March 5, 2024 • 20 mins
I have Robbin Harris in studio talking all things weddings!
Robbin and her husband Marcus own Spotlight Bridal and with Valentines Day over, I thought
maybe we should keep the conversation going for brides!
Robbin and her husband Marcus own Spotlight Bridal and with Valentines Day over, I thought
maybe we should keep the conversation going for brides!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
I It's Lucy Chapman and welcome toanother podcast. Here's More, you know,
speaking of Here's more, Since wejust came out of Valentine's Day and
we had a chance to talk tosome folks in the bridal industry, and
lots of people have gotten rings forValentine's Day, so I thought, you
know what, let's just continue thisconversation. Let's talk to somebody who is
(00:24):
all about getting your wedding planned withthe dress and the tucks and so many
other issues that go along with thatwedding day, things you might not think
of. So I've got Robin Harris, the owner of Spotlight Bridle in studio.
Robin, thank you so much forjoining me today. Let's talk weddings.
That is my favorite thing to do. Where can we find Spotlight Bridle
(00:45):
does get a little bit confusing.We have just moved and we are actually
a part of the Grainery. Weare attached to them. So we're on
the west side of Bushwhackers. Mostpeople are familiar with that area next to
the venue up on that west side. A lot of people got rings Christmas
for Valentine's Day. Let's talk weddings. Now we're going to talk about the
traditional weddings. We're going to talkmaybe about some of the maybe not so
(01:08):
traditional, and so I want tostart out with there used to be and
maybe there still is. You canhelp me on this, There used to
be what seems like a traditional weddingseason. Has that kind of eased a
little or gone away or gone awayall together? That is a great question.
We see Actually September and October,October I would say, would be
the number one month for weddings.And I know from what I've heard October
(01:32):
twelfth of twenty twenty four, Ibelieve. So this coming up October is
going to be the bye week forthe Husker games. So we're going to
have a lot of weddings, Ibelieve, coming up on that date.
So an if lan ahead, ifyou're listening outside of Nebraska, Yeah,
that's a big deal. Absolutely,you gotta get married on a bye week
(01:53):
if you're doing it in the fall. So we used to see bride's wanted
to be the jew bride, andnow it's just kind of all over the
place, it is. So thedresses have changed, I'm sure, yes,
So at Spotlight, Bridle tell meabout some of the dresses. Absolutely,
and the bottom line is it's notnecessarily what's trending, and we do
(02:14):
have, of course that if abride wants to go with, you know,
a trend, However, it's kindof what her personality is because a
dress is going to be a veryself expression of garment for them and it's
a one time, hopefully deal thatis meaningful to them. So our stylists
will kind of help them to findthat dress of their dreams. Right now,
(02:36):
we are seeing a lot of thosefitted styles or that more simple,
elegant, sophisticated type of things witha mix of a boho with has those
three D floral prints on it,which is a lot of fun. So
either way, whichever way you decideto go, our styles will kind of
help you and put that spotlight onyou. It's always a really exciting day
(02:58):
for a bride to come in andstart trying und oh. Yes, that's
going to be a fun time foryou guys too. Yes, And we
love to be part of that memorywith them, just to kind of help
them expand and be able to bringthat vision to life. What is your
favorite story of a look from afamily member that the bride may not have
seen Okay, I do have agreat story for that, Lucia. So
(03:21):
we had a bride. She wasnot a dress person, first of all,
just to preface this, So shecame in with an idea in her
mind. If I'm going to geta gown, it's going to be something
that is very very simple. Ido not want the frills. I do
not want the lace. I donot want you know, the big poof
mother insisted, we are going toput on the biggest gown in the store
(03:42):
that we can find, the longesttrain with all the bling bling on it,
and to top it off, let'sput a tr on top. So
her face was priceless. However,she humored her mother. She came out
in the dress and she, youknow, had a lot of fun with
it. She obviously did not gowith that style, but fun story and
the look of horror on this poorbride's face. But did the mom like
(04:05):
it? She did, She lovedit. She wanted her to go down
in that princess dress. Well,we talked about the dresses, but let's
go back a little bit. Youjust got engaged. Yes, what's the
first thing you do? So ninetimes out of ten, the first thing
a bride is going to do iseither look for that venue because that's going
to help kind of set the prefaceof what she wants for her dress,
(04:27):
and we're going to help with thedate setting that is exactly correct and the
time of year, which our styleswill then kind of help put that together
for her and find that vision thatshe's looking for to help her look her
best on her wedding day. Soyou've got the venue, yes, and
which, as we said, kindof suggests that this is the date you
have to do it, because thisis the date that you want to be
at this venue. That's what wehave opened. So that's what you get,
(04:49):
all right, So you've got thevenue. What do you do next?
Okay, So once you get thatvenue, then that's when you would
come and see us. We aregoing to help you find your dress.
