From Bridesmaid to Bride: Henkaa's Sweet Embrace of Comfort and Style!

I first heard of Henkaa when I was a bridesmaid at my friend's wedding years ago. Their dresses were so comfy and size inclusive! I loved how you can style this dress any way you want and this is what I was looking for searching for my own wedding dress. Look and feel beautiful without the constraints of a traditional dress AND without breaking the bank. The material is easy to hem (with the help of a friend of course!) and super easy to clean and care for! For any bride or bridesmaid looking for a versatile dress check out Henkaa!

These dresses complimented each of my bridesmaids perfectly (3).The dresses allowed each to express themselves and style it each their own way.

They could have had it hemmed, but managed well without it being done.

Bow ties and pocketsquares matched perfectly 👌

Beautiful dresses, super versatile and perfect for a destination wedding. I love that each of my bridesmaids was able to show off their personality in the style they chose. It was perfect for each type of body, fresh, and best of all is that they have been able to use it on other occasions.

Comfortable and fashionable!!!

Dresses came in 6 weeks after the bridal shop's estimated date (for a total of 12 weeks from the original order date). When the order did come in, there was a mistake. After getting half truths from the bridal shop, I called Henkaa directly. The girl on the phone was not very genuine or sympathetic. They are shipping the correct sized item directly to me. Stay tuned on the outcome.

It has been unnecessarily stressful.

Not sure how or why a simple dress would take as long as my wedding dress to come in. Reasons why from Henkaa were blaming someone else. No ownership.

My bridesmaids wore Henkaa dresses and not only were they WAY cheaper than any dresses we looked at, they were stunning! We bought navy and each girl tied their dress a different way. The resulting look was beautiful and I'm so glad we bought dresses that the girls can all wear again, no matter the occasion.

The dresses all came in together with no issues and looked amazing on each of girls as they were all different body types they never wrinkled either

I come from a bit traditional Italian Family, and I had a large bridal party (10 girls to be exact). With sizes ranging from 0 to plus size. Shopping for Bridesmaid dresses can be rather difficult finding something that would make everyone happy. PLUS my more traditional grandmother wanted something that could be modest during church.
Insert the Henkaa Convertible dress! They could be wrapped with sleeves for church then each girl could wear it as they saw fit after church. So check on making grandma happy.
Then with only 2 sizes accommodating a size range of 0-24 - every girl fit the dress with no problems and NO ALTERATIONS NEEDED! Which was a huge cost saving. All the girls wore it in a way that felt comfortable for them and their body - and I got the unison I wanted in terms of colour and silhouette. The Henkaa team really helped get this large order together (because I also bought some for my honeymoon) nice and smoothly for us.

I knew immediately when we were planning our wedding that I wanted bridesmaid dresses that could be worn in infinite ways. I was incredibly happy to come upon an advertisement for Henkaa and knowing that they were a local small business made it even better! Sonia was incredibly helpful with answering any questions I had as well as providing suggestions if I was unsure of anything. I ended up purchasing the Sakura Infinity Dresses in Plum Purple for my girls to match our theme and I couldn’t be happier! I would highly recommend Henkaa, Sonia and the Henkaa team to any future brides!

Back in Dec 2016, a few of my bridesmaids came in to try on a few dresses at separate times, as we all live so far apart and me being 6 hours north, I could not make it in until the beginning of January. The first problem started with one of the stores associates let my first bridesmaid leave the store with one of the sale dresses (despite knowing all the dresses should be cut from the same fabric, so they all match. Is this not standard practice?! ). Now we had to try to match this colour with other colour swatches, which was another problem because this dress was being discontinued yet I was still able to order them (this was the tender taupe dress) and they were only making one more batch of this colour ( from my understanding). So on the 2nd week of January, I came in with another bridesmaid to try on the dusty purple and tender taupe, and we decided with the dusty purple for her. In total I have 5 bridesmaid, 2 went with the dusty purple 2 went with the tender taupe and the last girl (who was very pregnant and un able to come into the store as she had a hard time leaving her home) was hoping she could make it in within the month to figure out which colour she wanted. As we were leaving the store, Kate (who helped us with our appointment) ASSURED myself (and my bridesmaids who were there) that she would hold back 3 tender taupe dresses ( 1 replacement for the dress that should not have been sold separately to my first bridesmaid , the 2nd one for another bridesmaid who decided on the Taupe, and one of my pregnant bridesmaids who was undecided with her choice but most likely was going to go with the taupe if she could not make it into the store). I was happy leaving, excited that everyone else had their dresses, the first issue was going to be fixed and all was great.

Jump ahead a few weeks to March 1st. Turned out my pregnant bridesmaid could not make it to the store to try the dresses on, so she informed me just to purchase the tender taupe. I called the store back and spoke to Kate as she was the one who helped me in the first place and I was happy with her service ( at that time). This is where things went south, very quickly and I was appalled at the service. I had called the store and spoke to Kate , saying we would like to purchase that last tender taupe dress now. I was told all those dresses were now all sold out. I asked her how that was possible as she PROMISED me they would be there for me and what was going to happen with the other 2 dresses? Kate then said I was supposed to come back to the store and try on the tender taupe dress by the end of February. ( I called march 1st.) I explained to her I did not realize I had a dead line to call and purchase this dress, and if that was the case I would have just bought it when I was in the store back in January. I also asked why had she not called me if this was the case, knowing I was set on this beautiful colour? Kate had scoffed at me on the phone over this comment.. saying she had to many other clients to worry about/ remember. I could not believe it. Here I am, a bride, talking to a boutique who prides themselves for being apart of the wedding industry, and I am laughed at over the phone. I was in shock. I asked what the next step was, or what could be done then. I was then informed she would talk to her manager to see what my options were.

