September 10, 2024 • 40 mins
Join Sarah, founder of Loved Twice Bridal in Beverly Hills, as she shares how she turned a pandemic challenge into a thriving luxury consignment shop. With 13 years in the bridal industry, Sarah reveals strategies for competing with big brands, the importance of sustainability, and the truth about secondhand wedding dresses. Whether you're a bride-to-be or an entrepreneur, this episode is packed with insights and inspiration for creative and sustainable success.
Check out Love Twice Bridal:
www.lovedtwicebridal.com/confessions
instagram.com/lovedtwicebridal
tiktok.com/@lovedtwicebridal
You can watch the full episodes on our Youtube
Youtube - Confessionsofawannabeitgirl
Confessions of A Wannabe It Girl’s TikTok:
@wannabeitgirlpodcast
Confessions of A Wannabe It Girl’s IG:
@confessionsofawannabeitgirl
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hi guys and welcome back to Confessions of a Wannabe
it Girl.
Today's episode is recorded inthe beautiful Love Twice Bridal
Store located in Beverly Hills.
I'm so excited for you guys tomeet Sarah, the owner and
founder of Love Twice Bridal.
In this episode we are divinginto entrepreneurship how to
balance being a mother, a wife,her journey of becoming the
(00:26):
owner, the creator of Love TwiceBridal.
And, of course, when I saycreator, I mean founder.
But she really did come up withthis concept of having a luxury
consignment bridal shopHonestly, very crazy, very
innovative.
Of course, sarah did have 13years experience in the bridal
industry.
She's previously worked forAnthropologie Weddings, formerly
(00:46):
known as BHLDN and Pernovius,and she, of course, is a mother,
a wife, an entrepreneur and,honestly, just a boss.
We're diving into some tea inthe wedding industry.
We talk about how you can get asecond hand.
I put in air quotes.
Some of these dresses at LoveTwice Bridal haven't even been
worn and they've ended up in thevery amazing, trusted hands of
(01:08):
Love Twice Bridal.
So if you are deep in yourbridal era, you're looking for a
dress, you cannot miss thisepisode and if you're looking to
shake up this space and think alittle outside of the box.
Zara has some great insight.
So let's dive in, guys.
Some great insight.
So let's dive in, guys.
Welcome to Confessions of aWannabe it Girl.
(01:28):
I'm your host, marley Fregging,and I'm here to help you filter
out all the bullshit and becomethe next it Girl.
This podcast explores thereality of what it really takes
to make it out there.
As it turns out, it is way lessInstagrammable than I thought
it was going to be.
I'm still very much a work inprogress, but there's simply
nothing else I'd rather be doingthan chasing my dreams.
(01:49):
So let's learn from my mistakesand work together to achieve
our dreams with more confidence,clarity and direction.
Let's get after it All right,guys.
Welcome back to Confessions ofa Wannabe it Girl.
I am joined by the lovely Sarahfrom Love Twice Bridal.
Thank you so much for beinghere.
Thank you for having me.
I'm very excited to talk to youabout all things bridal, bridal
(02:11):
industry, entrepreneurship, howwe got there.
You're also the, do you say?
You're the owner, the creatorof the concept.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
I say owner and founder.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
Founder yes.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Someone asked me if I was CEO and I was like, I guess
.
Yeah, sure, I don't technicallyhave a C-suite, but call me
whatever you want, we'll take it.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
But for those who don't know, how do you explain
what Love Twice Bridal is?
It's not your traditionalnormal per se bridal shop.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
No so easy.
Elevator pitch Love TwiceBridal is a luxury consignment
store that bridges the gapsbetween sellers and buyers
looking to resell or buy asecondhand wedding dress.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Yeah Right, so yet something that sounds like so
essential to a very expensiveindustry.
Yet there wasn't really like aspace for this free, so let's
get into that.
What inspired you to focus onthe luxury bridal consignment?
Kind of a mouthful and alsolike I don't know.
It's just not like I don'tthink.
(03:11):
I mean, obviously I'm deep inmy bridal era, so like I think
about this thing, but I don'tknow, the day-to-day person
might not think about luxuryconsignment, bridal no.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
So I think let's kind of take it back to 2020.
