“WE HELP THEM FIND the dress of their dreams and give them the shopping experience of a lifetime,” states Ivory Room’s Carrolyn Salazar. Standing in the midst of her Wooster display room, encompassed by a host of wedding gowns which, though divergent in style, share a common thread—each one is stunning.
“We provide them the entire look, from veil to earrings, matching the aesthetic and vibe that they're after,” Carrolyn vows. “It’s crucial for
these ladies to look top-notch on their wedding day. We help them achieve that.”
A Singular Experience
“My goal for each client is to make her gown appointment one of the highlights of her entire wedding planning experience,” Carrolyn says. “I work with her in selecting her favorite music to help make the experience even more special. We also offer different appointment types, everything from tea parties to charcuterie platters, making it a VIP experience. It’s her moment—whatever she wants.”
The Ivory Room offers an elegant selection of over 250 gowns, with a price range from $750 to $3,000. “Our collection speaks to girls with all the different styles they could want,” Carrolyn states. “We carry Justin Alexander, Lillian West, Madison James, Sincerity, Tullyse, and Wilderly.” Carrolyn is constantly curating the latest styles into the collection, “We were just in Chicago and I bought 26 fall-winter gowns. Those will be ready for viewing in mid-summer.”
In the brief two-and-a-half years Ivory Room's been open, Carrolyn has served over 500 clients with her trained eye and personalized attention. “Many of the ladies are from here originally, but currently live across the country and wish to be married back here. I've had brides from Utah, California, South Dakota, Florida, and North Carolina come back and work with us,” she recalls.
Once the bride-to-be has selected her gown, production can take four to six months. “We like to see brides about eight to 12 months out from their wedding date to make sure they allow enough time for alterations, to get the dress perfect,” Carrolyn explains.
A cardinal Ivory Room goal is for each client to be absolutely confident in her selection. “I always want her to lead the way,” Carrolyn states. “I tell her ‘It's your world. I'm just living in it.’” That all-important confidence is achieved, “I would say 50% of the time, a bride will buy in the first appointment, 50% come back for a second appointment just to solidify that, yes, this is the dress she wants.”
A Vision and a Nudge
Carrolyn and her husband, Freddy, had been 
desiring to open a shop of their own since they were married in 2005. “We always
had a lot of visions about what we wanted to achieve together, and had talked about opening a bridal boutique for about six years,” Carrolyn recounts.
Wanting to say ‘yes’ to a new venture as much as their clients want to say ‘yes’ to their gown, they still needed a nudge. “My Uncle Steve and Aunt Chris had been wooing us down from living in Cleveland to Wooster for years, which we finally did in 2017,” Carrolyn says. “He’s a successful Wooster businessman and knew about our ongoing thoughts. He gave us a challenge by saying ‘Are you going to talk about this forever? Bring me a business plan!’ which we did.” Uncle Steve’s prodding proved a major catalyst for the store opening in October of 2022.
Carrolyn is quick to credit her uncle for all his assistance, but also recognizes her husband’s ongoing support. “It was a huge risk, but we both wanted it. Freddy, thank the good Lord, was very supportive of this vision I had.” As was/is her devoted best friend Jenny Skala, who oversees their gorgeous website and a myriad of other details.
Their shop, with its sleek interior/exterior black-and-white aesthetic, pairs well with the exquisite wares hanging inside. With business burgeoning, they quickly outgrew their original 1,000-square-foot space. When the adjacent real estate became available in 2024, they went for it. Today, the smartly comfortable 3,500-square-foot Ivory Room resembles nothing less than an elegant stage set, awaiting only its audience.
“They Believed in Us.”
In early 2022, as plans for the space were developing, they found themselves needing capital. As they were already engaged with Farmers’ Rick Fox on the investment side, they decided to work with Farmers for a loan. While a business loan was not immediately doable, they were cleared to receive a line of credit. “Farmers provided us the cash flow to run the business every month, starting out,” Carrolyn states. “Heather Kiner [Farmers National Bank Branch Manager] is the absolute salt of the earth, a gem of a person to work with.”
Farmers agrees. “We partnered with them to get everything set up on the financial side, while they put everything in full force to open their bridal shop,” Heather Kiner states. “Theirs is a true story of someone having a dream and, with a leap of faith, working hard to see it successfully happen.”
“The Salazars were able to redirect a portion of their investments with me to invest in the new business,” states Rick Fox, Sr. Investment Executive, Farmers National Investments. “They have done an amazing job establishing the Ivory Room as a top Wooster retail business.”
As Carrolyn summarizes her Farmers experience, “There's just no other feeling like that, to have somebody who truly wants to see you succeed. They believed in us.”
An Impact
“I do what I do for my family, for Freddy, for our son Santiago and daughter Arianna,”
Carrolyn declares. “I want what I'm doing to inspire them to do whatever they want. The world is truly your oyster. Wooster is a wonderful place and we're so grateful to live, work and play here. Making an impact in somebody's life is so important to me.”