What has 2022 taught you from a business perspective?

Wynter Isabelle Bridal

Take risks. We’ve switched things up a lot this year and some of those decisions were pretty scary. I decided to take a second shop to bring our alterations in house, and sell occasion wear just one day before having major surgery. Setting this up whilst at home recovering was no small task, but it was an instant hit as soon as we opened. 

Natalie Ann Brides

What hasn’t it taught me. I am always learning here at Natalie Ann Brides. When something new/different occurs I often say, there will always be something new to tackle no matter how long you have been in the industry. 

Never did any of us think we would be forced to close our business! With that being said and very little explanation, what to do’s or how to go about it, we did, we closed our doors! This was new to us all and boy, I made some bad decisions at the time but also some good decisions. Looking back on it all now it was a massive eye opening, learning curve for me and really did change the way I think from a business perspective which made me focus on only the New and none of the old in 2022.

2022 has taught me to change the way I think about the people I work with/employ. In a small business ’’its difficult’’ some would say - ’’working within four small walls can be tricky at times’’ - Trying to keep that work, relationship balance good is tough but so worth concentrating on and tackling. 

How do we choose to adapt our ways to focus on making staff happy?

What selling point do we give to our staff that outweighs the flexible and remote working?

How can we get the best out of our staff while they are in store and at home?

The new me was born and asking myself these questions gave me the answers to a good working relationship that helps to keep a fine balance between me, the shop, the team, the brides. 

The Aisle

So many valuable lessons! It has been our most successful year to date, and I am so proud of what we have achieved at The Aisle.  However, this does also come with its own challenges. This year has taught me not to focus on others, but to channel all my energy into building our brand. Every day is a new day, and when things are feeling too much, switch off, take a break and press the restart button!

Silk & Maple

- To follow our instincts  - our heads and hearts can pull us in different directions, but we have learned to always trust our guts.

- To adapt to what life throws at us! So much is out of our control so we have learned to be flexible and to evolve with the changes.

- To believe in ourselves and set what may feel like impossible goals to strive towards.

- To always appreciate and celebrate the happy and positive times within our business. There will always be moments that test us but celebrating the highs, make it easier to take the "lows”. It’s in the challenging times that we are going to grow and really prove our grit! 

Elizabeth Kate Bridal

Like so many others in the wedding industry 2022 was our busiest year for sales and in house alterations since opening in 2017. As a family run business it’s important for us to still have a work life balance outside of the boutique. Our biggest learning had to be that you can’t do everything, there’s just not enough hours in the day. With so many new ideas planned for 2023 we’ve learnt in order to achieve these we need to work smarter not harder. One of the key ways we’ve started to do this is to look at everything we currently do then evaluate which of these actions and activities have a positive benefit for the business and so are worth continuing with and which have no impact at all so can be stopped.

Emily Bridalwear

The growing online and image focused culture and the Gen Z bride has had us pulling our hair out at times throughout the year. At first we were desperately looking at ways to re-educate them, we felt defensive, used and burnt out from their demands and general struggle with decision making. But we have worked hard to adjust, adapt and understand our new bride. We have learnt to help them, we have changed how we work and how we sell. They actually taught us to be patient and to be ok with change, as it still means great sales and we are all now much happier!