A lot of times bride will goon to Pinterest. Pinterest is huge for
us. We actually combine the socialmedia type of things with the instore experience
in our store, so that's kindof helpful. Brides are very excited to
(05:12):
learn that these dresses do exist becausea lot of times you go on pinterests
great ideas, however, finding thator where to get that is a whole
nother ballgame. So when they comeinto our store, we may have that
dress already set aside for them thatthey found on Pinterest, because they'll share
their Pinterest board with us and theyare amazed how we can help put that
together. Oh if you ever hadsomebody come in and say, I just
(05:34):
got my dress that I ordered onlinefrom some website and it is not what
I ordered in my weddings in twoweeks? Oh yes, we have had
that. Wee okay, So wehad a bride that happened to she bought
a dress from us the day ofher wedding. Oh my goodness, and
my daughter was there. She helpedher find a dress that was perfect that
(05:54):
she was looking for, and amazingly, she did not even need alterations,
which is not so I think.You know, things were really working out
for her that day and the starswere shining down on her. Was she
panic and with somebody constantly having sayingclean NEX streategies? Oh yes, And
she came in her hair and makeupwas already done. Oh. We all
literally got her in this dress.And I even offered to drive her if
(06:18):
I needed a driver across town tomake it on time for her wedding.
That is a full service store.Oh yes, so let's talk about So
you've got the venue, you've gotthe dress, or at least the dress
ordered that picked out. Yes,what do you do next? So after
the dress is ordered at our store, then we can kind of talk about
your wedding party. So brides tendto feel like they can wait a little
(06:42):
bit on those bridesmaid's dresses. However, because of world circumstances, sometimes shipping
for dresses can take a little bitlonger than anticipated, and we don't want
bride stressing out, so our goalis to get them men as soon as
possible. They can take up tofour months for bridesmaids dresses, believe it
or not. To comment, yes, oh my goodness. And that is
something that is shocking because a lotof times you think, oh, I'll
(07:03):
just go in. It'll be fine. I'll just grab that dress off the
rack and I'll go We wish itwere that simple, However, it is
not, especially when you have differentsizing or colors that you have in mind,
and then you have to get allof the bridesmaids in at different times
for the sizings that could really takesome time. It could take some time.
And the gentlemen as well, welike to tell them two to three
(07:24):
months for tuxedos or suits, andwe have both of those options available as
well. What is the typical numberof bridesmaids today? So today you're looking
probably five to eight bridesmaids? Wow? Yes, that is two, three,
maybe four, five to eight.Five to eight is what we've been
seeing. That's a busy dance floor. That is a very busy dance floor.
(07:46):
Yes, for sure. If you'veseen that change over the years.
Yeah, we used to have youmight have one to four bridesmaids, and
even during I believe COVID that thatwas the case because there weren't a lot
of weddings actually going on. Butafterwards, you know, they limited the
number of guests, et cetera.Now they're going back to I'm having a
party, so I'm inviting everyone thatI can conjure up, friends from the
(08:07):
past, relatives, whoever I canget to stand up with me and celebrate
on that day. Do you seethis as a maybe a younger bride with
that many bridesmaids, You probably don'tsee that in the maybe ces forties.
That is true. A lot oftimes with brides maybe are in their thirties
to forties, they will have justone if that. A lot of times
I'm even seeing where they're not havingas many or any at all. It's
(08:31):
just the bride and the groom onthat day with the guests that they invite,
and it's a little bit smaller wedding. And you know, since we're
talking about maybe an older bride,do you find brides that come in and
think, well, I just Ijust want a simple dress. It's a
it's a second wedding. And thenthey get there and they see these gorgeous
dresses and maybe she didn't have thatbig wedding at the first time around.
(08:54):
Yes, that does happen quite frequently. Once they actually see the dresses and
they start looking around, maybe it'ssomething like you said, they did not
have that typical wedding that they hadwanted to have years ago, and they
see that dress that's hanging there andit's just calling their name and they have
to try that dress on and theyput it on and they've totally changed their
mind. I'm gonna wear it becauseit means something to me and I want
(09:18):
pictures that I can look back onand know that I got the dress that
I originally wanted. Robin, we'vetalked about the bride's dresses, we've talked
about the Texas and we're going totalk about those in just a little bit
again. But we're planning our wedding. Can you tell us about some of
the things that we should be doing. Absolutely, that's the best part.
So things that we would suggest toour brides is definitely starting early, and
(09:41):
it's recommended that you start your dressshopping about twelve months before your wedding.
Now we can work with less.We do sell dresses off the rack and
things like that as well for them, but to get that full experience and
to not stress you out, wedefinitely recommend that twelve month period. Again,
with world events and things impacting shippingtimes and so forth and so on,
which you never know if that wouldcome back around, you know.
