Meet Elena Kawa, the heart and soul behind Ethereal Bridal, a licensed home-based boutique dedicated to making dreams come true, with a vision of offering unparalleled choices in bridal, evening, and flower girl dresses, Ethereal Bridal aims to transform every customer into an ethereal vision on their special day. Elena’s journey into the world of bridal fashion was inspired by her own quest for the perfect wedding dress. Fuelled by a passion for helping others, she founded Ethereal Bridal to provide brides with a diverse range of options, setting her sights on offering exceptional customer service and authentic designer dresses.
What is your business called and what does it do?
Ethereal Bridal is a licensed, home-based, full-service boutique that is dedicated to providing you with the most stunning bridal, evening and flower girl dresses from the best designers in Europe. We believe that every customer deserves to feel ethereal on their special day, which is why we offer a range of unique and amazing styles that cater to every taste and preference. As we grow our inventory, our priority is to provide brides with a collection of dresses where quality and care take centre stage. Our long-term goal is to find an appropriate commercial space here in the Coquitlam Area, for a more permanent home for Ethereal Bridal.
What made you want to do this work?
Ethereal Bridal was born out of a belief that there should be more choices when it comes to finding the perfect wedding dress. My husband and I got married in January 2023 and I, like all other brides, faced the difficult task of finding my own wedding dress. I’ve always had a passion to help others, Ethereal Bridal was founded in order to help brides find their dream dress.
What problem did you want to solve with the business?
At Ethereal Bridal, our mission is to offer an unparalleled selection of authentic designer dresses and exceptional, personalized customer service. We strive to provide each client with unique and exclusive styles that make them feel beautiful, confident, and ethereal on their special day.
Who are your clientele/demographics?
Generally, our clients are women of the Greater Vancouver Area, Vancouver Island and throughout BC. Brides to be, Grads and women looking for evening collections for their special night out.
How does your business make money? How does it work?
Our Passion is to help you find your Dream Dress. We invite interested clients for a personalized fitting in our boutique to try on our gowns. Once you have found your perfect dress, all our dresses are hand-made to order directly from the designer. From order to production and shipping, it can take up to 5 months. All dresses are paid for in full upon ordering, and final sale. Once the dress arrives, the client is scheduled for a second fitting to try on the dress and arrange any necessary alterations. Alterations may take a couple of weeks.
Alternatively, we have an online store with a much larger selection available for online purchase and delivered directly to you.
Where in the city can we find your profession?
We are located in Coquitlam, just a few minutes from the Lafarge Lake-Douglas station. Our address is 1416 Garibaldi Pl.
What is the best question a prospective customer could ask a member of your profession when comparing services? Give the answer as well.
How are you different from other bridal boutiques?
Our core values are:
Integrity, Uniqueness and Empathy.
We pride ourselves in offering our clients only the best dresses, exceptional quality and of the latest fashion trends. We want our clients to feel overwhelmed with joy and fall in love with dresses that everyone will be in awe of. We also always put ourselves in our bride’s shoes to better understand her wants and needs, listening and most importantly hearing what our bride is saying helps us find her perfect gown. Being honest with our brides is also something we value a lot. We want to create a space where every bride feels important, respected, comfortable and beautiful. We don’t want our clients to feel rushed or pressured in any way, we want them and their guests to have the most amazing experience while shopping for their dress!
What is the best part about what you do? What is the worst part?
The best part is always meeting our clients! The look on their happy faces says it all and we are overjoyed when a bride feels beautiful and ethereal in her wedding dress.
The worst part would have to be working with everything white. No snacks or coffee are permitted. 🙂
What is your favourite joke about your own profession?
I believe the funniest thing is that when a bride tells you she knows exactly the style she is looking for, that in most cases changes when she tries on a different style. We are always respectful of the bride’s preference; however, we ask her to be open-minded and try things she otherwise would not. It is amazing because most of the time she would go for an absolutely opposite style and is beyond happy with her choice and we have a good laugh about it. We always encourage our clients to try different styles and experiments.
Where can we follow you?
Our Website | Google Maps | Instagram | Facebook | Linked In | Rocky Mountain Bride Vendor Collective
PAY IT FORWARD: What is another local business that you love?
