Bijou Bridal & Special Occasion — Local services in Honolulu

Quick Review Staff is SO friendly and very knowledgable about what will look best on your body type. Very clean and great covid precautions in place. Easy parking. Beautiful space. Easy to find location. Budget conscious. Amazing experience. If I could add more stars I would.

My experience in depth: I was at another wedding shop and was having a bad experience looking for a wedding gown. My cousin found this shop on Yelp, which btw had good reviews, so I made an inquiry for an appointment. I was contacted within the day of my inquiry to schedule my appointment. (Great service) I made my appointment but then had to change it and they were quick with responding and made the adjustments. The day prior to my appointment I recieved a text requesting to fill out a registration for my appointment. In the registration they asked me the normal questions. Contact info and Date of event. They then asked about my wedding concepts, what my dream dress looked like and my pinterest wedding dress URL! (I thought that was so thoughtful.) Then as my date got closer a bunch of people told me that Bijou was great and that most of their friends found the perfect dress there. I finally started to get excited to find the perfect dress.

My two guests and I got there a little early but they took my name and asked me to wait outside til the shop opened. On the dot at 11am we were welcomed in. And what a warm welcome it was! Eye contact and very friendly welcoming smiles. Millie was my salesperson/wedding dress expert who also is a seamstress. She was upfront about my dress options because I only had 3 months before my wedding and most dresses were 6-9 month order wait time. She showed us the clearance, ready to wear section. There was a lot to choose from! So many cute beautiful dresses. A super wide variety. Millie asked us to look while she grabbed a few suggestions she wanted me to try on. I picked a few and she picked out a few. The first dress was her pick, a mermaid style with a gorgeous train. She mentioned that their shop had petite sizes. And oh my the dress she suggested fit beautifully. The waist was in the right spot and she knew my size and how to alter and clip to make the dress look like it was made for me. This went on for Every Dress I tried on. All her suggestions were spot on! Millie asked about my venue and was genuinely interested in helping me. I truly appreciated her interest. She was also very respectful and mindful about my body image issues. And chose dresses for me that really highlighted my curves and petite stature. (I'm 5'1, 170 lbs, and curvy)

The dress I chose I wasn't sold on until Millie suggested one alteration. She suggested to line the see through lace in a way that contoured my tummy. And after she did that and when she put the veil on... Oh my! I started to get misty eyed. I looked like a Disney Princess! I tried on a few more of Millie's suggestions and they were all beautiful but I kept comparing them to that Disney Princess dress. I tried it on again and I said YES to the dress. I'm officially a Bijou Bride! I have my fitting in a month to do the alterations and made my appointment that day. They even do suits if my fiance wants to go look. We made an appointment for him too.

Overall I am SO happy. I recieved the wedding dress experience I was hoping for and am so so excited about my upcoming wedding and showing off my perfect dress. I can't wait to see my fiance's face when he sees me down the aisle. Bijou Hawaii really lived up to the recommendations. Thank you thank you Bijou Hawaii for expertly helping me find My Perfect...

TLDR; Leslie was patient with me, visiting twice. The process was great, and I can't wait for my dress to arrive! I will update after alterations with wedding photos ^_^ photo i uploaded is not my dress!

Story time: I came to Bijou once because I wanted to try Watters/Wtoo dresses - I found 2 that I liked, very different silhouettes. We were allowed to walk around and pull dresses that were interesting. I couldn't decide so I went home to think about it - then everything shut down for Covid.

I went to one other bridal shop a few months later and while they had nice dresses that were in budget, they were more than 2x the price of the ones I liked at Bijou.

I came back to Bijou for the Madi Lane trunk show. Because of Covid - they are appointment only, we were asked to wear masks, to only have 1 guest, and to sanitize when we arrived. There was one other appointment and she left quickly, so we had the salon to ourselves, although there's a strict 1 hour time limit. eslie was great about taking photos on my phone so I could see the back and what it looks like from afar. She let me switch back and forth a couple times. Finally I asked to try a veil and that sealed it for my mom.

One thing I didn't realize was that it was going to take more than clips for me to see my dress - it was hard for me to think dresses looked right on me, because they were too big for me. Leslie helped me 'imagine' what the dress is supposed to look like, looking past the giant clips, the V neck being too wide, the cups gaping, there being too much fabric up top in general when in reality the style is fitted and dainty. Then I started to really see how sexy and couture the design should be. Once she helped me see that in my mind, I knew I was going to make the choice right there and then!

Did I mention it was 1/2 of my budget?! They took my measurements, and went though the contract, advising me on what size to order based on my measurements which were between sizes, and me wanting it to be very fitted (no returns!). I'm basically eloping whenever the dress is ready, so I'm so excited for it to arrive and for alterations to start!

It's so so important to me that the dress feel fit to me, and I have no doubt Bijou is going to come through! From the start, they made me and my mom feel welcome, didn't pressure me for being indecisive, I never felt bad about myself. I'm so happy to have...

I decided to make an appointment with this bridal shop because of the overall ratings on google review. I was sadly disappointed when I finally had the chance to go there in person.

First of all I am placing 2 stars (instead of just 1) because initially they were quick to respond to my getting an appointment and let me book a session last minute, which I did appreciate.

On the day of the actual fittings from the moment they opened the door. They kept emphasizing that I only had 1 hour to try on the dresses. Mind you I already have an idea of what I wanted so it took me less than 15 min to find the dress design that I preferred. I asked if there was time for me to quickly wear my necklace and earrings that I plan to wear on my wedding and she shut that down real quick even if we haven't even been there for 30 min. (Mind you the other bride-to-be's were allowed to put on their accessories without restriction).

The remaining time while I pondered over 2 of the 3 dresses the saleswomen kept on pressuring me to purchase the dress that same day. Mind you these are $1000+ investments, which I do understand why they are valued as such. But because every bride-to-be like me wants to make sure that the dress is the right fit I kept saying that I am and will need to think about it. Then they went on and on about giving me a discount should I choose to buy it that same day only to be told in the same breath that if I delay my decision by a few days they will not be able to meet the crafting/shipping deadline. But they persisted and kept pressuring me to buy the dress that same day, which only made me anxious. When I asked where they sourced their dresses, the lady responded with "I don't know" LOL. That is wild that a simple product sourcing question can't even be answered.

The whole experience was not enjoyable. They kept rushing me and my friend and all in all the would-be 1 hour appointment lasted 35 minutes if not less. This is my first time ever stepping into a bridal shop and it was not a welcoming atmosphere.

I understand the hustle and the need to make a sale but my goodness there is a tactful and calming way to get your point across. Please allow the bride-to-be's the grace to make up their minds without being asked to seal the deal...