(10:01):
But also another thing to think aboutis those alterations at the end of the
whole process and sometimes that can bea busy time for our seamstress as well.
And the last thing that we wouldwant for a bride is to stress
about her dress. We want totake that away from her. So definitely
avoid starting later just because you're goingto have a lot more time. And
(10:24):
another thing lucy is allowing yourself tosay yes to your dress spotlight. Our
stylists want to get to know thebride. We ask questions and learn about
her vision for her wedding again withpinterest and so forth before she comes in.
And often brides feel like they needto shop around to several places.
But in our experience, if theywork with our stylusts and they plan ahead
(10:48):
honestly, when they come into ourswore, they maybe try on five to
seven dresses max, and they willfind the one. So that's really exciting.
Does it make it even more difficultif you do try on more dresses?
You know, start to think,wait, was that on that dress?
And that dress? That is exactlywhat happens. They get very confused,
you know, because you've tried onso many because there's so many styles
(11:11):
that are available to them, andthey're thinking, now, what was it
about that first dress that I likedbetter than this stress? So that's why
we encourage them to stick with thatand usually that's going to help them stay
focused and on track. Another thingthat we suggest is just trusting your stylist.
I mean your stylist is trained tolisten to the details of what the
bride wants and can match their likesto our inventory. Again with our pinterest
(11:35):
and so forth, that we doour process and have a style or two
picked out before they even come intothe store, which is very exciting because
then they feel like you are trulylistening to what they're telling you and not
just giving them dresses that maybe they'renot even interested in to try on when
they come in. We work withdesigners who offer some customizations for their dresses,
so it's not just that's it.You get what you see, and
(11:56):
we also have a seamstress who canwork with those finishing touches to really bring
her vision to life. Would yousay that you would have dresses that would
fit basically every budget. Yes,we have sale dresses oftentimes, so I
want brides of all budgets to feelcomfortable coming to us. I mean,
the main focus is going to beon them. You know, we are
(12:18):
okay with wherever they want to be. We just want to make sure that
we're helping them to get what they'relooking for and not stress about that.
What are some of the things thatwe should not be doing. Okay,
yes, great question, Lisie.So things that we definitely would recommend is
limiting your guests. Numbers that we'vepulled up have shown that too many opinions
can actually confuse the bride and makeit more difficult for her to make that
(12:39):
decision. And it's not that shedoesn't love all of her family and friends.
However, she wants to be ableto make that decision. When scheduling
your experience, Definitely choose those whoseopinions are of the most value to you
that you would really appreciate them beingwith you. It's recommended that you limit
your guests to know more than fourAnd again, the reason is you're going
(13:01):
to enjoy that experience so much moreand allow yourself to say yes when you
do find that dress of your dreams. And another thing that I would definitely
encourage the brides to avoid is youcan easily be overwhelmed because there's over five
hundred active styles available to them atany one time. So how do you
know that this is the one whenyou're in that dress? And really the
(13:24):
details of your wedding are factors thatwill go into the style of your dress.
Every dress we have is beautiful inits own circumstance, so you know,
wherever you have it, whatever themeyou're going with, we will definitely
help you to narrow down those choicesand your styles will help you quickly be
able to find that style that's goingto match up with your vision. Another
(13:46):
thing that I don't want to leaveout, and this is very important,
is don't forget about the bridesmaids andthe grooms men. A lot of time.
You're like, I got that dress, I've got plenty of time.
Again, I know we chatted aboutthat a little bit earlier, so I
won't go into too much detail,but you know, we do have a
full selection of bridesmaid's dresses and evensuits or tuxedos for the grooms because a
lot of times anymore, we're seeinga lot more suits coming through, and
(14:07):
that's perfect. We can also matchup your colors and things. The nice
thing about a one stop shop isonce you do pick out those bridesmaid's dresses
and we can hold those up nextto your dress. We also have the
tuxedo vests and things in stock thatwe can hold next to those dresses and
show you how those will blend together. So we're going to find something that's
going to ensure that everyone in thewedding party is going to look their best
(14:28):
on your wedding day. I mean, the only real difference between a suit
and a tuxedo is your the buttonsthat are on there and lapel. But
a lot of times, you know, if you want a little bit more
of that casual, rustic vibe,you may not want to go with a
full tuxedo, or they want towear their boots or something like that.
