Hannah Balash
Bridal Maven, Founder & Owner

Hannah Balash found her happily ever after by building a bridal boutique.

Balash founded Bridal Maven, a chic, Dormont-based consignment shop that sells pre-owned wedding gowns, sample dresses and accessories, in September 2020 after the idea rattled around in her head for years.

“I met some amazing and trusting consignors in various parking lots all over town to collect their gowns,” she says. “At that time, I photographed the gowns in my dining room and put them on Instagram for publicity.”

When Covid hit, Balash got even more creative, using a stimulus check to rent a small suite with a short-term lease in an office building that she redesiged to look like a bridal shop. Through word of mouth, the boutique quickly took off.

“It turned out, people loved the idea of reusing these beautiful, once-loved gowns, for reasons both environmental and budgetary,” she says.

In the fall of 2021, she moved Bridal Maven to its current location along Potomac Avenue. The boutique’s revenue doubled in 2022, grew an additional 20 percent in 2023 and again in 2024.

“Since that first year, our annual revenue has grown by multiple six figures — and we are approaching our thousandth gown sold,” Balash says.

Balash says it is honor to play a small role in hundreds of weddings, and she has enjoyed building out her business’s dedicated staff and expanding Bridal Maven’s appointment capacity by adding a second fitting room.

“Honestly, I live and work in my neighborhood, so it’s also a highlight to see people stop and take in my shop windows, including little kids whose eyes light up at the ‘princess dresses,’” she says. “My children say, ‘Hi shop, ‘bye shop’ when we drive past it on the way home from school.”

Balash, who has a masters degree in vocal performance, is president of Dormont Arts, a local nonprofit that cultivates art, nature and music experiences, and also still finds time to perform in local theater projects. Over the last few years, her business has been recognized with “Best Of” awards from the Knot, Wedding Wire and the City Paper.

“It’s a highlight to have built something that serves people while allowing me personal flexibility to be available to my family and pursue my personal interests,” she says.