Ivec & Rossa Brings the Bridal Showroom Home

In an age where it seems possible to get anything delivered right to your front door, wedding dresses are becoming no exception. Recently launched Ivec & Rossa is bringing the bridal showroom experience home for the soon-to-be wedded in Columbus and beyond.

For a $150 fee, Ivec & Rossa ships a designer gown to try on for a fitting straight to a gal’s house.

“All of these girls that don’t live in New York or Chicago or Los Angeles, how are they getting these designer dresses that aren’t really mass market?” Co-Founder Christie Martin aks. “We’re sort of trying to fill that gap, bring that showroom experience to girls that don’t live by the showroom.” 

Martin and Co-Founder Annie Tsilianidis’ own adventures in wedding dress shopping inspired them to find an easier way to recreate the experience. Martin rounded up her maid of honor, sisters, mom, mom-in-law to be and more for a New York shopping extravaganza. She said yes to the dress, and had a great time, but it was a lot – a lot of plane tickets and a lot of coordination. Tsilianidis had opted for New York as well, finding the perfect dress, but her family wasn’t there to see it.

Martin and Tsilianidis look to replicate that showroom experience right down to the flowers and champagne. The fee covers costs to ship a dress to and from a bride’s house, gets her a bouquet of flowers, a home showroom kit with tailor’s tape and alteration clips to get just the right fit, and a few bottles of bubbly if the bride so desires.

“We also offer one-on-one fittings through video chat,” Martin says. 

Brides can set up a chat for help with their fitting or for style tips after. The duo have built close relationships with their designers and know just how to style brides to keep with the aesthetics of the gown.

If the bride finds the perfect look during her fitting, that $150 goes towards the purchase of her dress. While a gal can request multiple designs, Martin says it hasn’t really been a big ask yet.

“I think a girl gets her heart set on one dress,” she says. 

Ivec & Rossa has many benefits for brides – trying a dress on where she’s comfortable, inviting as many or as few people as she’d like – but it’s also expanding the reach of boutique designers.

The showroom experience currently stocks gowns from designers in New York and New Zealand – brands that are normally only available at a few places in the U.S. Columbus’ growing name as a fashion city has helped attract the kind of designers Ivec & Rossa looks for.

“A lot of brands have heard of Columbus,” Martin says.

They know its one of the top places for fashion in the Midwest and are excited to tap into the market.

Martin says since their launch in November, they’ve been met with positive reception, shipping out gowns to 15 brides as far away as Texas. Columbus’ entrepreneurial community has rallied its support too.

“People in the fashion space have embraced us,” Martin says. 

Ivec & Rossa is solving a problem in the market.

“In terms of e-commerce, the bridal industry is so far behind other segments of retail,” Martin says. 

They want to jump in and be a leader in that digital space. Ivec & Rossa still provides that showroom experience while expanding a designer’s reach and addressing the logistical nightmare that is shipping gowns (wedding dresses are a bit heavy).

From time to time, Ivec & Rossa does take their dresses to the real world though, hosting pop-up trunk shows. The next show will be held on Saturday, February 27 and Sunday, February 28  at the new Barkbox loft space above Martini in the Arena District, 455 N High St., Suite 200. 

For more information, visit ivecandrossa.com.