Christy's Bridal Blog

A Wedding Weekend

Christy’s Bridal outfitted two complete bridal parties this weekend, so needless to say it was a very busy Saturday for us as my mom and I rushed around Burlington to make sure everything was perfect for our brides.

Our first stop was St. Mary’s church where we made our first bridal delivery.  We unloaded the truck, carried the dresses into the basement, and set up everything they would need for the day to get themselves ready.  Normally we like to stick around and help the brides/bridesmaids get dressed but they had not yet arrived to the church, and we were late for another bridal delivery the way that it was.  The written instructions and extra double sided tape would have to suffice =)

After leaving St. Mary’s, we headed to Honey Creek to get the McKeen/Bailey wedding party ready to go.  My mom and I helped get the bride, Jessica, into her dress and fixed last minute details on some of the bridesmaid dresses.  Once everyone was dressed and ready for their pictures, we left Honey Creek and headed back to St. Mary’s church to watch the ceremony for the Roth/Koehler wedding.

I may be a bit biased, but I’ve never seen a more gorgeously outfitted bridal party.  The dresses they chose were stunning, and the matching sage green ties on the groomsmen complimented everything fabulously!  Not to mention the bride herself just glowed up there in front of all her family friends.  I was happy to be able to share in that moment with her.

We had to leave the ceremony early as we had to be back to Jessica and Scott’s wedding back in Honey Creek, and we arrived just in time to watch Jessica walk up the steps and down the isle to her future husband.  The outside ceremony was classy and beautiful and the weather couldn’t have been more beautiful.  It was my first outside ceremony and I loved it!  It makes me want to have own outside intimate ceremony.

As the ceremony wrapped up, and the wedding party and guests headed to the reception site, we ourselves decided to grab a drink and head to the hall as well.  One of the benefits of working with brides so closely, is you develop intimate relationships with them…and then get to party at their weddings with them =)  It was a great night filled with music, drinks, and close family and friends.  *cheers* to love and weddings.

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Anniversary Weekend

The one bad part about being busy at work, is that you run out of time to do important things…like update your blog! =)

Last week was busy, crazy busy actually, but it was well worth the effort that went into it all.  Our Christy’s Bridal One Year Anniversary celebration was a true success!  The increase in sales and the influx of thank you cards are just a few of the ways we’ve seen the positive outcome to a very busy week and weekend.

As the anniversary tent arrived to the store on Thursday I became extremely excited as to what the rest of the weekend was going to hold:  a “Then and Now” fashion show, a hundred people, and a trunk show booked solid for two days!  This tent was the perfect extention onto our building, and it was a perfect way to draw the extra needed attention to our store.  But as the temperatures rose into the high 90’s, and the tent was becoming harder and harder to assemble, I began to second guess the whole idea and began formatting a Plan B.

  As we waited for the tent to be put up, the rest of us began steaming the 35 dresses that were dropped off at our store for our Essense of Australia trunk show.  Steaming sucks, let me just tell you that much, and to steam 35 dresses that aren’t even yours makes it a bit more of a pain in my *.  However, it was a lot of fun being able to see 35 dresses that had not yet been released to the retail world.  I was getting a first hand preview of these gowns before anyone else!  I felt pretty special =)

By Thursday night the tent was still not entirely up (they kept bringing the wrong parts), but the weather at 7:00 was not as hot as it was mid-day and so we decided to carry on with the tent plans…the fashion show would progress as was planned.  We spent Thursday night setting up chairs, figuring out staging and lighting, and organizing tables for food, donations, and antique pictures.  When it was all finished, I stepped back, took a look at everything in front of me…and smiled.  I love seeing months worth of hard work coming together and the tent truly did look gorgeous!

 

Friday was spent getting last minute details together before the fashion show.  We needed food, alcohol, model fittings…the life of a planner never stops until the show closes it’s curtain, and the venue is emptied and cleaned.  I was stressing a little about the heat, but thankfully my uncle came and gave us some extra power so we could blast some heavy duty fans into the audience, and I was concerned about the tent (it was still not assembled yet), but I had other things to worry about at the time and just trusted the professionals that everything would happen as it should…and it did.

At 6:00 the people began filtering into the tent, claiming their front row spots for the show.  It was such a thrill to see the looks of these older women as they anxiously awaited the chance to see their dresses paraded across the runway.  I couldn’t wait for them to see the show.

We had a bit of a slow start with the show as KISS FM forgot to bring a microphone (okay, I forgot to tell them) so they had to run back to Milwaukee to grab it.  I felt bad as I could tell some of the people in the audience were getting antsy to get started, and we contemplated starting without the microphone, but KISS arrived just in time and so…the show went on.

The women LOVED it!  As our antique dresses came out onto the runway, you could just see the joy in these women’s faces as they were transported back to their own wedding days.  We left room after each dress segment for women to come up on stage and get a picture taken with their gown.  The smiles, “thank you”s, and hugs I received from these women is something I’ll carry with me for a very long time.

After an hour show, the tent cleared out and we began preparations for the trunk show in the morning.  By 2:00 that next morning we had changed the tent over from “Fashion Show” to “Elegant Trunk Show” complete with dressing rooms and a display stage.  It was the perfect set up for our over booked event.

   

Saturday had a different agenda in mind.

As temperatures climbed even further into the hundreds, we quickly realized that this trunk show was not going to be able to be held in the non-airconditioned tent.  Thus, we had to move all of our brides into our tiny little store.  We had to work through a few problems that arose by cramming a bunch of people into a very tiny little space, but in the end, it all worked out positively…the brides loved the Essense line!

Saturday night, we celebrated a successful Saturday with a get together at Gary’s house.  He was throwing a Tuscany themed party and we were ready for a few drinks to wind down.  We arrived a little later than the rest of the party, and by the time we got there everyone was already a bit drunk.  It’s always highly entertaining to watch grown drunk men and women in action.  We ate some food, had some drinks, and got a bit silly with the wine corks on our table and then left the party early.  We were EXHAUSTED from the weekend so far and we needed to get some rest.  We had one more day of all of this.

Sunday was a bit slower, but much more lucrative in terms of sales.  We had 7 appointments scheduled, but a day full of people stopping in to purchase the gowns they had tried on the day before.  I was really happy to have the opportunity to spend a bit more one on one time with these brides.  Saturday was great, but super busy and super chaotic!  Sunday was much more chill and relaxed…a better atmosphere for buying.

And just like that…it was over.  The dresses were boxed up and shipped out, the tent was torn down, and I went home to sleep.  One year has come and gone.  I can’t wait to see what the next year holds.