This is a story of how Cida’s Sew Shop became Cida’s Bridal Atelier in Amityville, NY, and how one local bride’s story touched our hearts forever.
Cida’s Sew Shop started as a small home-based alterations and home décor business. Over the years, it began to grow. With wedding and formal dress alterations in high demand, Cida’s Sew Shop started to see an increase in bridal alteration appointments. We love working with the brides and hearing their incredible stories of how they met their fiancé and their wedding plans.
From A Home Business To An Atelier
Our dream has always been to open a small shop for fittings and a place where we can work our sewing magic. One day, when driving around Amityville, NY, I spotted a quaint vacant cottage that was the perfect location and size for an alterations shop. I knew from that moment this was the right place to open Cida’s Bridal Atelier. We decided to change the name since our main focus is altering wedding and formal gowns. On May 2nd, 2025, we had a beautiful ribbon-cutting ceremony surrounded by the incredible Long Island community of Amityville.
In The Heart Of Amityville
We love being in the heart of Amityville; the location itself is perfect, with the Long Island Railroad nearby. This makes it very easy for customers coming from the city for fitting and pick-up appointments. The community has been fantastic. The support we have received since opening our doors has been incredible. Everyone is like family to us.
A Bride’s Heartwarming Story: How A Wedding Dress Changed Her Life
The Brides of Long Island (BOLI) Community is also a great resource for brides and a support for local businesses such as ours. The story we are about to share all started because one bride decided to pass along her wedding gown to make someone else’s dreams come true. It was all possible through the BOLI Facebook page, which changed one bride’s wedding dress experience.
Elementary School Sweethearts
Jennifer and Anthony went to Castlewood Elementary School in Queens, NY, together in 1990. Thirty years later, they ran into each other once again in 2020 and reconnected. After four years of dating, Anthony proposed on October 19th, 2024, with the majestic Poconos mountains behind them. Jennifer contacted the principal at the school and requested to visit the same hallway where she first met her fiancé. The elementary school was thrilled to have them back and got pictures taken with them.
A Bride’s Heartbreak
This was not Jennifer’s first wedding, and she didn’t want to make a big deal out of it; she just wanted a simple elopement. She had to tell the most important person in her life that she was getting married, her 88-year-old grandmother, who raised her. Her grandmother was so happy for her and wanted to purchase her wedding gown.
Sadly, on November 11th, 2024, Jennifer got a heart-wrenching phone call that her grandmother had passed. Being in the midst of wedding planning, it seemed impossible to continue. She tried to find a 2nd hand wedding dress since she did not want to make a big deal of shopping for a wedding gown.
A Dress With A Story
When searching on the BOLI Facebook page, she came across a post of a bride who wished to donate her wedding dress. The bride felt it was just the right thing to do to pass along her beautiful and glamorous Kleinfeld wedding dress. Her wedding gown made her dreams come true on her wedding day, and she wanted to share that with someone else. Jennifer reached out right away and explained her situation. The bride knew in her heart that Jennifer was the right person to pass her dress down to. They chose a location to meet, and Jennifer picked up her wedding dress. Once she brought it home, she tried it on and it fit perfectly. Just needing a few alterations.
Alterations at Cida’s Bridal Atelier
Jennifer contacted us to alter her wedding dress. She had her first fitting early in the year at our home location. This was a big deal to Jennifer to make sure the dress fit perfectly on her body. Soon after, we opened Cida’s Bridal Atelier and completed her fittings at the shop. We were pleasantly surprised to learn the bride lives on the same square as our shop, making it very convenient for her to walk over for alterations.
A Las Vegas Wedding
Jennifer’s original plans for her wedding in a tree house got changed to a Las Vegas wedding. She still wanted the bridal experience of wearing a wedding dress, but wanted to keep the wedding small and intimate. They wanted to focus their attention on each other and the love that they shared. Jennifer looked incredible in her wedding gown, as if it were made for her once we finished altering it. You could not tell the gown was previously worn. The story the dress holds will stay with the gown forever and will be passed down for generations.
Not The End, Only The Beginning
This is not the end of the road for this wedding dress. It will continue to make other brides’ dreams come true. Jennifer plans to either pass it down to family members or others who need a wedding dress. This wedding dress shares love, comfort, and happiness, but really, it’s the brides who made this possible. It shows how amazing this community really is and how people open up their hearts to one another to make a big difference.
Making Our Dream A Reality, One Stitch At A Time
Since we opened our doors at Cida’s Bridal Atelier, we have made many brides’ dreams come true one stitch at a time. We are truly dedicated to our craft because we are proud to work with many wedding salons on Long Island. To mention a few, we would like to thank North Fork Bridal Shoppe, Bridal Salon of Huntington Village, Princess Bridal, Bella Bridesmaids, and Ask Alice for prom and sweet 16 dresses. In addition, we are a featured wedding vendor on BOLI and East End Wedding and Events. As well as members of the Amityville Chamber of Commerce and the Melville Chamber of Commerce.
We cater to many brides who work all week in NYC but live closer to Long Island, making it convenient for alterations. We have begun to book appointments for the spring of 2026. As we expand from the South Shore to the North East and West, we focus on one bride at a time, offering a one-hour appointment as needed. We would like to thank everyone for making our dream possible to go from a home-based sewing room to a beautiful atelier.
