Meet Your Dress Maker
by Jennifer Gibbs
The day a bride finds her gown is one of the most memorable throughout the wedding planning experience. She puts on the dress at the bridal shop and knows instantly that the dress was made for her. Her eyes swell tears, and before you know it, all the sales clerks are dabbing her face with tissues, crying right along beside her. However, the pathway to the perfect dress is usually rocky. The number of dresses she tries on before “the one” becomes far too many to count.
Trunk shows can help alleviate the stress of finding the right gown. “A trunk show is a special weekend where every piece of a particular line goes into a specific, bridal store,” Elle Warren of Angel Sanchez describes. “Because stores don’t usually have it in their budget to buy all of a line’s pieces, trunk shows provide a unique time that brides get a chance to see all the designer has to offer.”
Trunk shows create a surge of energy for bridal gown stores. “We get to hear pros and cons of our store from designers,” says Elizabeth Maxwell, co-owner of Faccio Bridal in Franklin, Tenn. , “and it helps us better serve our customers.” Beth Bowman, Faccio’s other owner, adds, “We really get to know designers at these shows, and once that strong relationship is formed, we stand behind the name.” Brides learn a great deal about budgets, gown construction and body styles. “The designers advise the brides that they should understand exactly what they are paying for,” Maxwell says. She continues, “Brides also discover which designer and silhouette fits their body the best.” “Most of our brides walk away saying ‘I’m so glad I came,’” says Bowman.
Seeing anywhere from 20 to 30 different gowns from one line, brides get a good sampling of what a designer has to offer. “Many have the misconception that trunk shows are high-pressure sales, but that’s not it at all,” Maxwell says. “It’s a fun time for designers and brides. It’s a very relaxed atmosphere, not stressful at all.” Bowman adds, “All the brides who attend come together and help one another find the perfect dress. The designer, sales associates and brides all become one united force—one big family.”
“We try to do a trunk show every weekend,” says Lee Price of Stephen Yearick. “When we started doing shows, we found them very beneficial, so we started doing them more and more.” Price finds it much easier to serve the customers if he can get to know them. “We get to meet the girls, and no one else knows bridal trends better than brides themselves.”
“Bride’s benefit greatly from shows too because they get to see the entire breadth of a collection: from skimpy to sexy, from slim silhouettes to full ball gowns,” Price explains. He goes on to say that the best benefit for a bride shopping a Stephen Yearick trunk show is that the designer’s representative will make changes to fit the needs of the bride. “Sometimes brides’ visions are not practical in terms of construction. At trunk shows we can make those visions feasible.”
It’s important for brides to know that designers try very hard to serve their needs and desires. Trunk shows give designers the opportunity to make magical things happen for brides. Price says, “We can make your dreams come true in a way that is practical as well as beautiful.”
“The best thing about a trunk show is that the bride can see everything the designer has to offer,” Warren concludes. Furthermore, the bridal shops benefit from having the designers give them specific information about their lines, helping them better inform the brides. Then again the designers benefit and can give brides exactly what they want. It all comes back to the bride. Everyone’s goal is to make her gorgeous for her wedding day.