VIP Occasions

I went here to find my bridesmaid dresses, they were so accommodating, despite the fact that we had about 8 girls trying on just about every dress in the store! The dressed were absolutely beautiful, the staff was so helpful and honest about fit and sizing. I had so many compliments on the bridesmaid dresses!

This was the first bridal store I visited in my quest to find a dress on January 28, 2015. I made a request for an appointment via email and they quickly responded on their off day. From experience you usually have a better experience shopping during the week as opposed to the weekend, so I went after work by myself, 6pm on a Wednesday. I had a young consultant (Natalie, Nicole?) who pulled many different styles of dresses and she was very sweet and did not bring anything over my budget. She didn’t try to push for a sale and even said she didn’t expect for me to buy at my first bridal shop appointment. I thought this was very thoughtful.
Couple minor things that I removed stars for. One is that you are not allowed to browse their inventory. 2 is that I mentioned I did not want any strapless dresses and she brought me several that had no straps. Gorgeous dresses but I was not comfortable in them. 3 they have their coding on the dresses so you don’t know the style number of the dress. 4 are that the dressing rooms are a little dated.
I didn’t buy my dress there but overall great customer service.

5 stars all around! I first went to VIP to get sized for a bridesmaids dress for my best friends wedding. While I was there I happened to mention that I was also getting married and did they have any maternity gowns (I’m pregnant). The ladies immediately pulled out a beautiful gown and made all of my bridal dreams come true! Now I am 1 week away from my wedding and about 6 mos pregnant, and have no doubts that VIP will make me look my best for my big day! So grateful

Chaotic– this was my second bridal I stopped to look for wedding dresses.
As soon as I walked in, the place was very chaotic, as if they overbooked their appointments. The girl that was supposed to help me, had like little to no experinece. Thus, bad dress choices.
They have a very few selections and if you mention what you want and they dont have it, they automatically tell you to buy it.
Horrible and overwhelming experince. Not recommended at all.

I am writing as a helpful bridesmaid. My friend was looking for a dress on a budget, so we got to go into their discount building to look. It was a random open space with lots of dresses to choose from. There was different rooms, but everything was open, so the bride just had to kind of hide behind a section to change. There was no mirror in this building. I was in charge of holding a little one, backing up, and adjusting up and down so she could see herself. I mean, a $ 10 dorm mirror would’ve been more effective! Once she narrowed her choices down to 3, we were able to try them on with the pedestal in the main shop. That was nice. The girl who helped us was super friendly and patient too. It was over all a good experience, and my friend bought a dress for a great deal that day. I would definitely consider coming here myself when it’s my time to shine!

The consultant was pretty nice and came to check up on my bridesmaids and I quite often.
They had quite a selection of bridesmaid dresses. However, they are much more expensive than HOB.

I am reviewing on alterations only.
I was recently in a wedding in Pittsburgh, PA. Shortly after ordering my bridesmaid dress from the Alfred Angelo store in PA, I found out I was pregnant. I immediately called them back to change my order to a maternity style the bride chose, however they did not document the call. The wedding was mid September. When my dress was delivered to me in August, it was the original dress not maternity.
VIP basically reconstructed a dress for me. The seamstress did a beautiful job in a short amount of time. It was costly at $ 150.00 but it was a job well done (I lucked out that Alfred Angelo in Pittsburgh paid for the alterations). I would recommend this store for any such alteration!

VIP Occasions made finding my wedding dress so easy and stress-​free. Bethany helped me at my first appointment and really had some great dress picks after asking what I was looking for. In fact I ended up coming back for the second dress I tried on. She was very relaxed and I didn’t feel pressured at all. I absolutely love my wedding dress, and the through out the whole process of purchasing my gown, bridesmaids dresses and alterations everyone on staff was so helpful and nice. A big thanks also goes out to Jennifer for all of her help throughout the whole process.

