Wedding Dress Shop 2019- our first full year!
Hi Everyone! It’s Victoria here, owner of Victoria Elaine Bridal, the best wedding dress shop in Maidstone (so our brides tell us!).
As we are very near the end of 2019, it’s only natural to reflect on the past 12 months and ponder the happy memories made. As some of you will be aware, we opened the boutique in October 2018, so 2019 generated a huge amount of ‘firsts’ for us being our first full calendar year! And what a year it has been!
Our 2019 has looked something like this…
-Over 40 brides saying ‘YES’ (not bad for year 1!)
-5 trunk shows
-30 new gowns added to our collection
-20 different window dressings with weekly changes of our favourite gowns.
-Our first sale
-Over 25 5* reviews, most of which claim we offer the best bridal experience in Maidstone
-Around 20 wedding fairs (too many to count precisely!)
-2 new designers, 3 new collections being stocked on our rails
-A new Holy Communion range
-Our boutique or products being featured in numerous photoshoots
-Being asked to be a bridal expert in ‘Your Kent Wedding’
-Our first #TeamVEB field trip to London Bridal Fashion Week
-Our first birthday
-and too many memories to count!
I asked #TeamVEB what their favourite memories of 2019 are….
Amy…
“There are so many to choose from, but I have two. The first would be in the first few weeks after we opened. We had a few Saturdays where our popularity was improving, and we were getting busier. We were starting to see the sales consistently come in and I knew this shop was going to take off! It’s funny that what seemed busy is nothing compared to now!
My second is a personal one. I have worked in a variety of bridal shops over some years now and have never been able to go to the Harrogate Bridal Show. Harrogate is the biggest trade bridal show in the UK, where designers and business from all over the world come to show their most recent collections. Victoria asked me to go with her this year and I jumped at the chance and I wasn’t disappointed. The fashion shows were amazing and I feel so much more informed on the new trends my brides will be seeing in 2020 and 2021!”
Shanai…
“I’ve really loved working (and being promoted) at Victoria Elaine Bridal during 2019. The dresses are my highlight. When we first opened, Victoria selected the initial order as we hadn’t even interviewed for our jobs by that point, but ever since we have been included in the buying decisions. I am really pleased we were able to take on our new designers, Eddy K and Eliza and Ethan this year as selecting and seeing these gowns have been my highlight! I am already looking forward to London Bridal Week where we will be looking for our new collection of gowns for the new season!”
Shi…
“My favourite memory was our very first trunk show back in February. It was for Hayley Paige, my favourite designer we have in the shop. When all the gowns arrived for the weekend, it was like Christmas! The whole shop was full of the most amazing dresses! We were really busy with the gowns going in and out of the changing room and the brides were loving their appointments with us…it was the first weekend where it felt like we had been open for years because of the energy and buzz in the shop!”
Victoria…
“ It’s no secret that opening this boutique has been a dream come true so every day this year has genuinely been a ‘pinch me moment’. There really are too many memories to pick just one so hopefully you will indulge me in a few?
I think the first has to be when our first #vebride’s dress arrived in store. It may sound silly, but it felt like my dress was arriving but the excitement was because we would be engaging in the next stage of a bride’s sale for the first time (the alterations and care of the gown). Once we experienced this once, we were then able to train the team about the full selling cycle.
Another favourite was our Ellis Bridals trunk show! It was such a popular few days in the boutique and when I submitted the orders to Ellis, it was met with a pleasant surprise as we surpassed their expectations! And finally, my personal one has been the relationships and support I have gained with suppliers and being asked to be a bridal expert in Your Kent Wedding magazine. Bridal has become my ultimate passion and obsession so being involved more in the industry is the icing on the cake for me!
2020 and beyond!
2019 was all about us establishing the Victoria Elaine Bridal brand and spreading the word to all the brides to be out there! Now that we have consistently delivered the best bridal experience in Maidstone (the words are taken from our Google and Facebook reviews, not our ego’s haha), 2020 is hopefully going to be our year to become a household name in the Kent bridal scene. Our aim is to welcome lots more #vebrides in to our club and to build this in to more of a community. We have lots of ideas on this so watch this space! It will also be a year to build up our designer collections, in particular Eddy K. We foresee lots of brides loving their quality Italian craftmanship! Let us know which of the Eddy K Couture or Sky dresses are your favourite! https://eddyk.com/
And….
#TeamVEB will be out and about doing lots of fairs right the way through the year and be on hand in the boutique to give our brides the experience they dream of. We will be hosting lots more trunk shows with 4 already booked in the diary! I will continue to be giving advice in the next issue of Your Kent Wedding (out soon) and hopefully beyond! We will also be looking for more opportunities to put Victoria Elaine Bridal on the map so look out for those!
2019…it has been a pleasure! Definitely a year to remember for us and our brides, but 2020, we expect to be fricking awesome!
Warmest wishes to all our readers,
Victoria and the rest of #TeamVEB
Should you wish to book an appointment in our boutique, we have a number of ways to do so. You can visit our website using this link https://www.victoriaelainebridal.co.uk/contact/
Alternatively, you can e-mail enquiries@victoriaelainebridal.co.uk or call 01622 688413.
And finally, you can DM us via our Facebook or Instagram pages.