I was store director at a majorflagship here in Beverly Hills
and, thick of the pandemic, shutdown canceled weddings.
I had to stick people withtheir contracts.
They would ask like, hey, youknow, my wedding got canceled,
we're not getting married inItaly, what do I do with my
dress?
And sorry, you have to take it.
(03:40):
But these are the resaleplatforms that you can use to
resell your dress.
And it kind of sucked because,like, they came to us to buy
their dress, so in theory theyshould be able to resell their
dress with us, but contract saysall sales are final.
I would give them these resaleplatforms and, sadly, a lot of
them yeah, exactly right, like alot of them just never see
another life.
And so that's really when I waslike there needs to be a place
(04:02):
where a bride can just drop herdress off sight unseen, leave
the work off to professionalsand then hopefully, if and when
it sells, you make back somemoney.
So that's really where the ideawas born out.
It was really the pandemic 2020.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Right, but we didn't just end up here in Beverly
Hills in a gorgeous consignmentshop.
There were steps along the way,I'm sure, yes, so pandemic hits
you shop.
There was steps along the way,I'm sure, so pandemic hits
you're still there.
When did you decide to leave?
And start.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
So I started with the company end of 2019.
Pandemic started March 2020.
I built the business model overthe summer, so June, july and
then formed an LLC in August,quit my job in October and then
had our pop-up location inJanuary of 2021.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
And what did that look like?
It was just so glamorous andperfect, right.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
It was a 600-square-foot corner spot at
the platform in Culver City.
Cute, it was four walls.
We had a makeshift iron barfitting room and it wasn't until
we built the space in literally24 hours that I realized the
curtains were sheer.
Good, very good.
I sent my sister out to Targetto go buy curtains and we, like
(05:10):
safety, pin them quickly so thatthey were doubled up and people
couldn't see through thewindows.
Right, that was a seven-weekspace and then moved into an
office space.
Believe it or not, that washome for about two years and
then we moved into this biggerspace October of 2023.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
So not too long ago, almost a year and how was those
bumps along the way, like, howdid you even find?
I mean, I feel like at somelevel, as I look around at all
the beautiful dresses, like it'seasy to find brides.
But then again it's like howdid you find brides to sell your
dresses?
Totally.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
And it's still something I do for fun, but
really it comes down to like,how do you get your name in
front of these people who don'totherwise know that you're an
option for them?
And so a lot of my pastimehobby building the brand was
going onto Facebook marketplaceand finding these listings and
telling the girl like hey, Istarted a brand, this is what we
do.
Can we help you sell your dress?
Girl like hey, I started abrand, this is what we do.
(06:07):
Can we help you sell your dress?
And it's so gratifying to getthose messages of girls who are
like, oh my gosh, yes, I needhelp.
I've been trying to sell it formonths.
Yeah, let's partner together.
And then we sell their dressand they're just so grateful and
we still do that.
It's just something fun we getto do.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
No, yeah, I mean, it sounds fun to look around for
wedding dresses all day.
It's a very easy thing to fallinto this scroll.
Yes, I want to dive into alittle bit about your journey in
the bridal space.
It didn't start here.
You'd been in the business fora while.
You were married quite young,tell us the journey.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
Yes, so I have been in the industry now for 13 years
.
It did start when I got married.
I was a senior in college whenmy husband and I decided to get
married.
It was 22.
Would I let my kids get marriedat 22?
No, but it led me here.
So whatever good things happen,um, I decided to hold off on
graduate school.
(06:56):
I was supposed to be anoptometrist.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
I got my.
You're clearly doing that.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
I got my undergraduate degree in biology.
Um, and I was like you knowwhat, if it's meant to be, I'll
go to grad school.
It'll be there when we're done.
I should have mentioned he's inthe military at this time.
So we decided okay, let's getmarried.
We knew we were going to bemoving around.
We had just planned our weddingand I said you know what, that
was really fun, I'm going to dowedding planning.
(07:26):
Hated that.
Why did you hate it?
It wasn't that instantgratification.
Like you spend two weeksputting together this plan for a
bride or a couple and youpresent it to them and they hate
your ideas.
That's literally me, yeah.
And I was like this is hard.
No, I don't want to spend mytwo weeks at a computer for you
to shut down my ideas.
