have my dresses. But oh well. She just doesn’t get it and probably will never...

BRIDES I am writing this review with hopes to prevent what happened to me to any other bride out there looking to buy a wedding dress at Olivia Bowen Bridal. Unfortunately I was scammed, lied to, and robbed of one of one of the most special, important moments in my life. I purchased my wedding gown from Sierra on May 29, 2021. The gown I tried on this day was on sample sale; however, Sierra promised that a brand new one could be made by the designer. I loved this gown, and I wanted it brand new. I paid nearly $3,400 in full that day. A month later (after I reached out to the salon first) to make sure my dress was successfully ordered, I was told that my ETA was December 2021, and a few days later I received a text saying that my gown was in production. Fast forward to December, I had not heard anything from Sierra regarding my gown so I reached out. I was told it was not there yet, but it was due in a week. I waited until January and reached out again since I, once again, had not received an update from Sierra. She told me that it had arrived at that time. Poor communication was the first red flag. When I finally got to try on my dress since it "arrived" it was March 2022. I was so excited, but when I tried on my dress I found it strange that it was way too large when it was supposed to be ordered to fit me. Sierra didn't even bother to pin it, I was the one holding it in the back the while trying it on. Secondly, the gown was very dirty. Sierra said that it had gotten "dusty" sitting in the back for so long, and also said that the gown was dirty from shipping from the designer. Lastly, the belt on the gown was broken. How was my $3,400 dress straight from the manufacturer too big, dirty, and broken? Unacceptable. After trying my dress on, Sierra said she would send it to the dry cleaners and ship it to my house. I waited over a month before reaching out to Sierra once again in April. When I spoke to her over the phone, she said that she was sending the dress to the dry cleaner for a second time for a spot clean and that when she had it dry cleaned the first time they broke the belt so she was going to send it to the seamstress to be fixed. However, the belt was already broken when I tried the dress on the month prior and again, why would my brand new wedding gown need a second dry cleaning?! I knew something was off and soon found out that Sierra was trying to give me the sample gown that I originally tried on, when I had ordered a brand new one.

I reached out to the designer who made my gown who confirmed that in fact, Olivia Bowen Bridal did NOT place an order for the gown to be made. The designer reached out to Sierra in hopes to diffuse the situation, however, Sierra just kept coming up with lies on lies. She told them that another bride with my same size ordered that exact gown and did not want it, so she set the dress aside and allocated it to me. If that was the case, why did Sierra tell me my gown was "in production" and that it had arrived to the shop when it was there the entire time? She also told the designer team that I already had the dress, when I did not. I could go on and on with the lies she told but ill spare them. Both myself and the designer asked Sierra to provide me with a full refund. After an entire week of begging for a refund, Sierra told me there was nothing she could do. At this point, I was going to have a lawyer involved, when Sierra finally issued me a refund via a check.

What happened was truly unfathomable. One of the most memorable experiences as a woman, bride, and future wife was taken from me. The fact that someone can have the heart to do such thing sickens me. How many more brides has she done this to in the past, and how many more will she do this to in the future? Please be careful in deciding if you are going to purchase a gown through this salon. I hate to think she can continue to get...

10/10 RECOMMEND

The owner, Sierra, is so helpful! She is so helpful, that her bridal boutique was actually the FIRST one I visited and I FOUND MY PERFECT BRIDAL GOWN. Easy peasy!

I loved Sierra's personality, she is knowledgeable, and has a great collection of dresses that fit my taste (Classy, timeless, with a bohemian kind of vibe). She made the whole experience into a fun event with some of my closest ladies accompanying me. From the time we walked in, we were relaxed and enjoyed our shopping experience. Personally, I loved being in a boutique vs. a huge store with an overwhelming amount of options.

We were welcomed right away when we walked in for our Sunday afternoon appointment and she asked to see my inspiration photos and what my ideal budget was. From there, she pulled 4 dresses for me to try on to get an idea of what I really would like (actually on my body). On the way to try on the dresses, one dress caught my eye on one of the racks and I asked if I could try it on as well. She put that specific one in the dressing room first, I tried it on, and we all fell in love with it.

It was my dream dress without truly knowing what my dream dress was.

I proceeded to try on the other options, but none felt as perfect as the first. I then had my mom, Aunt, and two best friends pick out a dress they thought would look good on me and tried them on as well. We all still agreed that it was the first dress, hands down. This gave me the confidence that it really was THE ONE!

The best part is that the dress I went with just happened to be on sale and fit my budget just perfectly.

Needless to say, not all experiences probably go as smooth everytime but in order to have a great experience, here are my suggestions: 1 - Visit Olivia Bowen's website to find some inspirational dresses. Find 5-10 dresses that you think you will like and plug them into their own photo album for easy access. 2 - Bring your most trusted advisors in your circle to help give a 2nd opinion. Having 4 other ladies was the perfect amount for me without having too many opinions and causing confusion. 3 - Try on different styles, even ones that you don't think you'll like (it helps confirm the dress option that you fall in love with) 4 - Avoid wearing make-up so you're not worried about getting anything on the dress 5 - Have someone take a 360 degree video of you in the dress. It gives you an idea of how you move in it, how the front, back, sides, etc. look. I've watched my impromptu video at least 20 times in the past few days just to make sure I love it and every time it leaves me feeling 100% confident I made the right decision. (I have a little paralysis of analysis that goes on!) 6 - Have FUN and make an appointment with Sierra! You won't be disappointed!!!

I'll update photos after my wedding ;) Can't give it away...