A week later I am told my only option is to switch the colours. The only dress they ordered was my second bridesmaids tender taupe and didn't even order one to replace the first bridesmaids dress (the sale dress they sold her), which was their mistake in the first place.

I was not happy with this choice. At this point I have already decided on my grooms/groomsmen's attire, my floral arrangements/ flower colours , linen colours etc. based on my choice of my purchases at Henkaa. ( Please just put yourself in my shoes and imagine being a bride and being told this?! I didn't know what to do! )

My MOH then helped me out, as I was to upset. I did not want to call the store back, as I was already laughed at over the phone. My MOH called the store back and spoke to another manager Rebecca, who was now trying to help out my situation. Jess informed me, that not once did Rebecca apologize for my situation, or how the other employee treated me over the phone. This just added to my dissatisfaction.

Samples were sent out to me, showing me what was going to be replacing the tender taupe. Which I did not want. I appreciated the effort but I had already spent a large sum of money on deposits for other parts of my wedding BASED on this colour. Communication back and forth with Rebecca was terrible. Many times I would call the store, leave messages or send emails with no replies back until I sent another follow up message or phone call asking why I was not being answered. The only time Rebecca did apologize was when she took roughly 2 weeks to respond to me, saying she was off sick ( which I can understand, and appreciated the apology).

I was then informed that another bridal party with the tender taupe dresses wanted to return them and that I might possibly be able to have theirs. I was beyond happy hearing this! Of course it was not a for sure thing until the dresses were sent back to the store and they were inspected, but by this point ( mid April) I did NOT have the time to be able to find other dresses for my bridesmaids as my wedding is in August! I had asked Rebecca at this point to please keep the returned dresses at her store, as well as my second bridesmaids tender taupe dress that was originally ordered and coming in, so we could colour match them and inspect them and make sure they are the colour I wanted ( as at this point I was not happy with my service and did not want to get screwed over again ). I was then informed my second bridesmaid received her dress through the mail. Again I was not happy. I left Rebecca a message and an e-mail asking why Jenna's dress was shipped out when I asked it not be and my message was NEVER returned. Roughly 2 weeks later Rebecca messaged me saying one of the returned dresses arrived along with an apology saying she was sick and that's why it has taken so long to get back to me ( but she ignored my question and never answered me as to why my second bridesmaids dress was sent out ). Because of this I felt as though the associates did not want me to come into the store. I felt they just wanted to send out the dresses by mail and be done with me. So, I then informed Rebecca that I would be coming to the store in a few days. She replied that she would not be there. I then drove 6 hours to Henkaa to match the dresses that my bridesmaids had and return one dress. I settled with them being slightly off in colour, as only 2 dresses were from the same swatch. I settled because I just wanted to buy the last dress and be done with my experience with Henkaa. This is where I met Grace. I felt terrible that Grace had to deal with a situation she knew nothing about. Both Kate and Rebecca were not in the store, or there when I came in. Again, I felt like they just didn't care to have to 'deal' with me. ( Of course I understand they don't work 24/7, but with the issues I have had this whole journey, it would have been nice to have some sort of good customer experience, dealing with the two associates I had been dealing with for almost 5 months). When I came in that day, Grace saw to me right away. She explained she was given a brief run down on what was going on and also apologized many times through-out our conversation. I left paying for the dress, along with a refund on the first dress mix up ( as she was supposed to received a discount when she purchased her dress back in December, which she never received ).

SO all in all I'd like to finish off by saying I never thought I would receive such terrible service from Henkaa. I would have thought such a small, blooming business such as Henkaa would pride themselves in customer satisfaction. I even wanted to buy the white Sakura convertible dress with the lace overlay for my bridal shower / honeymoon and didn't even think twice about it when I was leaving that last day. I was crossing my fingers that those dresses would look great side by side, and that them being slightly off in colour didn't look noticeable.

I hope no one else is treated the way I was, and that promises aren't made when they can't be kept. Weddings can be VERY expensive, I'm sure everyone knows, so when big mistakes like this happen it can be EXTREMELY stressful for a bride when she has already forked out money based on colour choices.

People are shocked when I tell them the struggle I went through with this store. I will surely not be recommending Henkaa to any of my friends solely based on the customer service, especially those who are planning their weddings in the future.

Also, when I spoke about my dissatisfaction to someone else at the store, they apologized for the challenges I went through and offered me a $50 gift certificate for their store. Safe to say I was appalled, as $50 doesn't even cover half the cost of one of the dresses each of my bridesmaids purchased, or even put a dent in the fuel I spent to go back to the store to make sure I received all the dresses.