And we're seeing a lot of thattrending right now. So just ways that
we can help mix and match andpull that together, and we can even
(14:52):
show them some examples of that whenthey come in. Let's talk about the
store, because the stores you've beenin business for ten years, we have,
you've moved recently. We have movedrecently. We've been there about a
month and there is Spotlight Bridle,Spotlight bri Yes Spotlight Bridle at the Granary
just off of seventy second Main Street. When we got started ten years ago,
we were approached by a gal whohad her bridle shop inside of all
(15:16):
of the bluffs. She wanted toretire and my mother in law was doing
the seamstress work for her and approachedus and said, would this be something
that you may want to consider?Because I worked for my mother in law
her bridle shop thirty plus years ago, and so that was always in my
heart. I loved helping brides andgrooms put their weddings together. And my
daughter was working for her part time, and she was approached by this gal
(15:41):
as well, and she wanted toknow she might want something because she wanted
to get into the bridle industry.However, being young, you know how
that is, maybe we don't havethe funds available or the know how quite
yet. So she wasn't really comfortablewith that. So I went home that
night and I was kind of ponderingthis and my husband came around the corner
and we both had that same look, and I said, do you think
I should do this? Absolutely?I think you should do this. And
(16:03):
so Spotlight was born. We tookover, we rebranded that store. Ten
months later, we had a storein West Omaha as well, and today
we are We changed from Spotlight Formalwareoriginally to Spotlight Bridle. We had a
few setbacks, just as a lotof businesses can experience, you know,
First, there was a fire atthe old location, but we knew that
(16:25):
we wanted to keep going. Something, some higher power, something kept us
moving forward and we still wanted tokeep helping those brides. And then we
had a few other setbacks. ObviouslyCOVID set back a lot of businesses,
and so we were it was aconsideration, what do we want to do?
But for whatever reason, we knewthat brides needed what we did.
I always had it in a heartbecause my experience years ago had not been
(16:45):
what I provide my brides today.It was more of here's some dresses,
go look, make your decisions.And now it's a little bit more personable,
and so when people come in,we put the spotlight on them and
treat them like family. I wantto know your vision and I want to
know how we can actually help orrefer you to other vendors that maybe could
help them as well. Did youhave to have dresses and colors that were
(17:10):
more camera ready during the COVID Itjust occurred to me while you were saying
that, because I thought I wouldthink that a lot of them were on
closed circuit for family members. Thatcouldn't come Very true, very true,
And that is a great, greatquestion, Lucy, But yes, we
definitely did. We saw a lotmore vibrant colors that were coming through.
I mean we're even talking reds,which I hadn't seen in a while,
(17:33):
right, you know, some wereI mean they kind of steered clear of
the pastels and things like that.They were going with more jewel tones and
things like that that just really popped. And even those white wedding dresses have
kind of come back around. Itseemed like for a while we were looking
at a lot of ivories or blushcolor undertones, and then here came the
white back because it actually is morevibrant too, and bold, and it
(17:56):
makes those colors pop and blend together. So, like you just said,
when they did those videos, thelive videos or however they did that and
stream those people could see those dressesa little bit better. I think I
called it closed circuit. That justshows my age. If we're closed circuit,
we're probably right there. Okay,So tell me a little bit about
(18:18):
the involvement. You talked about beinginvolved in the community, and you really
are. I think we've probably seenthis on the news but didn't realize that
it was the Spotlight Bridle that wasdoing that. But prom dresses and helping
out in the community. Yes,so we offer prom dresses as well as
tuxedos for the gentlemen going to prom, and we actually have what's called a
(18:41):
give back program, and so ifthat school comes in, we will help
give back to them. We trackit. It's really simple and one thing
that the girls appreciate is that wedo register all of the prom dresses,
so no one from your school canget that same dress. It's very important
if you do not want to walkin and see five people in that same
dress. It is so important,I know so, but yes, that's
(19:02):
we could definitely help them. Wenever lose that's no, no, that's
right. The older we do notwant to look like anyone else. We
want to be unique and that's whatwe pride ourselves into is finding those unique
styles to help those ladies out.But yes, we will give back a
percentage back to those schools for tuxedosas well as dresses and the community in
general. So for example, Lucy, we also help different nonprofit organizations.
(19:27):
So if you're looking for dresses foryour gentlemen or tuxedos, we can also
outfit them as well, and wewill give back to whatever organization it is
that they are supporting for that event. They can come by and see us
and it's real easy for us totrack for them. There's a wedding expo
at the CHI on the seventeenth.Are you involved with that? We absolutely
(19:47):
are. It's going to be atCHI Health on Sunday, which is Saint
Patrick's Day, March seventeenth, fromeleven am. It will be at CHI
Health Center on in March seventeenth,Saint Patrick's Day, from twelve pm to
four pm. So stop by andsee us and we can. We have
some really fun stuff for the bride. So if they do schedule their appointment
(20:10):
when they come in, we havea fun little secret envelope and we'll give
them more details when they stop bythe booth. Will you have green dresses?
Yes, we will, We haveto. Okay, I'll find a
good plot. Okay, spot todrop that Robin Harrison's Spotlight Bridle. Thanks
so much for joining me today onhere's more. Tell us again how to
(20:30):
find you at venues at the Granaryyep, absolutely, Lucie. So we
are just off of seventy second andMain Street and Ralston on the west side
of Bushwhackers right next to the venue. Thanks again for joining me today.