3.5 stars. The person that helped us, Christine, couldn’t have been more helpful or nice. She made the experience much better. We were shopping for bridesmaid dresses. The thing I didn’t love was that they had us pick out dresses from the room. Some people would like this, but I like when the salesperson brings dresses in based on what we want. I think the salespeople always know the inventory better and since they have so many dresses it takes awhile to pick everything out. The store itself looks a little dated and could use some improvements, like the painting in the changing rooms. Also, they use pins instead of clamps since it is better for the dresses, but sometimes it makes it hard to see what the dress would look like.

Shopped for bridesmaid dresses at VIP Occasions last week, but unfortunately I have my heart set on a few very specific Alfred Sung dresses that they just do not have in samples. These friendly ladies of VIP Occasions are just the sweetest though and I love shopping local, so I made the most of the visit and checked out the rest of the store. Well, as it turns out they are having a sale on most of their Mother of the Bride sample dresses through December! My Mom and I went back today and she bought an beautiful oyster (light gray) colored dress. It is just lovely!
They also partner with a formal wear company and offer A LOT of tuxedo and suit choices. Rental covers the tux, vest, shirt and tie. Cost is around $ 150.
Lots of bridal gowns, bridesmaid dresses and mother of the bride dresses. Really great accessories too!

So My Fiancé and I had gone around to several places in dupage county and stumbled upon Vip Occasions. We had an excellent experience there. We worked with three different girls there I know one was the owner, she was quick witted, and absolutely nice. The other girls were great too.
Here’s why: Personal attention, Professional, thought full, and a great seamstress.
Yes for the most part it is by appointment, but they never turned us away when we just dropped bye. They did not know we had a big wedding party. We went in, started in a lower price range and worked our way up. This was for a shower dress. I ordered it thought I would loose more weight before the day and when I went in for the fitting the dress made me depressed. The seamstress took out some ruffles, and turned the back into a corset. It was brilliant.
So I bought a wedding dress, my mom too, my mother-​in-​law too, oh and the 12 girls and 2 flower girls, oh wait and my future hubby and his boys got tuxes too. No one had one complaint.
Here’s the deal. It is a family run business. I don’t know about you but I like those. I was treated well when I got a shower dress. They worked miracle for me and made me look and feel comfortable. They were great.

Horrible customer service, Lady with a child on her arm (owner) told me dress looked fine on me and that I was too short for the dress. It would cost 95 $ to alter (even though they have measured me prior to order). On purpose dress was 6 inches to wide on top. Bone was longer half inch on one side, twisted and to the right poking me in my hip. Dress looked as it was previously sized up (tiny holes from stitching all along the length). «designer dress» made in Vietnam. After all the fighting, stress and alterations simple bridesmaid dress end up costing me 430 $.
The alteration department does not know anything about proper technique, maybe that is why they were able to «fix» things other shops wouldn’t. I took this dress to a private person that was forced to take apart and put back together entire dress to make it look good.
Sad!
Ladies do your research and stay away from this hole!

Amazing customer service! I brought a bridesmaid dress in a few weeks ago (purchased from out of state) and needed it taken out (thought I could lose a few more lbs. before the bride’s big day but didn’t quite get there). After being told by other shops that the dress was unable to be taken in, I was panicked. Everyone I talked to at VIP was extremely helpful and kind, and the dress was ready earlier than expected — and it fits! I would definitely recommend this place, was worth the drive from the city.

Disclaimer: I didn’t end up buying my dress from VIP so this review is based purely on my experience during the selection process.
Atmosphere: I got the feeling this place thinks it is nicer than it is. The exteriors leave much to be desired and interior didn’t do much for me either. It just didn’t strike me as the kind of place where I would like to spend thousands of dollars.
The store itself doesn’t have any bridal gowns on display, they’re all in a back room. I get the concept of wanting the bride to pick out what she wants to wear, but not allowing parents to look at all (even when the store is completely empty) made everyone involved very uncomfortable.
Another piece that added to the discomfort factor was the fact that you’re not allowed to take pictures of yourself in the dress. The fact that I had to go by memory alone when I left the store made it easy to forget what I liked and move on to another dress. Given that you can find pictures of every bridal gown on the planet online, makes the «no picture» policy seem kind of pointless.
Service: I talked with a woman who works there several times before actually arriving and they were very helpful. There was a dress I was dying to try on and they were willing to hold it over from a trunk show (for a fee.) The fee didn’t make me extremely excited, but I guess I’m ok with it since I was able to show it to my parents and decide together that it wasn’t the one.
Tip: This store is by appointment only so be sure to call ahead if you’re wanting to try on dresses.

