My prom happened years ago, but the terrible experience I had here I still remember clearly. When I came here to try on dresses they had plenty of nice dresses and I remember being so excited after getting fitted to get the dress I tried on (size 8) in a smaller size and tailored to fit me, because it was way too big. Fast forward to the day when I went to pick it up. We clearly set a day and time when it would be ready, but when I arrived I got blank stares and they had clearly completely forgotten about me. They told me to come back in 2 hours. My boyfriend at the time drove me to the store and it was too far for us to go home and back, so we loitered around the area for 2 hours... We were both pissed and ready to leave when I finally went in to get the dress. When I tried it on I was in a hurry because my parents and boyfriend were being impatient and wanting me to get home, so I did not notice how terrible the fit was and how it would scrunch up at my belly to make me look fat. I noticed that and much more later, and that the dress was the exact same one I'd tried on--the sample one that was a size 8!! They clearly did not even order my size and made do with terribly rushed alterations on an old dress that had been hanging there for I don't even know how long. By this time, however, it was much too late for me to get a new dress or alteration. This did not completely ruin my prom for me because I still had fun with friends, but the whole night I was readjusting and readjusting my poorly fitted dress, which was bothersome. I could see that still, in all the pictures, I had wrinkles near the belly where it should have been smooth because it did not fit me properly. I was upset about this whole experience and meant to write a review much sooner, but never got around to it because thinking about this whole event made me so sad. I even pretended everything was okay to my parents because they spent so much money (over $350) and I didn't want them to be upset. I am now more mature and know not to let people step on me and give me terrible service without complaining, but I regret that I never said anything to the employees. I still have the dress hanging in my closet and it's a beautiful dress, but I will have to perhaps get alterations again if I ever want to wear it. Clearly I should have read the yelp reviews on this place before I went. read more

Very unorganized and cluttered. There was no where nice to try on dresses, just a small little dressing room with hardly a mirror! And they weren't very helpful at all...I made an appointment yet they didn't greet me, and didn't assist me - I had to look around for them to get measured and order my dress!! And the measurements were very rushed and not super accurate... I think you can find better, and prices usually run around the same. Nothing "magical" or even really nice about this place. read more

Wonderful shop! People were amazing. Helpful but not pushy. Very accommodating. Will go back for sure. Very reasonable alterations as well and very well done. read more

The Special Event Bri - Bridal Near Me - Marlborough, Massachusetts

Nilza was so awesome throughout my entire wedding dress process. She helped me to find my perfect dress and gave me honest feedback throughout all the dresses I tried on. The alterations were done very quickly and I only needed one fitting, it was done perfectly in one shot! After my wedding I will definitely update this post with a picture! Thank you Nilza and The Special Event Bridal Shoppe for making my wedding dress experience a great one! read more

Let me start by saying I don't usually feel compelled to write reviews for places. I had a mixed bag with my experiance here, but the overall feeling left me very uneasy. I needed a dress for a Marine Corps Ball. I was in such a rush that I bought something my fiance and I ended up both hating. I felt very pushed and it was my own fault for making the sale. I also tried to research the dress when I got home, and the designer actually stopped production of the line over a year ago. If I did my research right, then there are some old dresses there being sold for full price. The daughter of the owner here answered when I called asking if it was possible to come in and exchange it for something equal in price, which they did even though all sales are final. Can't say enough how helpful this young woman was. The older women on the other hand tried to take advantage of me. They knew I was in a bind to get a dress quickly, and kept pushing me to spend more money. I pulled a dress that was exactly what I spent ($250) on sale, and handed it to them to put in the dressing room. When I got in the dressing room, the price tag for it being on sale was suddenly gone. I asked how much it was, and they said $300. This is when I got that awful feeling in the pit of my stomach, knowing full well what was going on. They held the power because I had already spent money that could not be refunded, and I needed a dress asap. I came out and said I love it, which I did, but couldn't spend more then what I already did. They ended up giving it to me for the $250, but insisted on charging me for alterations, which they were offering for free before. I ended up with a beautiful dress that I enjoyed (probably still overpaid for), but the overall experiance left a really bad taste in my mouth. I definitely will not go back there, even though they tried to push me to do my gown alterations with them. Trust is a really important thing to establish with customers. I always try to buy products locally to support small businesses, and thats true for boutiques as well. There is a line though, between spending a little more to support local busness and having that business go out of their way to try to take advantage of you. read more

