Christy's Bridal Blog

Prom Show 2007

The prom season has officially arrived!

I can't say that I've been able to see much of it first hand, seeing as how I'm rarely at the store these days, but the stories that Carol tells me and the excitement that I see in the evenings is enough to keep me excited about this time at the store...even if I don't get to partake in much of it.

This weekend however, I was able to to enjoy a bit of the season, as I assisted Christy's Bridal in their 2007 Prom Fashion show that was held at the Elm Grove Woman's club in Elm Grove, Wisconsin.  I always love working the Prom Fashion Shows.  The girls are excited, the dresses are amazing, and just the over all energy is so positive and fun.  I wish it could last all year long!

But alas, the prom season comes and goes so quickly, so it's important to soak it all up while you can.  The annual Prom Fashion show is the perfect way to do just that!  This year, Christy's was assisted by 9 models including the current reigning Miss Teen Wisconsin USA, Shauna Sabir.  The other 8 models came from surrounding High Schools including:  BHS, Catholic Central, Catholic Memorial, Wilmot, Muskego, and Sussex-Hamilton.  I have to say, they all did a FANTASTIC job...I couldn't have asked for a better group of girls to work with this year.

Christy's added a few extra little "attractions" to their show this year, including TWO trunk shows from two of their top prom designers:  Mauri Simone and Flirt by Maggie Sottero.  For this show, the designers sent Christy's their entire Spring 2007 Prom collection, which allowed the attendees of the show the one day opportunity to try on these dresses, before they were sent back to the designers.  It was a well received idea, and I have a feeling we'll be continuing this throughout the years to come.

 

CCHS Prom Fashion Show

HELLO!  I'M BACK!

It's been a very busy weekend here at Christy's, and with the hustle bustle, comes required weekend hours for me.  I can't say that I mind though, I miss the glamour of the bridal industry.

This weekend, Christy's Bridal participated in the 10th annual (our 2nd annual), Catholic Central High School Spring Fashion Show.  It was held at the Cotton Exchange in Waterford, WI and featured fashions from Fashion Bug, Wal*Mart, and Christy's Bridal and Formal Wear.

The show was a success, as it always seems to be, and we created yet again quite the buzz around town regarding our fabulous and unique prom dresses.  (if I do say so myself).

The CCHS Spring Fashion Show is usually our kickstart around here to the Prom season and we only expect things to get much more chaotic from here forward.

I wish I had pictures to share, but alas I was stuck backstage so I don't have anything to show you.  You are more than welcome to stop in yourself and see what the fuss is all about =)

Happy Holidays

I just wanted to stop by quickly and wish everyone a very happy new year!!!  I hope everyone had a safe and joyous Christmas as well!

I unfortunatley will be leaving Christy's Bridal as of January 2, 2007 but I promise that I will return frequently to update this blog on store happenings, industry events, and just overall thoughts.  The owner, my mom, has insisted that I stick around to help out with events and to keep up with the Bridal Blog.  So I'm happily obliging =)

Happy Holidays everyone!  I'll be back in 2007.

Pictures

Miss Wisconsin USA and Miss Racine looking fabulous in their Christy's Dresses =)

A Holiday Update

I thought November was supposed to be the slow wedding season?!  In fact, based upon last year’s numbers we cut employee hours here at the store to try and compensate for the lack of customers into the store, and the lack of income for that matter.  In doing so however, we’ve found this month to be just as busy as all the rest and have found ourselves struggling to keep up with the demands that appear each and every week!

It sure makes giving supreme customer service a bit more difficult when you’re trying to keep up with three brides at a time instead of just one.  I hope we’ve managed to provide our customers with a memorable experience, even with our store being short staffed.

Lack of staff aside, we are actively getting ready for the holiday season with a few new lines: Bill Levkoff, Jasmine Bridal and a few new sales: November 25.  As the holiday season approaches we look forward to the coming months and all that 2007 is going to bring to us.  Each year keeps getting better and better for us, and we are super excited about the year to come.

Bridal Stuff

I don’t think my mom and I ever envisioned the bridal industry to be so exhausting when the idea was first thrown around to open up a shop here in Burlington. As nieve entrepreneurs I really think we were expecting a relaxed, yet excitable, atmosphere where everyone is happy and absolutely positively in love. Who wouldn’t be while planning a wedding?!

We couldn’t have been more wrong.

For the past year we have delt with screaming brides, over controlling mothers, cancelled weddings, restraining orders, pagent moms, and most recently: bankruptcy. It has all contributed to fabulous stories, which my mom and I like to re-tell sometimes when we’re really bored (and secretly wishing for a bit of drama in our store), but it also makes weeks like this past one…a bit hard to handle.

My mom took a much needed vacation away from the store this week, which meant I was in charge. Things were going really well until the Blushing Bride suddenly declared bankruptcy and our store found itself in the midst of interviews, panicked brides, and concerned citizens. We dealt with what we could, and helped who we were able to, all the while trying not to ignore our own brides and appointments that were coming into the store all week. Between the daily 100 + phone calls and the influx of brides into our store (both ours and the Blushing Brides) I was crazy busy that’s for sure…and I quickly began to stress out.

By Friday morning I was in work overload. I had a list of people to contact waiting for me on my desk, a voice mail box full of brides awaiting help, and on top of it, 5 weddings to ensure got off timely and properly. Lets not also forget the number of vendors trying to get a hold of me to come visit their booth at Chicago Market week (we’ll get to that later in the post). The tip of the ice burg came when one of our brides called complaining that her dress re-wrinkled on her way to the church, and she wanted me to come there and re-steam it for her.

