Find your wedding tribe - ft our 2017 Suzanne Neville Designer Day

It is easy as a bride to-be to be over stimulated, over informed and overwhelmed with the amount of available wedding dress inspiration. Time was when a bride would simply ‘buy local’ and complete choice was to be found in her nearby boutiques.

Shopping patterns in bridal wear have changed at lightening fast rates as we move into the Amazon/Instagram era of research, and shopping around is a mixed blessing.

Miss Bush is well known; that sort of goes without saying. As we approach the brands 30^th birthday it is inevitable that we have lots of historical recommendations. There is also our vocal, opinionated and vibrant presence online to draw clients in. The Chapel and our team are laid back to a fault and the Prosecco is always cold. Client experience is front and centre of what we do, along with great communication and masses of technical talent.

After the initial fun appointments in our private stylish Chapel setting what does being a Miss Bush bride mean and what is the difference between buying in our boutique or from a flagship store?

I thought I would use our Suzanne Neville VIP day images to illustrate this as clients asked “what is the difference?” directly to Suzanne herself!

As Suzanne reassured brides-to-be; the product, price, quality, fit and finish of dresses are the same in flagship stores and stockist boutiques, and Suzanne herself oversees her workroom in London to ensure the finest quality wedding dresses a bride could wear.

There are practical considerations like location, but practicality and weddings don’t go hand in hand!

The Miss Bush difference was highlighted for me when observing the coverage of the opening of The Wedding Gallery in London earlier this week. The Wedding Gallery offers a ‘one stop shop’ with everything you could need to plan a luxury wedding all under one roof.

They have created on a grand scale what we offer our brides on a day to day basis;

Pop ups and daily inspiration from florists including Rosie Orr, Bloomingayles and Paula Rooney have always featured alongside make up trails and hair inspiration. Two Many Cooks and Kalm Kitchen cater our events and our wines are locally sourced from an independent wine merchant – not Tesco! Everyday little luxuries from great coffee to Molton Brown make our brides feel nurtured.

An encyclopaedic knowledge of local venues and the myriad of caterers, florists, photographers that we forged relationships with over our 30-year history mean that MOBs are often “notebooks-at-the ready” using our concierge-like service.
The Miss Bush team have a well defined sense of “our style” and that of our brides. Ribbon-edge veil with a lace dress? Not on my watch! Beaded belt? Hello, 2015 called and wants it accessory back. Naked net with lace appliqués? Not our thing. Call me shallow but an innate understanding of where our brides minds are going, what they will wear and what they won’t is second nature.

An ability to mix and match brands and blend an accessory from one brand with a dress from another to curate a unique look.

Our tribe is inclusive. On the Suzanne Neville day we had two 2017 brides, Laureen & Lizzie, invited to be part of Team Bush. Laureen has changed career to be a make up artist and I can’t recommend her highly enough. Lizzie has her incredible cakes on display at The Chapel and biscuits in the gift bags. Similarly Amy a future Miss Bush bride in 2018 was able to promote her luxury perfume brand.To be able to break down the barriers between us and our clients and bury forever the cartoonish ‘shop bitch’ caricature is one of my goals.

Finally and most importantly there is the answer to an often asked question. “I bet you see some Bridezillas…???” No, not really. I see some highly stressed women juggling their lives and their emotions on occasion. If however you are clear about whom your ‘tribe’ are, and your shared beliefs, tastes and preferences, you end up with several hundred clients a year who you would invite to dinner and can imagine being friends with.

The amount of time you are going to spend with your boutique may be longer than the duration of wedding. The notion of ‘experiential retail’ stays theoretical unless you practise what you preach.

Now which of my brides is going to join Team Bush next?

Emma x