So at the same time, I had myhand in an internship at a
(07:47):
bridal boutique.
Loved that.
I had always loved fashion.
At one point I remember lookingback and thinking fourth grade,
I was drawing wedding dresses onthe playground.
So it was there.
Yeah, you know, it was alwaysthere.
I just didn't really hone in onthat, sure.
So, yeah, did an internship2011.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
And as we moved around.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
I worked my way up at different boutiques around the
country.
So part-time stylist, full-timestylist.
At one point I was a practicingmanager, because a manager at a
boutique was not full-time.
So I intercepted a lot ofcustomer issues and really kind
of dug deep into the customerservice element.
Moved back to San Diego, whichis where I started my career and
got a position as an assistantmanager an alterations manager
(08:30):
and a bridal stylist at the sameboutique.
Okay, so a lot of hats, a lot ofhats at one store.
And then I was given an extrajob.
I was told that I can start thebridesmaids collection at the
boutique, and I was so excited.
I asked for compensation andgot fired excited.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
I asked for compensation and got fired oh
cute.
So, uh, that's terrifying, yeah, and that probably I mean,
let's just dive into that for asecond.
That doesn't seem right to me.
No, like, I mean, I feel like,especially as women, yeah, and
I'm hoping, for the most part,that the bridal industry is
women.
However, I'm scared maybe therewas not some of that in there
that you would think that thatwould be more supported, more
understanding of theconversation, but asking and
(09:10):
that is still not a modern ideathat when you should ask, you
should get completely slammedout the door, correct?
Speaker 2 (09:15):
And at that time I mean four years into the
industry.
I had invested enough time inthere where and I proved myself
I wasn't making that much money.
Granted, this was 2015.
I was making $35,000.
This was before the additionalwork.
So for asking for more money,it wasn't unwarranted.
And did you have kids at thispoint too?
(09:36):
No, thank.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
God, thank God that helps.
But your military wife,military wife, yes, so got fired
.
Yes, did you move then?
Just?
Speaker 2 (09:43):
because why not no?
No, but we were coming towardsthe end of his military career
so thankfully another brand wasopening up a store close by.
Got hired there, worked my wayup with that company, got
pregnant while at that companyso I did leave on mat leave as
their service manager.
(10:05):
Our maternity leave was sixmonths and so during that six
months I really I kind of had toask myself, like, is it worth
going back?
Because childcare is soexpensive, right, and I wasn't
making that much money.
So there was definitely aturning point where, if I'm
going back, like it needs to beworthwhile for me.
The exact same time I happenedto get a promotion, we'll take
it.
Yeah.
Time I happened to get apromotion, We'll take it.
Yeah.
So that's what brought us backup to LA, which is where I'm
(10:26):
originally from.
But in getting a promotion witha six-month-old, we moved in
with my parents.
Yeah, because the reality ishaving a six-month-old in a
full-time job in LA is not cheap, right, things had to get done.
So we moved in with my parentsfor nine months and it was just
fine, it was great.
Yeah, I mean you could ask myhusband, he might tell you a
(10:47):
different story.
We all got points of view.
It was helpful Between myparents' schedule, my schedule,
my husband's schedule, we hadthe nanny five or six hours in a
day versus 10 hours in a day,you know, between the commutes
considered Like it really workedout.
So I was with that company fora year and a half, and then my
position got eliminated.
Of course, god, you're reallyjust doing so good with the luck
(11:10):
on this journey.
I mean, looking back, I didn'trealize how much, like all the-.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
But what kept you in bridal?
Then you were like you kind ofget handed all the bad cards,
but what made you want to stickwith it?
Speaker 2 (11:21):
It's truly so much fun.
Yeah, you are helping someonewith the happiest moments in
their life, and it's such aniche market where, like this
isn't just a pair of jeans Right, you know, this is not just a
t-shirt that she can throw away.
Like this is hopefully forever.
Her photos are forever.
You are a part of that journey,whether or not she remembers
(11:42):
your name, but she'll definitelyremember the store she bought
her dress at and her dress shewore.
So it's just, it's such amemorable experience so, yeah,
so left that job, took my handat wholesale for a couple months
and hated that, and then endedup at this international
flagship, which was right beforethe pandemic.