The women who work at this shop are extremely rude, unwelcoming and pushy. They are only interested in making a sale...once you have said yes they are done with any amount of decency they originally had (which was extremely lacking to begin with). They will talk poorly about you to the other workers in front of you. I would not suggest this shop to anyone. read more

Interesting atmosphere for a bridal shop- not very reverent or doting on the bride- but offered discount, good selections, honest opinions, good advice. Remember us each time- My friend bought her dress & our bmaid dresses here. I appreciate them MORE for alterations- Quick, inexpensive, excellent workmanship. read more

I recently discovered that an Alfred Angelo dress that they tried to sell me for $230 ON SALE is actually a bridesmaid dress that retails for under $175. They told me that it was regularly $299, but was on sale for $230 for a limited time. They definitely tried to take advantage of my obvious lack of gown shopping knowledge. I'm glad I found my dress elsewhere. Definitely avoid this place! read more

We made an appt for Sunday. It was cancelled the Saturday before. We made another appt for that following Tuesday at 4:45pm. We walked in and was asked what we were doing. We said shopping for a wedding gown. The worker looked me up and down and said "well I have nothing in your size, you will need to make an appt." I wear a size 12/14 typically, so I understand I am not a thin girl, but I usually do not have a problem trying dresses/clothes on. She berated me about what kind of dress I wanted, so when I said I don't like too much of any one thing, she pulled out a lace, beaded, ball gown. I said that wasn't really my style and the response was that that was the only dress that would fit me, and the last girl loved it. She then asked my date.. 09/29/18.. and again was told to come back because I have time and I could come back during the day on Friday. She forced me to put on the dress. Made me put on heels, and I tried to explain my fiance is just a little taller than me, so I would wear flats. She didnt care. I think I was told that I was too big about 30 times during this visit. Then she proceeded to yell at my mother and future mother-in-law as they were discussing the dresses they might wear. Truthfully, I wasn't going to give this place the time of day to review, but a friend really pushed me. I told the story and she said she wouldn't have been able to handle be spoken to like that. So I guess I am giving a warning to people that this isn't your typical bridal shop. It was a stressful 25 minutes, and probably the most stressful part of planning I've run into, and the entire wedding is essentially planned. read more

I wish I could give 0 stars. Way overpriced and the staff and owners are so rude and unprofessional. I've run into them outside of the shop and they are just as rude to work for as they are to work with. Save your time, money and peace of mind by buying your dress elsewhere. read more

I can't believe all the negative reviews about Special Event Bridal! I think it's time for an update! Perhaps I'm only giving 4 stars because I found my dress there, but they at least deserve an unbiased 3 stars. If you are looking for a cute, feminine, fancy boutique bridal experience, this shop is not for you. However, if you've already had that experience and are ready to just find a dress, Special Even Bridal is worth a shot! Many of their dresses were a bit outdated, but they also had a good selection of gorgeous, current gowns when I went in October 2012. The shop is run by a family (sisters, mother/daughter, unclear) and they are a hoot. They will tell you (quite honestly!!) what looks good and what doesn't, so if you're very sensitive and you don't want to hear the truth - don't go! I had a great time with them, they made me try on all different styles but listened when I told them what I did and did not like. They didn't hesitate to give me their opinion which I really appreciated since they were unbiased (aka not my family or friends!). In the end, they brought out a gorgeous dress that was EXACTLY what I was looking for. The price was GREAT, a few hundred cheaper than similar styles at other shops, and they gave me a further discount for buying that day. Overall, if you don't care about appearance of the shop and you're okay with some straight forward honesty, go visit Special Event Bridal! read more