Thank you Lucy
I It's Lucy Chapman and welcome toanother podcast. Here's More, you know,
speaking of Here's more, Since wejust came out of Valentine's Day and
we had a chance to talk tosome folks in the bridal industry, and
lots of people have gotten rings forValentine's Day, so I thought, you
know what, let's just continue thisconversation. Let's talk to somebody who is
(00:24):
all about getting your wedding planned withthe dress and the tucks and so many
other issues that go along with thatwedding day, things you might not think
of. So I've got Robin Harris, the owner of Spotlight Bridle in studio.
Robin, thank you so much forjoining me today. Let's talk weddings.
That is my favorite thing to do. Where can we find Spotlight Bridle
(00:45):
does get a little bit confusing.We have just moved and we are actually
a part of the Grainery. Weare attached to them. So we're on
the west side of Bushwhackers. Mostpeople are familiar with that area next to
the venue up on that west side. A lot of people got rings Christmas
for Valentine's Day. Let's talk weddings. Now we're going to talk about the
traditional weddings. We're going to talkmaybe about some of the maybe not so
(01:08):
traditional, and so I want tostart out with there used to be and
maybe there still is. You canhelp me on this, There used to
be what seems like a traditional weddingseason. Has that kind of eased a
little or gone away or gone awayall together? That is a great question.
We see Actually September and October,October I would say, would be
the number one month for weddings.And I know from what I've heard October
(01:32):
twelfth of twenty twenty four, Ibelieve. So this coming up October is
going to be the bye week forthe Husker games. So we're going to
have a lot of weddings, Ibelieve, coming up on that date.
So an if lan ahead, ifyou're listening outside of Nebraska, Yeah,
that's a big deal. Absolutely,you gotta get married on a bye week
(01:53):
if you're doing it in the fall. So we used to see bride's wanted
to be the jew bride, andnow it's just kind of all over the
place, it is. So thedresses have changed, I'm sure, yes,
So at Spotlight, Bridle tell meabout some of the dresses. Absolutely,
and the bottom line is it's notnecessarily what's trending, and we do
(02:14):
have, of course that if abride wants to go with, you know,
a trend, However, it's kindof what her personality is because a
dress is going to be a veryself expression of garment for them and it's
a one time, hopefully deal thatis meaningful to them. So our stylists
will kind of help them to findthat dress of their dreams. Right now,
(02:36):
we are seeing a lot of thosefitted styles or that more simple,
elegant, sophisticated type of things witha mix of a boho with has those
three D floral prints on it,which is a lot of fun. So
either way, whichever way you decideto go, our styles will kind of
help you and put that spotlight onyou. It's always a really exciting day
(02:58):
for a bride to come in andstart trying und oh. Yes, that's
going to be a fun time foryou guys too. Yes, And we
love to be part of that memorywith them, just to kind of help
them expand and be able to bringthat vision to life. What is your
favorite story of a look from afamily member that the bride may not have
seen Okay, I do have agreat story for that, Lucia. So
(03:21):
we had a bride. She wasnot a dress person, first of all,
just to preface this, So shecame in with an idea in her
mind. If I'm going to geta gown, it's going to be something
that is very very simple. Ido not want the frills. I do
not want the lace. I donot want you know, the big poof
mother insisted, we are going toput on the biggest gown in the store
(03:42):
that we can find, the longesttrain with all the bling bling on it,
and to top it off, let'sput a tr on top. So
her face was priceless. However,she humored her mother. She came out
in the dress and she, youknow, had a lot of fun with
it. She obviously did not gowith that style, but fun story and
the look of horror on this poorbride's face. But did the mom like
(04:05):
it? She did, She lovedit. She wanted her to go down
in that princess dress. Well,we talked about the dresses, but let's
go back a little bit. Youjust got engaged. Yes, what's the
first thing you do? So ninetimes out of ten, the first thing
a bride is going to do iseither look for that venue because that's going
to help kind of set the prefaceof what she wants for her dress,
(04:27):
and we're going to help with thedate setting that is exactly correct and the
time of year, which our styleswill then kind of help put that together
for her and find that vision thatshe's looking for to help her look her
best on her wedding day. Soyou've got the venue, yes, and
which, as we said, kindof suggests that this is the date you
have to do it, because thisis the date that you want to be
at this venue. That's what wehave opened. So that's what you get,
(04:49):
all right, So you've got thevenue. What do you do next?
Okay, So once you get thatvenue, then that's when you would
come and see us. We aregoing to help you find your dress.