And that brings us and thatbrings us here Right back to
Love Twice.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
So you know, making a luxury bridal consignment shop
is very unique, very bold, verydifferent.
What was like the like feelingsaround what you were doing?
Like, how did you face thosechallenges that were presented
in starting this?
Speaker 2 (12:16):
Yeah.
So I think, looking back and westill feel this today we're up
against what we consider thetitans of the resale market as
far as bridal is concerned,these online resale platforms.
They're backed by mediacompanies, they're faceless
names and that's all people know.
That's how you resell a dress.
And so when you comparebootstrapped small company like
(12:39):
us up against theseconglomerates almost where
that's the expectation Marketingreally is a big challenge for
us.
I remember early on in thebusiness I paid $6 for a click
on Google ads.
I was like, oh my God, $6 forone click.
In hindsight, that's probablyaverage, right, but when you're
bootstrapped and you've takenthe money out of your bank to
(13:02):
start your company, those reallystart to add up and you I'm
sure, yeah, so we've gottenbetter at it.
I have recognized my strongpoints, and marketing is not one
of them.
So there.
So then, did you hire someone?
Yeah, so passing that off tosomeone who understands the
analytics and where you'reactually getting that conversion
, where to put in your money atthis point in the business, has
really been helpful for us tokind of take my hands out of the
(13:24):
pot and let someone else dotheir job.
Did you get any free time?
Speaker 1 (13:27):
back or no?
Speaker 2 (13:29):
No, no, yeah, I wish it's a nice thought and then I
think, just misconceptions, likewith secondhand.
You're always up against thisnotion that the dresses are
dirty, or old, yeah, what is?
That.
Yeah, I think just up untilrecently, secondhand hasn't had
a big push behind it right.
And so now that younger girlsare into it and getting into the
(13:53):
sustainability factor to it,it's like you can have
everything there's no qualitythat's sacrificed, there's no
condition that's sacrificed,there's no style and, for us,
there's no experience that comeswith buying a secondhand dress.
That's really the biggest thing.
So there will always bechallenges, for sure, but I
think knowing what we were upagainst early on would have been
really helpful in building thebrand.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
Yeah, that's so interesting, that cause, like
when I hear you talk about it,I'm you know we're thinking
about the resale sites andwhatnot, but, like in my mind,
maybe because, like I feel likewe're broken, living in LA,
we're so confused I think moreof the bigger brands are the
competitor, not just thosewebsites, and it's so
interesting to think that it'sjust such a different person.
(14:36):
I guess we're looking fordifferent view.
You're trying to get the peoplefrom the sites to have an
experience.
Come to a bridal shop, whichthis really is, and that's why I
keep, every time I ask aquestion, I make sure to say
luxury consignment shop, becauseI think there's a very big
difference between like oh, thisis just like, oh, I bought it
used and versus like I went to abridal shop and I had an
(14:58):
experience, totally.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
And when you say secondhand, right Like, and
luxury like.
We're very particular about thedresses we take in.
We have a secondhand dressthat's $15,000.
So it's not to say that thesedresses aren't your dress is not
beautiful.
It's that it's not relevant tothe market.
It's that we're going to curatethe collection so that the
girls who are shopping with usknow that we really do take
(15:21):
pride in what we're building andwhat we're offering you as a
secondhand shopper.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
No, that's so true.
And like who do you think isyour ideal client?
Like who is your target person?
How did you come up with whothis person is?
Speaker 2 (15:34):
Yeah, so lots of testing for sure, but most
recently she is generally 25 to35 years old, I would say fully
employed.
Average budgets $35,000 to$5,000.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
Average budget for California average budget for
the nation feel very differentto me, though Very much.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
I think the knot states that an average wedding
dress is like $1,800.
I mean, you're factoring in,like the Midwest right and like
sure, budgets are bigger inbigger cities Makes total sense.
But, like, the biggest driverfor us is, our customer wants a
savings and so knowing ahead oftime that you can save 20 to 70%
off of a designer dress, likewhy wouldn't you buy second hand
(16:13):
, why wouldn't you?
Yeah, and you're sustainabledoing it, you know, yeah, we're
going to dive so much into thatsustainability conversation.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
You know you said you've realized what you know
you're not good at.
What do you know you're good atas being a boss?
How did you figure it out?
