The Special Event Boutique and Bridal — Local services in Alexandria

I will start off with one good comment, I had a great first impression with them when I bought my wedding dress. Jackie was wonderful, but that’s the ONLY good impression I had. The other staff I dealt with were very rude and extremely unprofessional—right down to actually laughing at a concern I had over the phone and then proceeded to LIE over the phone, and laughed more when they were caught in the lie. I strongly suggest that nobody goes here. Here’s a short list of everything they did wrong: • One of my bridesmaid dresses was ordered 4 sizes too big. • I had a phone call from them telling me there was a problem with the bridesmaid dresses that I picked up, I told them I didn’t pick any bridesmaid dresses up and they just told me they’d call me back. I never heard back from them, panicking that my bridesmaid dresses were missing I called them back later and they said “oh yeah it wasn’t yours.” I mean, how do you not call your customer and notify them of this mistake?? • We were notified that the tuxes would be in Tuesday before the wedding, my dad drove an hour on WEDNESDAY to pick them up and they weren’t ready. • Tuxes were picked up Thursday and NONE of them had pocket squares, causing us to have to make a THIRD trip there. • All the groomsmen shoes were the wrong size (even the ones that went into the store to be measured and tried shoes on). • The groomsmen were overcharged for their tuxes and never refunded the difference. • My grooms tie was the wrong color—TWICE and it never got corrected, he was stuck wearing the WRONG color.

And after all of the above, they call me three weeks after my wedding to let me know they’re charging me for “missing shoes.” “Missing shoes” that I was never even notified about and on top of that, there was no phone call that anything was missing until it was too late to return them, AND when the tuxes were dropped off the person who did inventory was there and we were told EVERYTHING was accounted for.

I don’t even know how a place that does business like this...

I seriously have to question the negative reviews that are put on especially when the positive reviews are so great. I believe Jodi and her employees speak for themselves and rather than believe what has been written, go and experience for yourself what Jodi's store is all about. I believe Alexandria is big enough for even 10 bridal stores. Jodi will always stand out head and shoulders above the rest because her goal is not to make money, it is to make you happy. I frankly don't believe the reviews that have been posted and neither should anyone else. Go in and experience for yourself what The Special event store is all about then come back here and post an honest, not fabricated opinion. Jodi, keep doing what you do, being who you are and know that you are loved and cherished by me and mine. My oldest went through your store and my other two girls are getting ready to do the same. We bought a Fabulous prom dress and two mid winter dresses from you and I will be coming along to buy two prom and two mid winter dresses each for the younger girls. As long as you remain open, we will remain loyal to you because you are amazing and so is your staff. Thank you for what you do, the smiles you bring to my face and the joy you brought to my daughter when she wore the clothes you so painstaingly pick out. You are awesome and I can't say it enough. When my girls marry, their bridal parties will order from you and when they have children, boys and girls, they will come through here for their needs, no matter where we will be in the country because there is nothing better than feeling wonderful and genuinely welcomed when you shop for clothes that will define an era and be in our family photos 500 years from now. Thank you Jodi, keep doing you and know the negativity will fall away because it cannot cling to honest, true...

When I went to try on dresses the young lady was pretty helpful with picking them out and setting me up to hold the dress before deciding to actually purchase due to need alterations in a short amount of time. On the other hand when I called the next day to inquire about purchasing said dress the lady on the phone was REALLY rude until I said I was going to buy something. I told her about what time I would arrive to pick it up and she agreed that would work out fine. When I arrived to actually pick up the dress the older lady was helping other customers ( thats no big deal) she did not acknowledge my existence for at least 10 minutes while I was just standing at the desk waiting for help. After about 10 minutes she very rudely asked “can I help you with something?” She had very horrible demeanor and tone of voice while asking questions UNTIL I said I was going to purchase the dress then she changed her tone of voice and all of a sudden was very helpful. I only bought the dress because it was a short notice event and I didn’t have a whole lot of time to shop around and I did in fact like the dress. The Point is I give better customer service selling a 12$ cheeseburger. If I ever decide to shop for a dress again, I will not be coming back due to the extremely rude nature and lack of customer service from this particular staff member. If I am spending over 100$ somewhere I would like to at least be smiled at and welcomed when entering the establishment instead of being treated...