A lot of times bride will goon to Pinterest. Pinterest is huge for
us. We actually combine the socialmedia type of things with the instore experience
in our store, so that's kindof helpful. Brides are very excited to
(05:12):
learn that these dresses do exist becausea lot of times you go on pinterests
great ideas, however, finding thator where to get that is a whole
nother ballgame. So when they comeinto our store, we may have that
dress already set aside for them thatthey found on Pinterest, because they'll share
their Pinterest board with us and theyare amazed how we can help put that
together. Oh if you ever hadsomebody come in and say, I just
(05:34):
got my dress that I ordered onlinefrom some website and it is not what
I ordered in my weddings in twoweeks? Oh yes, we have had
that. Wee okay, So wehad a bride that happened to she bought
a dress from us the day ofher wedding. Oh my goodness, and
my daughter was there. She helpedher find a dress that was perfect that
(05:54):
she was looking for, and amazingly, she did not even need alterations,
which is not so I think.You know, things were really working out
for her that day and the starswere shining down on her. Was she
panic and with somebody constantly having sayingclean NEX streategies? Oh yes, And
she came in her hair and makeupwas already done. Oh. We all
literally got her in this dress.And I even offered to drive her if
(06:18):
I needed a driver across town tomake it on time for her wedding.
That is a full service store.Oh yes, so let's talk about So
you've got the venue, you've gotthe dress, or at least the dress
ordered that picked out. Yes,what do you do next? So after
the dress is ordered at our store, then we can kind of talk about
your wedding party. So brides tendto feel like they can wait a little
(06:42):
bit on those bridesmaid's dresses. However, because of world circumstances, sometimes shipping
for dresses can take a little bitlonger than anticipated, and we don't want
bride stressing out, so our goalis to get them men as soon as
possible. They can take up tofour months for bridesmaids dresses, believe it
or not. To comment, yes, oh my goodness. And that is
something that is shocking because a lotof times you think, oh, I'll
(07:03):
just go in. It'll be fine. I'll just grab that dress off the
rack and I'll go We wish itwere that simple, However, it is
not, especially when you have differentsizing or colors that you have in mind,
and then you have to get allof the bridesmaids in at different times
for the sizings that could really takesome time. It could take some time.
And the gentlemen as well, welike to tell them two to three
(07:24):
months for tuxedos or suits, andwe have both of those options available as
well. What is the typical numberof bridesmaids today? So today you're looking
probably five to eight bridesmaids? Wow? Yes, that is two, three,
maybe four, five to eight.Five to eight is what we've been
seeing. That's a busy dance floor. That is a very busy dance floor.
(07:46):
Yes, for sure. If you'veseen that change over the years.
Yeah, we used to have youmight have one to four bridesmaids, and
even during I believe COVID that thatwas the case because there weren't a lot
of weddings actually going on. Butafterwards, you know, they limited the
number of guests, et cetera.Now they're going back to I'm having a
party, so I'm inviting everyone thatI can conjure up, friends from the
(08:07):
past, relatives, whoever I canget to stand up with me and celebrate
on that day. Do you seethis as a maybe a younger bride with
that many bridesmaids, You probably don'tsee that in the maybe ces forties.
That is true. A lot oftimes with brides maybe are in their thirties
to forties, they will have justone if that. A lot of times
I'm even seeing where they're not havingas many or any at all. It's
(08:31):
just the bride and the groom onthat day with the guests that they invite,
and it's a little bit smaller wedding. And you know, since we're
talking about maybe an older bride,do you find brides that come in and
think, well, I just Ijust want a simple dress. It's a
it's a second wedding. And thenthey get there and they see these gorgeous
dresses and maybe she didn't have thatbig wedding at the first time around.
(08:54):
Yes, that does happen quite frequently. Once they actually see the dresses and
they start looking around, maybe it'ssomething like you said, they did not
have that typical wedding that they hadwanted to have years ago, and they
see that dress that's hanging there andit's just calling their name and they have
to try that dress on and theyput it on and they've totally changed their
mind. I'm gonna wear it becauseit means something to me and I want
(09:18):
pictures that I can look back onand know that I got the dress that
I originally wanted. Robin, we'vetalked about the bride's dresses, we've talked
about the Texas and we're going totalk about those in just a little bit
again. But we're planning our wedding. Can you tell us about some of
the things that we should be doing. Absolutely, that's the best part.
So things that we would suggest toour brides is definitely starting early, and
(09:41):
it's recommended that you start your dressshopping about twelve months before your wedding.
Now we can work with less.We do sell dresses off the rack and
things like that as well for them, but to get that full experience and
to not stress you out, wedefinitely recommend that twelve month period. Again,
with world events and things impacting shippingtimes and so forth and so on,
which you never know if that wouldcome back around, you know.
(10:01):
But also another thing to think aboutis those alterations at the end of the
whole process and sometimes that can bea busy time for our seamstress as well.