What was your natural skills?
How do you let go of thecontrol of, maybe, what you're
not good at and hone in on yourskills?
Because I think that's a veryimportant entrepreneurial lesson
.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
For sure.
It's interesting now lookingback at my career and being able
to take the bits and pieces ofthat journey all the way up
until now.
People skills I think it is askill set that you have to use
consistently in order to onemanage people, to work with
contractors, to work with CMOsand finance and the city,
(17:00):
because your taxes and all ofthe things, all the facets, it's
not just a customer element, Ithink customer skill sets are
really important.
I think thinking outside the boxis really important.
When you're an entrepreneur,often as an employee of a
company, you're given, you know,parameters of how to work and
how to run efficiently, andthat's not the same thing as an
(17:21):
entrepreneur, you know.
You kind of have to wearmultiple hats and kind of think
outside the box and be ready topivot because shit hits the fan
you know yeah yeah.
Am I allowed to say that?
Yeah, absolutely, you'reallowed to say that for sure.
You kind of have to be quick onyour feet, yeah, and I'd like to
think that I'm good at that forsure.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
Yeah, take them and run.
That being said, I feel likeyou are really quick on your
feet because you saw this wholethought, oh, how I can fix it.
But you know, maybe from theoutset, looking in, they think
someone could make thinksustainability is why you just
started this.
Can you tell us about, like,the importance of the you know
(18:01):
industry and sustainability?
There really isn't a lot ofsustainability, and how does
Love Twice Bridal contributemore towards a sustainable
future?
Speaker 2 (18:10):
Yeah, so up until now I think, with the market really
pushing sustainability, therehasn't been a lot of
transparency from designers onother production models, right,
and so we really do try our bestto curate our collection based
off of how the designer makestheir dresses.
So we don't take everythingunder the sun, unfortunately,
(18:31):
and with that comes how theirdresses are made.
We know what designers aremaking dresses in bulk, sitting
in warehouses, and those are theones we don't take.
So it's unfortunately part ofthe game where we kind of have
to break it to the seller thatthese are the reasons why we
can't sell your dress.
But that is one big way that weare pushing sustainability.
We advocate for those brandswho are doing their part and
(18:53):
cutting their dresses made toorder, so one by one, as opposed
to hundreds or thousands at atime.
Speaker 1 (18:59):
Let's talk about a little tea in the industry.
This is a very expensiveindustry Totally.
Yet I hear you talking abouthow you didn't make that much
money working in it, and likethere are.
You know people that I thinkmaybe the dress is the biggest
deal.
I was probably one of thosepeople that the dress was the
biggest deal, like I don't care,we could have had a picnic but
I wanted to wear the dress.
You know whatnot?
(19:19):
How?
How does, like all of this mushgive us some of the tea you
know you've got?
You said there's dressessitting in storage but they tell
you this is going to take sixto eight months.
Correct, yes.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
Why?
Why Sales pitch.
I mean, they're trying toconvert you quickly.
I get it as a business owner.
Money is money, right, anymoney in is money that you're
going to need later, for sure.
But if you're shopping $2,000and under, it's likely your
dress is not made to order.
You know, let's kind of takeour emotions out of it for a
second.
For sure, why is it priced solow?
(19:51):
It's probably not made ofnatural fabrics, okay, fair,
it's probably not made in the US, you know.
And when you considermanufacturing practices, it's
likely that that dress was cutin bulk, sitting at a warehouse
for a company and that boutiqueis able to order it at any time
and they're going to tell you ittakes six months so that you're
able to close the sale.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
Right, yeah, but then it could have been there.
It could have been there.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
That's part of the scheme, that's part of the
allure.
I wouldn't even say it's ascheme, because there are brands
that do require you to ordersix months.
Is it likely?
No, and so because there is notransparency from the designer's
standpoint of what dresses areactually made to order versus
warehouse, you're going tobelieve the stylist.
So if that's something that isimportant to you sustainability
and how the dresses aremanufactured ask your stylist.
(20:37):
You know they're going to tellyou, and if you don't feel like
that's the right answer, take astep back, walk away.
Do your research before youcommit to buying Right, because
someone will tell you the truthSomeone somewhere is going to
tell you the truth.
