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My Bridal Story: Beautiful Brides Midlands

Business10-Jan-2022

This month, we interview Tracy Tyler from Beautiful Brides, who gave us an insight into the history behind their Nottingham-based boutique, and how they celebrate brides making a final dress decision.

Name of store: Beautiful Brides
Store Owner: Tracy Tyler
Location: Nottingham
Number of years trading: 16
Brands stocked: Pronovias, Justin Alexander, Maggie Sottero & Willowby
Av. price point: £1700
Number of staff: 6

Can you give us a little introduction to Beautiful Brides? How would you describe your boutique, and what makes it stand out?

Our beautiful showroom is a period property in the centre of Nottingham, nestled in a passageway just off a pedestrian shopping zone, with neighbours such as Jack Wills, Joules, Ted Baker & Hugo Boss. The building was originally a factory in the 1930’s, with a large open space showroom and side rooms giving private fitting suites for our brides. We feel blessed to have lots of space, including our sewing room on-site, as this gives our bride the full experience right up until their big day: it creates wedding dress journey memories that we know they will cherish, so it is very important to us too.

What made you get into the bridal industry?

Both of my grandmothers, my mum and my great-grandfather came from a textile/lace background, so I guess my destiny was written in my DNA. I started out in advertising and marketing, but eventually followed their path when I felt it was time for me to have a change in direction. It was always in my blood, it just took me a few years to find my true vocation! Our boutique is located just a few steps away from where my great grand-father had his tailoring studio and so we proudly display the antique sewing machines that were used at home by both of my grandmothers. In the sewing room we still use Granny Alice’s industrial over-lock machine too...

Who would you say is your ideal bride?

Our brides are career girls: often they’re lawyers, nurses, doctors, accountants, self-employed, military etc. Our bride is confident, streetwise and knows what she wants. She has strong ideas and wedding budgets to match her ideas and expectations, and she commands a high level of expertise, attention and service. Rightly so for her once in a lifetime moment.

How do you celebrate a bride finding her dress in your boutique? Do you do anything special on social media, and how have you adjusted these celebrations with the pandemic?

At the beginning of 2021, reflecting on the year before, we were sensing that many brides whose weddings had been postponed several times over were feeling wedding fatigue and new brides-to-be were embarking on their dress searches feeling nervous and uncertain about the future. We decided it was time to take things to a new level. We decided to open a cocktail bar in store, and really encourage wedding dress celebrations from the moment our brides stepped through the door.

The prospect of going through the alcohol licensing process was initially a little daunting, particularly gaining the premises licence, however, we were thrilled to be granted the licence and set about building the bar and putting together a beautiful cocktail menu for our brides. We are totally thrilled by the enhanced experience that we’re now able to offer our brides!

What would you say is the best part of your job?

Receiving pictures of the big day is for me by far the best moment: it completes her journey with us and I feel that our role in her big day is now complete. I love just catching a glimpse of their favourite moments of the day, it’s the pinnacle of everything we have worked towards since the first moment she stepped into our boutique. Even today, 16 years on, my hair still stands on end, the goose bumps kick in and tears fill the corners of my eyes. The day this stops I’ll know that my days in bridal are over, but for now those emotions are still very real and alive.

What’s your favourite industry memory?

There are so many memories and stories I could write a book about some of our amazing brides, so I couldn’t pick just one. Instead, I’ll share this memory about the day that we moved to our current premises.

Our first boutique was a small Victorian cottage in a village location, after 6 years there, we were bursting at the seams. So, to move to our current premises, with the space and location I felt like we had won the lottery! I thank my lucky stars every day to the friend who took me to see this place when it was still a run down old factory building that had been closed up for many years. It was like stepping into a time warp, as if the previous occupant had one day just decided to never go back and left his factory space, and machinery, all in situ. It was hard to imagine how we could transform the space into a bridal boutique. I then shared a nine month journey of renovations watching the building evolve into the beautiful setting we call home today, we finally moved in in February 2012.

Can you tell us three interesting facts about your boutique?

1. Our boutique is in a renovated 1930’s factory, sadly it wasn’t a lace factory despite being so close to the Nottingham Lace Market. Our showroom is what used to be the factory floor, the private fitting suites are what used to be the owner’s living quarters, complete with original fireplaces.

2. I’m told that building sits on the perimeter between the medieval/Anglo Saxon settlements in the city.
3. Apparently, there was a death due to someone falling down the stairs many moons ago (I’ve no idea whether the circumstances were suspicious or not!) and that their ghost still haunts the place, however I’ve never seen or heard anything.

If you had to give one piece of advice to another store owner, what would it be?

Don’t allow your stock levels to get out of control, identify under-performing samples early and sell them off before they depreciate too much in value: this will create cash for the next seasons buying. Keep your stock fresh, to not only show your customers the most-up-to-date collections, but also keep you and your team invigorated and excited about the collections. Rotate your merchandise displays frequently: this will also keep the store looking fresh but will also identify dresses that aren’t being pulled, they may be the next best seller or the one that needs a sale ticket.