Thanks so much to the team at VIP, they made bridal gown shopping rather easy. I’m pretty sure I made life easy for them too! I was a walk-​in that was lucky enough to have an idea of what I wanted…
A few months before I ever took notice to VIP, I had my first bridal gown trying on experience in Chicago. Needless to say, I was unhappy with that boutique and went about looking for a dress elsewhere. All the while keeping this ONE dress I tried on in mind.
A month or so later, I am driving down York road and I saw what looked like THE very first dress that I tried on at the previous wretched place and decided walk in and ask if that indeed was THE dress. (It was also 30% cheaper than that first boutique I went to! I swear this was a sign!)
The lady confirmed and I set up an appointment to try it on.
Every since then, my fitting were pretty easy. They have tight hours, but are pretty flexible with scheduling appointments. The seamstress did a fabulous job on my dress and I was VERY happy with my bustle. (It was a complex one at that!)
Overall if you head into this shop, you’ll have plenty of options in regards to accessories and bridesmaid stuff. I can’t speak so much to the gown shopping info here, because of how my situation worked out. But overall everyone here is professional, courteous and sweet! Thanks guys!

I’m an employee of VIP Occasions, as well as a recently married bride. All of my bridesmaid dresses were ordered from VIP, as well as my bridal gown. I knew I would get excellent service from them and that my girls would have an excellent experience with them as well because the staff are upfront and honest about everything we do in that store.
photos here:
In response to the Lela Rose bride– I was the one who scheduled her appointment over the phone. She told me she wanted to try on a particular Lela Rose dress so she could show her family. That was it. I was given no indication that she wanted to try on actual BRIDAL gowns. We were very busy that day, and not expecting her to come in expecting a full-​blown bridal appointment. I’m sorry she did not get the experience she wanted, but when you make an appointment, be specific as to what you are coming in to look at… this allows us to give you our best, most personalized service. If you just say -«I’m from California, and I wanted to know if you had a particular Lela Rose dress that I tried on back in LA, so I could come in and show it to my mom». That doesn’t sound like a bridal appointment. We did our best to accomodate her and bring out dresses for her to look at, but had we known she wanted a full bridal appointment, then we wouldn’t have scheduled other new brides so close around her appointment– that we assumed would be fairly short. For her to go and recommend salons in the city seems ludicrous. I live in the city, and even looked at different boutiques for bridesmaid styles by designers VIP didn’t carry, and the prices were ridiculous. To say Nordstrom is cheaper and has more original styles is odd, unless you are doing a more informal wedding, don’t want a train, or any beading on your dress… Or you’re willing to fork out over $ 2,000 for a Theia gown.
In response to budget conscious brides. I have never seen a bridesmaid dress for under 100, unless its some super ugly sale gown at Davids that they’re about to discontinue. GET CREATIVE– go to a department store and pick out a cute Suzi Chin dress or a Jessica McClintock, and see if the store can get enough for all of your bridesmaids from their surrounding stores. My best friend did that b/​c we were all still in school or looking for jobs so we were on a budget, and we all looked fabulous.
VIP has been in business for 20 years. Its not in the «downtown-​y» part of Elmhurst, so you won’t see it when u walk out of starbucks or the theatre. Its off of a very busy street, that intersects with a small side street. Every other bride I’ve worked with tells me they either found us on a designer’s website and then read good reviews about us, or was referred to us by a friend and that’s why they chose to come in to the store. Clearly its the customer service that has kept these two sisters in the wedding business for 20 years strong. As far as size goes, we’re actually WAY bigger than most boutique salons. VIP makes up four formerly separate store fronts that have all been connected. In addition, there is an outlet building that’s just as big, full of discontinued bridal gowns between 299 – 799.
If something CANNOT be ordered in time for a bride, we tell them, or we see if we can do a rush shipping or sell them the sample. We actually offer all of our floor samples as an option to brides and special occasion customers, at a discounted price too. A lot of boutiques do not sell their samples until they are discontinued or about to do a buying trip, but our samples are always up for grabs. We are upfront and honest about designer size charts, which we actually show a customer when they come in to get measured for a particular dress. Our prices for alterations are posted throughout the store, and we are always sure to verbally tell a new bride how much she may potentially have to pay for her alterations. Full alterations on bridesmaids dresses are CAPPED at 75. Bra cups are an additional 15. Bridal alterations are capped at 300. Many salons charge way more than this, and some places don’t even pick a capped price for their full alterations. House of Brides charges around 375 and they’ll charge you for a «rush» fitting if you need the gown fitted fast (regardless of whether or not its their fault that your dress did not come in on time). For example– we had a destination bride who bought a gown from us for her wedding in the islands, and then bought a second dress for a big reception she had back home in Chicago, which she bought from Priscilla of Boston. Her POB dress fit perfectly but needed a hem, and POB was going to charge her 700 for a HEM. We insisted she bring the dress to us so we could hem it for her for less than our full alts charge. We have one seamstress; sometimes two. She is excellent at what she does. This is how she makes a living and feeds her family. People are not required to do their alterations thru us.