Short story: Terrible customer service. Dirty, crowded shop. Frustrating experience. The details: I went to look at bridesmaid dresses and the bride had given me specifications on fabric and limited it to 2 designers. She had looked online and I had looked online... I even had a list of style numbers. I called ahead and asked if they had the designers and they said yes and to come in. I asked about the style numbers and they told me yes and to come in. I came with a pair of dress shoes I would wear in the height I would want. I showed up 15 minutes later. My first encounter in the store - dirty, crowded, younger woman on the phone doesn't even look up (it's obviously a personal call). Older woman scolds me "what is this? shoes? We have shoes. We have everything." I told her again about the fabric and the designers and the list of style numbers and she disappears ... forever. The shop is small but so crowded with dresses in no discernible order. The woman on the phone has ended her call and is asking me questions and says they only have 1 of the designers. She looks up some of the style numbers in the computer, says they have 2 (of the 6 I have written down), but doesn't help find the dresses. I said I'd be willing to try on other styles in the same designer. The older woman was gone forever... and so I was looking at the racks, but they didn't seem to like that. When she came back, she shooed me a away as soon as she saw me. And showed me the dresses she had found. One from the designer I requested 2 weren't. It's not that they don't carry that designer, it's that she likes this other (more expensive) designer better than the designers the bride had chosen. I reminded her how the bride had already narrowed it down to the 2 designers and I asked if they had *anything* else in that designer (any style number, not just the ones on my sheet). She is gone again... forever.. and comes back with a different designer. Again! Then she tells me to go talk the bride into these other designers. What? Left wondering how they do any business. They had dresses in the one designer, they just wanted to upsell me. I like it when people listen to me and show me what I want. If she didn't have the dresses, she could have told me that's all they had and if I wanted to try on some other designers she could make recommendations. I might have felt helped. Instead I felt scolded, bullied, and that I had wasted my time. read more

I have to say, I am bit surprised by the reviews here. I bought my bridal dress, my bridesmaid dresses and my mother and mother in law got their dresses here. I had looked and tried on about 50+ gowns and I knew what I wanted. I went in for my appointment and told Chris (who is awesome) what I was looking for and she pulled out a sample they had just make available for sale. I had looked ALL over and no one could get what I wanted and she had found it. I tried on the dress and LOVED it. I got a $1500 for $600, which is exciting of course :) She had plenty of more expensive dresses like it but didn't push them, she let me pick what I liked. She also gave a discount on the other dresses we bought. Additionally, my mother's dress came in all wrong, seems like the manufacturer cut it wrong or something. Within a week they had a new dress waiting for her, no questions asked. Excellent customer service. Yes, the store is small and crowded but the selection cannot be beat and I enjoyed my experience. read more

I am not sure why the previous reviews are so low. This is our third year in a row shopping for a prom dress. Last year this shoppe was referred to me by a friend after we had searched several other "prom" shops. The key is if you want very personal attention don't go during the peak times. The shop is on the smaller side but it is filled with MANY MANY style dresses. If you give them an idea of what you are looking for they know exactly where to find it. they also make recommendations of styles and colors you wouldnt have thought of. Last year we went on a Saturday and it was chaotic but if you are patient and wait you will receive the attention any shopper is deserved of. My daughter was given a dress to try on that she NEVER would have chosen. When Chrys worked her magic pinning and clipping the dress was stunning! My daughter looked magnificent. This year we went on a Monday just after opening. She received a lot of attention, tried 5 dresses and chose 3. Two were sold out by the manufacturer the owner showed her a comparable dress; it was even more stunning on her. These ladies know what they are doing. They are experienced and HONEST! Both which we very much appreciate. The dresses she tried on were an array of prices, they don't try to oversell you. The alterations are perfection. I will admit when I came home I found the dress at a popular site for 7 dollars less than we purchased it for. THEY ARE WORTH THE PRICE. To have the right dress, fit right, ordered right. Thank you ladies for another enjoyable shopping experience. We were in and out in 45 minutes. We had looked no where else, and it was STRESS FREE! read more

My alterations were done here about a month ago for my wedding dress. They exceeded my expectations and the dress fit like it was custom to my body. Did I mention they had it done for me in less then a week! After a terrible experience elsewhere they did everything possible to accommodate me and make sure I was happy with the fit of the dress. read more