(20:57):
What do you think in yourjourney of getting to here was
the most surprising thing youlearned about the bridal
industry.
It still shocks me.
But honestly, just the turnoverin styles, you know, and I
think this goes back to likeagain, the sustainability
feature is, like every designerreleases a collection every six
months, so like, within sixmonths your dress becomes
obsolete.
Yikes yeah, which in most,people's.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
In six months they won't be married.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
Well, that's not the case.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
Not always, not always, but like I mean, I think
about if they told me it wasgoing to take eight months to
get there?
Right, I'm going to leave.
I mean, I'm crazy.
I'm also very neurotic.
I'm like I'm going to leaveextra time to make sure it's
there long before that and youshould Totally.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
It's not worth the anxiety that can come of it.
However, if you are a trendsgirl and you are all about the
trends, just know that unlessyou are getting married less
than six months from when thedress was made, your dress is
already out of style.
So just be mindful of whatyou're looking for, right?
Like, if you are a classic gal,go with that feeling, find a
(21:51):
dress that's going to give youthat classic feeling, because
there's always going to be a newversion of classic, right?
So be tasteful, of course, asfar as like, how you want to
translate that timeline, butit's kind of crazy.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
Yeah, it is kind of crazy and it kind of goes
against.
I mean, I think about I don'tknow if you guys have seen this
documentary, but there's thisdocumentary about Brandy
Mayville and it's called BrandyHellville and you know they
talked about how fast fashion.
You know they release newstyles every week and you would
think the bridal, because of theamount of time, is going to go
(22:27):
much slower and there's notgoing to be new trends every
second, but six months, whenyou're talking about a year,
usually planning is still prettyfast.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
Yeah, well then you think about all the boutiques
that carry these brands, right,because now, as a business owner
, buying inventory, that's ahuge money suck right.
So you're now expectingboutiques to buy new collections
every six months.
It takes six months for them toget the first collection and
then they're gone, and then it'snew, no Well then?
so, like they release market inApril and October, yeah, as a
(22:57):
boutique, you could order inApril.
You don't get your new productuntil October.
And then you go back.
So you haven't even sold any ofthese items yet.
And then you go back and buymore, right?
And then you have to figure outoh well, heaven forbid, I don't
have this space.
What do I do with all thisproduct?
I would tell you, 50% of ourdresses have never walked down
an aisle.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
I was literally.
That was exactly what I wasgoing to ask.
I was like do these dresses endup here?
Yes, yeah, so we work.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
Yeah, we work with brides, of course, and boutiques
who have product that's notmoving or that they don't need.
It's not to say they'rediscontinued or damaged, they
just don't have room for themand they're expected to buy more
stuff, Right?
So secondhand doesn't mean youknow your grandma's 40-year-old
dress.
Right For sure, sure With hugesleeves and whatever you know
these are dresses that someonecould still order brand new.
(23:40):
The boutique just didn't needit anymore.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
Yeah, Do stores keep extra in stock.
Sometimes Do stores keep extrain stock?
Sometimes they have to.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, they have to.
I mean just the nature of thewedding industry.
If dresses take six months tocome in and you have a bride who
gets married in three months,you want to sell her something.
Yes, every store has someoff-the-rack option, right.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
Yes, and when those off-the-rack options don't get
picked and there's new stuffthat's now off the racket comes
usually to here.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
They could send it to us, yes, but we also team up
with charities who serve theunderserved community.
We work with a charity calledBrides for a Cause, who donates
their proceeds towardswomen-focused charities.
So there are other avenuesother than resale for beaches.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
So let's talk a little bit about the process of
when a dress shows up here, whatdo you do?
Speaker 2 (24:25):
So let's talk a little bit about the process of
when a dress shows up here, whatdo you do?
So we actually have a prettythorough process leading up to
its arrival to our store.
A bride decides she's done withher dress, she's gotten married
.
She gets it dry, cleaned.
She fills out an intake formfor us.
We do some research to figureout one.
Is it within the last fouryears or not?
Because the last thing we wantis to take in an old dress
that's not relevant to themarket, give the seller false
(24:46):
hope that it's going to sell andit's just not what our brides
are looking for.
So we'll do market research.
We'll fill out a consignmentagreement and that includes her
market research to figure outwhat we're reselling the dress
for.