I lost it.

I called up my mom and cried to her about how I’m all by myself and there’s nobody to help me with all of this and that I’m just not cut out for this! (I work well under pressure to a point…then I crack). I’m expected to be here helping out these brides, and I’m expected to be there helping out another bride. Where am I supposed to be?! I got angry with her for a minute for leaving me there but I quickly calmed down and realized this wasn’t all that bad. I could definitely handle it all. And I did. Friday came and went, Saturday came and went, and then Sunday finally came and I was able to leave the salon for a few days and head to Chicago for the National Bridal Market which takes place twice a year at the Merchandise Mart downtown.

Melinda and I took the early train down Sunday morning and spent all day Sunday at various fashion shows checking out the new Spring 2007 collections. It was a blast and we saw a lot of really great stuff!! I found myself a bit star struck as we went to each of the shows and were able to talk to the designers of the lines. They’re just such amazingly talented people and I was meeting them face to face! I loved it. Compare it to meeting your favorite movie star or musician…only I have no interest in musicians or actors…I love designers.

Melinda and grabbed the 5:00 train home but it was back to Market on Monday when my mom came back. I introduced her to a few new lines that I was hoping to introduce into our store, and we made our purchases for the season. We’re really excited about the lines this year!

After market, my mom and I made our way to our hotel room that we got for the night to get ready for the Debi Awards, being held at the Field Museum. We were invited to attend the black-tie affair by Essense of Australia, one of our bridal designers, and we happily obliged an evening to get dressed up and eat and drink with a group of designers =) My mom and I had never attended a Debi awards ceremony, so we weren’t entirely sure what to wear. I kept it low key with an a-line ball gown skirt and a tank top with a capelet, while my mom wore her St. John black suit. We didn’t want to over-do it. I should have known however, that a black-tie event in the fashion industry is never low-key.

We arrived to the Field Museum, walked up the grand staircase, and entered to what I believe is my version of heaven. Elegantly decorated tables, candlight everywhere and the most beautifully dressed people I’ve ever seen in my entire life. I found myself stopping and staring as so many gorgeous women walked past me in their thousand dollar beaded gowns. I compared it to what the Oscars might feel like and I got a little jealous at the movie stars for a slight second.

My mom and I walked around with our glasses of wine and took in everything until an announcement was made that dinner was about to begin. We walked back down the grand staircase into the main lobby and found our table already occupied by the Essense design team.

The girls were amazing and the food was to die for as well. As desert was brought out, the fashion show began (hosted by John O’Hurly) and the excitement inside of me just couldn’t be contained. Watching a Vera Wang gown strut down the runway literally brought a tear to my eye and just knowing that the designer for Monique Lhullier was sitting a few tables down from me made me feel as star struck as a little girl meeting Mickey Mouse for the first time. I was sad to have to say goodbye but mom and I needed to get home. I loved every second of my time at the Debi awards, and I absolutely can’t WAIT to do it again next year.

Tuesday came, and life resumed as usual. I filled my mom in on everything that had been happening in the week and we prepared our store for our incoming new stock as well as our 50% off sale this coming weekend. I’m glad to have her back to help buffer some of the stress of the salon. But I must say, the more I do this…the more I absolutely love my job.

Christys In The News

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=509894

To All Brides

Can you imagine having THIS happen to you?

I was absolutely stunned when I got the phone call this afternoon from our "spy" in Wind Lake and I was absolutley speechless when I saw the story break on Chanel 12 this afternoon!  I immidiatley contacted Chanel 12 to see if there was ANYTHING I could do.

The response has been overwhelming.

We at Christys have offered to severely discount our dresses to the girls whos weddings are coming up in the next couple of weeks and to those girls that just do not have any time or money left to get a brand new dress!  Knowing the stress that these brides face in these final planning stages I can't imagine how this is affecting them!  In fact, I've spoken with 5 brides today already who were in tears and near hysterics when I told them I was willing to offer a helping hand. 

I wish that we were a huge store and we could do more, but at least they have the potential to save a bit of money and in a situation like this, I'm sure it helps.

In the news story it mentioned that some of these girls are "hoping for a miracle".  I only hope this can be considered second best.

A reply email

What a sweet thing to do!  Thanks for making me feel important!  I love your displays even without my name up there, but it was  very nice to see just the same.  When I saw what you did I drove around the block to take a photo of it.  You are a sweetheart.

~ Ellen

Store Windows

Today, I got a hilarious email in our store inbox and I just HAD to comment on it!  I unfortunatley no longer have the original email in my posession but i just had to make a mention of it.  It was an email by a woman named Ellen who drives past our store every morning on her way to work, and thoroughly enjoys the sights of our dresses in the windows!  However, with the changing seasons, our days are getting shorter and that means the mornings are getting darker and Ellen has found that on her 5:00 drive to work in the morning, she can no longer admire our dresses from her car window, and this has caused a bit of dissapointment on her end.  Thus, she emailed us this morning asking us if we wouldn't mind turning on our lights in the morning a bit earlier so that she may admire our dresses once again on her drive to work.

This email instantly put a smile on my face and we have happily obliged!  Our timer is reset and our store windows will offically be lit up now from 5:00 PM until about 10:00 AM.  Thanks for the email Ellen, I'm glad our windows can make your day a bit happier =)