I had a HORRIBLE experience. I had found a specific dress and called several dress shops looking for it. I called this bridal shop asking if they carried it, I gave them very specific information - designer and style # along with a brief description. I was told they had the dress. I made sure to confirm that this was in fact the dress because I was driving over 45 minutes to look at this sample. They said yes several times. I made the appt for 2 weeks out. I even called the business day before my appt to confirm and make sure the sample was there. Again they said yes. The day of appt I made the trip from Rhodie island to Marlboro Ma. I walked in and there was an older lady behind the counter. She greeted me and then confirmed the dress I came to see. She said to me "I need to find the dress, give me a moment". She then proceeds to pull out several dresses, never once asking my price point or style I am looking for. Nothing she pulled out I liked ! When I asked her to please show me the dress she says "well I don't know where it is. I dint think we have it. Don't you want to see other styles anyways?" I said "maybe but I'd really like to see that sample and I drove all this way to see it, so please if you don't have it just let me know" At one point another younger lady came in and tried to get me to buy a different dress. I said I'd reallthat's not the dress" She replies with "yes but its close" It was NOT close at all! I would not shop here or refer this shop to anyone ever! They are completely unorganized. The first question any consultant should ask you is the price point and they didn't do that. BE CAREFUL if you do decide to shop here. Do you homework y like to see the sample, do you have it? She said I don't really think so. I feel that I've made a mistake and thought a different dress was the one you asked about. So at this point I was nice (even though I was completely frustrated) and said thank you but I really wanted to see this sample. I then said Thank you and left. Before I got to my car the younger lady comes outside and says we found your dress! I was very happy. So I go back into the shop and they show me a sample that was NOT my dress! I said "and don't be too upset if this place doesn't help you at all. read more

The ladies that work there were extremely nice and extremely helpful I would highly recommend this place. There were plenty of dresses to pick from and I found a dress that I am absolutely in love with. The store is great don't miss out read more

Although special event's appearance isn't outstanding and the most comforting. There effort is great. Last year I ordered my prom dress from them that Elegance in Worcester refused to order for me because they said it could look bad on their business... I got the tony bowls dress in right on time and tailored to perfection before I even tried it on. This year I called multiple prom shops to try and order another dress I desired and finally went back and called special event. They were the ONLY ones willing to even look up the dress from the retailer and call the retailer, let alone order it. Very pleased read more

My friend ordered her bridesmaid dresses through the Special Event Bridal Shoppe. I live out of state, but it was very convenient to order the dress through the store after giving them my measurements. I didn't want to deal with the ordeal of shipping the dress, getting it tailored locally, and then flying with it back to Massachusetts. The ladies at the store were very thoughtful and considerate and said I could come into the store only two days before the wedding to get it tailored. The wedding was on Saturday, I went for a fitting on Thursday morning and the dress was ready by Friday morning. Modification were made to the body of the dress and the hem was taken up. I've never had anything tailored so quickly. It was super easy to make the fitting appointments, the ladies always knew who I was and which wedding I was associated with when I walked into the store, and were super responsive. read more

Prom dress fiasco I knew the dress and the size of the dress that my daughter wanted. I contacted them via email asking them if they had the designer, the size and the specific dress number in stock. I had a 35 mile ride to get to this shop and I wanted to make sure that they had it on stock. I actually wrote two emails to make certain. I got out of work early and zipped out to the store with my daughter to pick up the dress. We got there, the dress had not been pulled from the shelf for us. they had to start looking for it. When they pulled it, they only had it in a size 4, not a size six. They squeezed my daughter in this dress. Then they put her in another size 4! The seamstress wanted me to be careful what i said about my daughter because I could give her an eating disorder. I asked her to stop giving her size 4 dresses to try on when she was a size six because I really felt that would give her more of an issue than me asking for size 6's. My daughter was sucking her stomach in to try anything on! The seamstress was very helpful, but they kept pulling dresses that were more and more expensive. I went in there to buy the 330 dollar dress that my daughter wanted and next thing I know, she has a 450 dollar dress on. I actually had gone to this place a couple of years ago with my older daughter. If you are a big girl. Size 12, they only had 2 dresses that she could try on. If you pockets are endless and price is not an object. If you do not mind that they lie to you to get you to drive 35 miles and bait and switch... Then this is the store for you! I particularly liked when I was told that shopping one month before an event was not enough time. read more

