Tell us about Six Stories

Back in 2017 I married my childhood sweetheart, after working as marketing director at a well-known marketing agency, the lines between getting married and entrepreneurship were blurring. I was desperate to start a business and being so in love with everything weddings, I begun there.

I wanted to DIY everything for our wedding, which we had in Manchester. I even taught myself how to make tulle tutus for our flower girls. I enjoyed it so much I uploaded them onto Etsy, played around with the listings, search engine optimisation, etc. And they started selling!

At the time, we were living in the heart of what was the UK’s cottonopolis, Ancoats. I adored the old cotton mill we lived in. Following some research, I discovered they were all six storeys high due to how many floors were needed to manufacture the textiles. I thought this was really interesting and so storeys became stories and Six Stories was born.

I grew the tutu side of Six Stories out from the local scout hut working with young mums and retired crafty nans, until we were bursting at the seams and had to open our own studio which is based down in my hometown in Wiltshire, headed up by my mum.

Six Stories has very organically grown from selling tutus on Etsy to being on a mission to create an experience for brides-to-be: from engagement, dress fittings, hen dos through to the big day itself marking every special detail. We want our brides to bottle that newly engaged feeling and take it with them on one of the most important chapters of their lives feeling confident and gorgeous across their journey to becoming a Mrs.

We pride ourselves on being a small, independent team touching every product and speaking to every customer.

You’ve done some amazing things in 2020, despite it being a tough year. Can you tell us a little more about what you got up to last year?

We had huge plans for 2020. Ross, my husband, and I (we’re very much a family affair) headed into the year investing in lots of exhibitions, marketing strategies and a new collection of BRIDEY loungewear for our gorgeous brides. And then of course, the 23rd of March hit. With the country going into a complete lockdown, we knew we had to do something for our customers who were left feeling absolutely devastated and lost.

Our ’FREE BRIDEY TEE’ campaign was launched with the view to give a little lift to our brides affected by Covid. We had no idea it would spread as it did. To date we have given away almost 20,000 free BRIDEY tees and it has been so amazing and heart-warming to be able to help and provide positivity throughout a really tough time for brides-to-be.

We have continued to lead a positive message, keeping brides excited about their day, regardless of when it goes ahead via our instagram, podcast (The Mindful Bride) and Facebook group (The Bridey Hangout).

We’re just about to move into a much bigger warehouse and office, hire new staff and bring on board lots of new products across the range (as well as have a baby at the end of Feb). I am incredibly excited and proud of how we’ve managed to navigate such testing times.