And the last thing that we wouldwant for a bride is to stress
about her dress. We want totake that away from her. So definitely
avoid starting later just because you're goingto have a lot more time. And
(10:24):
another thing lucy is allowing yourself tosay yes to your dress spotlight. Our
stylists want to get to know thebride. We ask questions and learn about
her vision for her wedding again withpinterest and so forth before she comes in.
And often brides feel like they needto shop around to several places.
But in our experience, if theywork with our stylusts and they plan ahead
(10:48):
honestly, when they come into ourswore, they maybe try on five to
seven dresses max, and they willfind the one. So that's really exciting.
Does it make it even more difficultif you do try on more dresses?
You know, start to think,wait, was that on that dress?
And that dress? That is exactlywhat happens. They get very confused,
you know, because you've tried onso many because there's so many styles
(11:11):
that are available to them, andthey're thinking, now, what was it
about that first dress that I likedbetter than this stress? So that's why
we encourage them to stick with thatand usually that's going to help them stay
focused and on track. Another thingthat we suggest is just trusting your stylist.
I mean your stylist is trained tolisten to the details of what the
bride wants and can match their likesto our inventory. Again with our pinterest
(11:35):
and so forth, that we doour process and have a style or two
picked out before they even come intothe store, which is very exciting because
then they feel like you are trulylistening to what they're telling you and not
just giving them dresses that maybe they'renot even interested in to try on when
they come in. We work withdesigners who offer some customizations for their dresses,
so it's not just that's it.You get what you see, and
(11:56):
we also have a seamstress who canwork with those finishing touches to really bring
her vision to life. Would yousay that you would have dresses that would
fit basically every budget. Yes,we have sale dresses oftentimes, so I
want brides of all budgets to feelcomfortable coming to us. I mean,
the main focus is going to beon them. You know, we are
(12:18):
okay with wherever they want to be. We just want to make sure that
we're helping them to get what they'relooking for and not stress about that.
What are some of the things thatwe should not be doing. Okay,
yes, great question, Lisie.So things that we definitely would recommend is
limiting your guests. Numbers that we'vepulled up have shown that too many opinions
can actually confuse the bride and makeit more difficult for her to make that
(12:39):
decision. And it's not that shedoesn't love all of her family and friends.
However, she wants to be ableto make that decision. When scheduling
your experience, Definitely choose those whoseopinions are of the most value to you
that you would really appreciate them beingwith you. It's recommended that you limit
your guests to know more than fourAnd again, the reason is you're going
(13:01):
to enjoy that experience so much moreand allow yourself to say yes when you
do find that dress of your dreams. And another thing that I would definitely
encourage the brides to avoid is youcan easily be overwhelmed because there's over five
hundred active styles available to them atany one time. So how do you
know that this is the one whenyou're in that dress? And really the
(13:24):
details of your wedding are factors thatwill go into the style of your dress.
Every dress we have is beautiful inits own circumstance, so you know,
wherever you have it, whatever themeyou're going with, we will definitely
help you to narrow down those choicesand your styles will help you quickly be
able to find that style that's goingto match up with your vision. Another
(13:46):
thing that I don't want to leaveout, and this is very important,
is don't forget about the bridesmaids andthe grooms men. A lot of time.
You're like, I got that dress, I've got plenty of time.
Again, I know we chatted aboutthat a little bit earlier, so I
won't go into too much detail,but you know, we do have a
full selection of bridesmaid's dresses and evensuits or tuxedos for the grooms because a
lot of times anymore, we're seeinga lot more suits coming through, and
(14:07):
that's perfect. We can also matchup your colors and things. The nice
thing about a one stop shop isonce you do pick out those bridesmaid's dresses
and we can hold those up nextto your dress. We also have the
tuxedo vests and things in stock thatwe can hold next to those dresses and
show you how those will blend together. So we're going to find something that's
going to ensure that everyone in thewedding party is going to look their best
(14:28):
on your wedding day. I mean, the only real difference between a suit
and a tuxedo is your the buttonsthat are on there and lapel. But
a lot of times, you know, if you want a little bit more
of that casual, rustic vibe,you may not want to go with a
full tuxedo, or they want towear their boots or something like that.