I came here mainly to try on a Lela Rose ivory gown that I’d tried on at Bella Bridesmaids in L.A. just to show my mom and sisters, but I decided to also look at their bridal gown offerings as well.
Angela was really nice but for some reason, I felt really rushed whenever she came in – maybe it’s just that she talks fast, I’m not sure – which was kind of weird, but I’m willing to overlook that. What really irritated me was that she pulled gowns willy-​nilly – I immediately told her my budget when I walked in (ideally $ 1500, but definitely under $ 2000), but each time after she put new dresses in my room, I’d ask her their prices and she had no idea what they were! A third of the gowns in my room were over my budget – I’d have been really pissed if I fell in love with one of them, but thankfully, the gowns just didn’t pack the punch for their price. My favorite was a Jim Hjelm organza gown with raw-​edged horizontal strips, but honestly, $ 2300 for something so simple was not gonna do it for me.
I also looked in their bridesmaid section for possible nontraditional bridal gowns… while also considering them for my own bridesmaids, and I was unimpressed. They were very unoriginal – I’d recommend Nordstrom’s Bridal Suite in Oakbrook Mall over this place.

We went here to find bridesmaid dresses. We had no help from anyone working there. We just had to run around and try to find dresses that would work. It wasn’t very busy there either. We spent about 2 hours there trying on different dresses until we finally gave up and tried somewhere else. I wouldn’t recommend. You can get better service and prices for the same dresses anywhere else in the city.

I have been to 16 bridal shops in the Chicago area. In comparison with other stores, VIP Occasions is near the bottom (ranked 14^th out of 16).
Cleanliness: 3 stars (dresses are in gown bags, and are in pretty good condition; the store exhibited average cleanliness)
Service: 1 star
Selection: 3 stars
Trustworthiness: 3 stars (also returned phone calls promptly)
I had an appointment on a Saturday prior to Prom season. One of the owners brought a few dresses to the room, and I tried them on myself. I asked for different styles, but she kept bringing things I didn’t like, and then she would disappear for 10 minutes at a time. The dresses are average price ($ 500-​$ 1500).

I first came here to find a bridesmaid dress a couple years ago. I had such a horrible experience with all other bridal shops, but VIP was my savior! The staff was SO friendly and extremely willing to help me!
fast forward to now… I’m engaged and looking for a wedding dress; needlesstosay, VIP occasions was the FIRST place i wanted to go back to! And they did not fail me!
Unfortunately, I have not decided yet on a dress there, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t have any I liked. i am still looking. Either way, VIP Occasions is definitely a place you will want to go to when looking for gowns!