Five Quick Tips from Bridget Brown, Founder of Bella Bridesmaid

Photo courtesy of Nick Brown Photography

Our new blog feature, "Five Quick Tips," seems to have struck quite a chord -- we've heard a lot of you have enjoyed reading the interviews, so we're back with another, and plan to do one a week going forward. We hope these tips and tricks will help you save some time, money and even prevent a headache or two! 

This week's interviewee is southern belle, Bridget Brown of Bella Bridesmaid.  Bridget founded Bella Bridesmaid in May 2000 to fill a much needed space in the bridesmaid market for chic, wearable, designer dresses showcased in a comfortable and personalized intimate boutique setting. Bella Bridesmaid was even featured last week on the Martha Stewart Weddings blog in honor of their 10 year anniversary!

Bella Bridesmaid has grown to 40 stores across the US and features these exclusive lines: 

• Swoon
• Saja
• Joanna August
• LulaKate

And arriving this fall, a new maids collection from ex-Project Runway finalist, Carol Hannah Whitfield!  Bella Bridesmaid also carries Simple Silhouettes, Coren Moore, Jenny Yoo, Amsale, Two Birds, and more......

Bridget shares these Five Quick Tips for brides and bridesmaids: 

1.  Keep an open mind on your first appointment. You'll be surprised that just as in shopping for your wedding dress, styles look different on the hanger than on the body!

2.  Bring some ideas with you...whether that be colors you love or hate, a pic of your venue, long or short, formal or casual. We're here to help bring that all together to figure out which bridesmaid dresses are perfect for your wedding.

3.  Leave the entourage at home. Bring a few trusted decision makers with you and once the dress is chosen the rest of your gals can come in for their fitting to determine size, but at that point the decision is made. Too many opinions makes for a stressful appointment, and you'll leave confused!

4.  Consider choosing a fabric and color and allow your maids to select their style based on what looks best on their body type. Trust me -- if they are happy in their dress, they are happy on the big day, and happy maids make for a happy bride!

5.  Consider chipping in on the cost of the maids dress as your bridesmaid gift. We find that the bridesmaids consider it a much appreciated gesture....and often times more useful than a vase or picture frame!

And a few more questions for Bridget....

What was your favorite thing about your wedding?  Now, I'm going to reveal a pretty unknown fact...my husband (Nick Brown, the wedding photographer) and I eloped to Las Vegas and were married by an Elvis impersonator. Yep, you heard right. It just felt very "us".  We got to choose the theme of our Elvis wedding.....we chose Blue Hawaii, and my "maids" were Vegas dancers clad in coconut bras.

If you could change one thing about your wedding, what would it be?  We wouldn't change a thing. And yes, we did end up having a "real" wedding a few months later, complete with a white dress, real bridesmaids, and wedding guests. So we got the best of both worlds!

Thanks, Bridget, for sharing these great tips! If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming blogpost, email info at amynichols dot com!