And we're seeing a lot of thattrending right now. So just ways that
we can help mix and match andpull that together, and we can even
(14:52):
show them some examples of that whenthey come in. Let's talk about the
store, because the stores you've beenin business for ten years, we have,
you've moved recently. We have movedrecently. We've been there about a
month and there is Spotlight Bridle,Spotlight bri Yes Spotlight Bridle at the Granary
just off of seventy second Main Street. When we got started ten years ago,
we were approached by a gal whohad her bridle shop inside of all
(15:16):
of the bluffs. She wanted toretire and my mother in law was doing
the seamstress work for her and approachedus and said, would this be something
that you may want to consider?Because I worked for my mother in law
her bridle shop thirty plus years ago, and so that was always in my
heart. I loved helping brides andgrooms put their weddings together. And my
daughter was working for her part time, and she was approached by this gal
(15:41):
as well, and she wanted toknow she might want something because she wanted
to get into the bridle industry.However, being young, you know how
that is, maybe we don't havethe funds available or the know how quite
yet. So she wasn't really comfortablewith that. So I went home that
night and I was kind of ponderingthis and my husband came around the corner
and we both had that same look, and I said, do you think
I should do this? Absolutely?I think you should do this. And
(16:03):
so Spotlight was born. We tookover, we rebranded that store. Ten
months later, we had a storein West Omaha as well, and today
we are We changed from Spotlight Formalwareoriginally to Spotlight Bridle. We had a
few setbacks, just as a lotof businesses can experience, you know,
First, there was a fire atthe old location, but we knew that
(16:25):
we wanted to keep going. Something, some higher power, something kept us
moving forward and we still wanted tokeep helping those brides. And then we
had a few other setbacks. ObviouslyCOVID set back a lot of businesses,
and so we were it was aconsideration, what do we want to do?
But for whatever reason, we knewthat brides needed what we did.
I always had it in a heartbecause my experience years ago had not been
(16:45):
what I provide my brides today.It was more of here's some dresses,
go look, make your decisions.And now it's a little bit more personable,
and so when people come in,we put the spotlight on them and
treat them like family. I wantto know your vision and I want to
know how we can actually help orrefer you to other vendors that maybe could
help them as well. Did youhave to have dresses and colors that were
(17:10):
more camera ready during the COVID Itjust occurred to me while you were saying
that, because I thought I wouldthink that a lot of them were on
closed circuit for family members. Thatcouldn't come Very true, very true,
And that is a great, greatquestion, Lucy, But yes, we
definitely did. We saw a lotmore vibrant colors that were coming through.
I mean we're even talking reds,which I hadn't seen in a while,
(17:33):
right, you know, some wereI mean they kind of steered clear of
the pastels and things like that.They were going with more jewel tones and
things like that that just really popped. And even those white wedding dresses have
kind of come back around. Itseemed like for a while we were looking
at a lot of ivories or blushcolor undertones, and then here came the
white back because it actually is morevibrant too, and bold, and it
(17:56):
makes those colors pop and blend together. So, like you just said,
when they did those videos, thelive videos or however they did that and
stream those people could see those dressesa little bit better. I think I
called it closed circuit. That justshows my age. If we're closed circuit,
we're probably right there. Okay,So tell me a little bit about
(18:18):
the involvement. You talked about beinginvolved in the community, and you really
are. I think we've probably seenthis on the news but didn't realize that
it was the Spotlight Bridle that wasdoing that. But prom dresses and helping
out in the community. Yes,so we offer prom dresses as well as
tuxedos for the gentlemen going to prom, and we actually have what's called a
(18:41):
give back program, and so ifthat school comes in, we will help
give back to them. We trackit. It's really simple and one thing
that the girls appreciate is that wedo register all of the prom dresses,
so no one from your school canget that same dress. It's very important
if you do not want to walkin and see five people in that same
dress. It is so important,I know so, but yes, that's
(19:02):
we could definitely help them. Wenever lose that's no, no, that's
right. The older we do notwant to look like anyone else. We
want to be unique and that's whatwe pride ourselves into is finding those unique
styles to help those ladies out.But yes, we will give back a
percentage back to those schools for tuxedosas well as dresses and the community in
general. So for example, Lucy, we also help different nonprofit organizations.
(19:27):
So if you're looking for dresses foryour gentlemen or tuxedos, we can also
outfit them as well, and wewill give back to whatever organization it is
that they are supporting for that event. They can come by and see us
and it's real easy for us totrack for them. There's a wedding expo
at the CHI on the seventeenth.Are you involved with that? We absolutely
(19:47):
are. It's going to be atCHI Health on Sunday, which is Saint
Patrick's Day, March seventeenth, fromeleven am. It will be at CHI
Health Center on in March seventeenth,Saint Patrick's Day, from twelve pm to
four pm. So stop by andsee us and we can. We have
some really fun stuff for the bride. So if they do schedule their appointment
(20:10):
when they come in, we havea fun little secret envelope and we'll give
them more details when they stop bythe booth. Will you have green dresses?
Yes, we will, We haveto. Okay, I'll find a
good plot. Okay, spot todrop that Robin Harrison's Spotlight Bridle. Thanks
so much for joining me today onhere's more. Tell us again how to
(20:30):
find you at venues at the Granaryyep, absolutely, Lucie. So we
are just off of seventy second andMain Street and Ralston on the west side
of Bushwhackers right next to the venue. Thanks again for joining me today.
Thank you Lucy
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