Shopping at Bridal Classics was like visiting family.
Vivian Crowley ensured it.
She and her daughter operated the boutique for five years on Hill Street in downtown Griffin. There, there was no pressure to buy. No hard sells. Just comfort and concern for brides and prom girls, customers preparing for a signature event.
"That's why people always came back," said Joan Voight of Griffin, who co-owned the shop with her mother. "We were always concerned about our brides."
Customers from across metro Atlanta and out of state shopped at the store. Referrals and word of mouth boosted business. Mrs. Crowley played a vital role; she pampered customers.
Her major had been fashion design at the University of Georgia. And though she never became a designer, she used her skills as a seamstress to alter gowns and dresses. Maybe a customer wanted a low neck line instead of a high one. Or hand-sewn beads.
It didn't matter.
"She could make anything," said Tunis Crowley, her husband of 56 years. "She started sewing when she was little. She could sew anything for herself or the kids."
Vivian Boggs Crowley, 79, of Griffin, and formerly of Atlanta, died Saturday of heart failure at her home. The funeral is 4 p.m. today in the chapel of A.S. Turner & Sons Funeral Home, which is in charge of arrangements.
Mrs. Crowley was born in East Point. Her parents moved to the Midwest when she was young. She graduated from a Chicago-area high school and, in the late 1940s, returned to Atlanta with her family. She attended Wesleyan College in Macon, then in 1950 transferred to the University of Georgia. She met her future husband at a dorm dance.
"They put the jukebox on, we started dancing and never stopped," her husband said. "There was an attraction at first sight."
The idea to enter the bridal business stemmed from the Crowleys' experiences when Mrs. Voight shopped for her own wedding dress. The duo knew they could provide better service to brides-to-be as well as high school girls dolling up for proms.
"[Mrs. Voight] had so many different ideas and suggestions to share with the brides," her daughter said. "She wouldn't pressure them and she was always positive. We had girls come in from Atlanta, Alabama and different areas. We loved it."
In 1994, the Crowleys closed Bridal Classics. Mrs. Voight was pregnant with her second child; the family matriarch's arthritis made it difficult to run the store and sew.
"For us, it was more than a business," her daughter said. "We wanted to connect with the community, and mom was a treasure."
Survivors besides her husband and daughter include two sons, Marc Crowley of Lilburn and Alan Crowley of Norcross; and seven grandchildren.
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