Stay away. Pins all over dressing room floor, alterations not done properly. Go elsewhere. Finally took dress to another seamstress, spent 85.00 more dollars to get it fixed right. read more

I had a great experience here. I was a walk-in, so I was okay with just looking, however, 2 of the clerks helped me. They showed me the selection and hung them up as I looked so I could try on the ones I liked. The prices were on the high side, but they were Bill Levkoff... reasonable for that designer. My only complaint is that their selection was pretty much only Bill Levkoff. read more

If I could, I would give this dress shop ZERO stars. I was a bridesmaid in a wedding a week ago and the bride and all 5 of the bridesmaids purchased their dresses here. I went in to have my measurements taken and was not told what dress size was going to be ordered. Side note: I was in another wedding and had my measurements taken at a different bridal shop in the same week. The other bridal shop pulled out a binder will all dress makers and went through each of my measurements and what size they recommended. This place took my measurements and just said "we'll let you know when it's ready". I went to pick the dress up only to find out they ordered FOUR full dress sizes bigger than the other bridesmaid dress l was measured for (same measurements!) and they were beyond rude when I didn't want to try it on because I wasn't having alterations done there. The other girls paid around $150 in alterations which is almost what the dress cost!! It's obvious they intentionally order the wrong size to ensure they're making $$$ on alterations. Terrible experience overall, wouldn't recommend them and would never consider dealing with them again. read more

Horrible customer service. 1 woman, older with an accent. I went in with my best friend and her mom and since my mother wasn't there, this woman kept ignoring me because she assumed I wasn't buying anything today. I'm 17 years old and I spent $400 on my own last year for prom. Besides the point, she let my friend try on dresses before me which was fine. But after hanging my dresses, she kept letting other people go in the dressing room while I was standing there waiting. My friend ended up finding more dresses and the woman was about to let her try them on before I even tried 1! Later on, I tried on a dress that fit but I didn't really like it so I grabbed another dress that was the same size and she said I could not try it on because my hips were too wide and I'll rip the dress. And on multiple occasions she was saying I'm to big for the dresses even though they did fit me. Even 2 piece dresses that were actually to big on me, she would say I'm to big to wear. I walked in ready to spend $500 but I will never go back there. Unrelated, I'm a size 4 for prom dresses which is pretty average. read more

Wish I had read all these reviews before I went to this store. I had the worst experience here over all. I am a very easy going person and even I couldn't get past everything that was wrong with the place. First this store was over crowded with stuff, dirty and unorganized, but I over looked it when I arrived because I like to always keep an open mind. When I came in for my 1:00 o'clock I was not greeted. There were two people at the store one was a younger lady (Who was actually fairly nice) and another was an older lady (who was horrible). When I said I was here for an appointment the older lady didn't even seem like she was happy I came in. I had talked to the older lady previously on the phone when I called to make the appointment. I was looking for a specific dress and she didn't have it but she assured me she had one that was very similar and that she would give me a deal. When I started trying on two dresses the older lady grabbed of the racks for me to start were the complete opposite of what I had asked for, and then she had me try on the dress she though looked exactly like the dress I wanted. Well it was by the same designer and the same material but it looked nothing like the dress I wanted. I was pretty upset, but I wasn't giving up. But she decided that she was, she had me try on two more dresses on that weren't too bad but just not what I wanted, and then she said I had tried on all the dresses they had for me and that I was done.(While I was trying on dresses another girl came in with a 1:30 appointment. They must have just snuck me in thinking I was just going to get that dresses they picked out, even though I asked for a full bridal appointment). I couldn't believe how rude the older lady was. I only got to try on 5 dresses, and I'm pretty sure the two I tried on before the one she wanted me to buy she intentionally gave me ones I didn't like just to make sure I would be so impressed when I tried it on that one. I would never go there again and wouldn't suggest anyone else to either. I don't even know how they are still in business. read more