Any girl will tell you that finding the perfect wedding dress is probably the most important part of creating your ideal wedding – almost as important as finding the right groom. So when it comes to helping the bride to choose the perfect dress, little things make a big difference.
On Saturday, I went to Lily Katherine’s Bridal Boutique in Norwich to spend a day working with Jill Eddy and her staff. After participating in numerous weddings over the years, I wasn’t sure what to expect in my day at the shop. Over the years I’ve seen controlling bridezillas, aggravating bridesmaids, flower girls throwing temper tantrums and members of the bridal party throwing their shoes at each other. To my surprise and relief, I saw none of that at Jill’s shop. She explained the staff works hard to make shopping for a wedding dress one of the more calming and enjoyable wedding experiences, and that listening to your customers and anticipating their needs is the key to success in the bridal business.
At 11:30 I arrived at the store and planned on taking a few minutes to talk to the store owner before we got down to business. Our time was cut short as one person after another walked through the front door. Between the tuxedo returns, the dress fittings, the appointments for alterations and the customers who just came in to browse the shop and try on some items, the bell on the door was ringing constantly, but after getting through the prom season, the staff assured me, this was nothing.
I spent most of the day in the alterations room with seamstress Nancy Snell and learned that although I thought I was handy enough with a sewing machine, I better leave the fancy work to a pro. From 11 to 2, Nancy pinned hems, shortened dresses, took in dresses, shortened straps and even had time for a special order, making cap sleeves for a once strapless dress. Although she said she might let me sew something simple, in my mind I imagined hems coming undone halfway through some bride’s walk down the aisle, causing her to trip over her own feet and break her leg, and I decided to pass.
Instead, I chose to spend my time steaming the dresses with employee Stephanie Fuller. Each dress that enters the store has to be steamed before it can be put on the rack, and after the dress is bought, it has to be steamed again before it is sent home. Steaming may seem like an easy job (and it is compared to half of the stuff that Nancy had pulled off) but after spending some time in the small alteration room with the steamer blasting at full speed, I don’t envy the employees when summer heat is in full swing. I spent several minutes steaming the outside of the dress, until it looked wrinkle free and ready to go, but to my surprise the job wasn’t quite finished. As Stephanie explained, the job isn’t really done until you climb under the skirt and steam it from the inside out as well. (I’m still trying to figure out if she was serious about this part or if she just wanted to see if I would actually do it, but for now, I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt.)
Throughout the day, Jill helped the customers with their dresses, but she explained her services don’t end there. The shop is also now offering service packages for the day of the wedding, including helping the bride get dressed, and straightening her train before she begins down the aisle, making sure everyone is seated appropriately, and helping with photos or forgotten items and even acting as a go-between person so vendors don’t have to disturb the bride or groom on their special day. “It helps with the little things you don’t think of,” Eddy said.
Word of mouth has helped the shop, and since it opened in December of last year, business has steadily been growing. “Flexibility is the most important thing in this business,” Eddy said. “You just have to be able to role with the punches and do your best to solve any issue.”