Has her terms and agreements onit.
Once she's decided she's readyto move forward, she completes
her agreement.
We receive the dress.
We do a quality control.
If the dress is not up to ourstandard, we will email the
bride.
(25:06):
We will send her photos.
We will tell her why we can'ttake it in or, if we can, it's
going to require her to get itcleaned.
It's going to get we got to fixit and that's just going to
translate to a higher sellingprice.
What ends up happening is, ifyou take an address with low
quality, you get negotiations.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
Or it doesn't sell and you don't negotiate, right?
No, the price is the price.
The price is the price You'vesaid it.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
We've said it the worst.
What I should say is the mostwe can do is if a bride wants to
negotiate, we'll tell her it'sup to the seller.
It's not our decision to make.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
Right and I think like that could be a
misconception about Live TwiceBridal.
It's like you walk in you think, oh, you guys own all these
dresses.
We do not own any of thesedresses.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
You are the agent for these dresses I like to say
we're like brokers almost yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
That's crazy.
I mean it's very crazy versuslike other places.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
Like you're trying on the sample to get the dress,
versus you could walk out thedoor with this dress.
You can walk out with thisdress and brides are open to
buying a sample, if you thinkabout how many girls have tried
that sample on yeah Right.
So, like, if you're open to asample sale, you should be
shopping secondhand first, youknow.
Speaker 1 (26:07):
So true.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
Like how many people have tried that sample on?
How many hands have touchedthat dress?
How many repairs have been madeto that gown?
Probably a lot, right, becauseevery boutique, if it's a
bestseller, that dress isgetting tried on four or five
times in one weekend, right,right.
And then now you have damageclips on there and you have
handprints on there and it'sstretched out significantly from
the size that it was Right.
(26:28):
So if you are open to buying anoff-the-rack dress, I ask you
to please shop secondhand,because these dresses are in way
better condition.
Speaker 1 (26:36):
Right.
And so, that being said, also,what's the process if it's
coming from a store?
Same thing, very much the samething, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
And because it's been on the floor, even more
particular right, Because it canhave those damages that you
wouldn't otherwise see on abride's dress that she wore for
10 hours in a very controlledsetting, so to speak.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
And let's talk about the bridal experience.
So you want to come to life,love twice bridal.
What can you expect?
What kind of mindset should yoube coming in?
Do you come?
And this is the first place youshould try on dresses?
Absolutely not.
Okay, great.
So don't do that, because weare an off-the-rack store.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
We definitely encourage our brides to shop
before coming in, and the reasonwe say that is because we don't
do holds right.
So the dress is the dress.
They're one-off pieces.
We cannot order them for you.
They're here today, gonetomorrow.
Online store is something wedon't have control over.
All of our inventory is listedon our website, so somebody
(27:31):
could just buy it.
Yes, and, believe it or not, itdoes happen.
A girl will come in on aSaturday.
She's ready to buy.
It could have sold on Sunday,and that's because we are on
Google.
We do all of our SEO marketing,we do all of the things needed
to convert online, and this isreally where we set ourselves
apart from resale platforms isyes, we do have a physical brick
and mortar location, but wehave a try-at-home program.
So anyone who comes across thisdress on our website can put a
deposit towards the dress, takethe dress home or have it
(27:53):
shipped to them.
Try it on for three days beforeyou commit to buying it, right.
So we're making it easier forgirls to buy a secondhand dress.
You don't have to be physicallyin Los Angeles to shop with us
If you're looking at a dressonline you'll be able to try it
on before you commit.
Speaker 1 (28:11):
See, that is so smart , because this is really getting
into your business smartness.
Not only do you have the store,which you could have, truly the
luxury bridal experience, bringthe girlfriends, bring the mom,
whatever try on the dress, butif you're not going to fly to
Los Angeles and also, then itthrows you back into competing
right with those other sellers,it's you could do either or yes,
or both, which we do get girlswho are like hey, you know, I'm
(28:33):
not sure, can I do the try athome program?
Speaker 2 (28:35):
Yes, if you need three days to mull it over, by
all means put down your deposit,take it home and if you don't
love it, bring it back.
This is really where we kind ofset ourselves apart from a
resale platform.
It's like, let's say, you areonline, you do have questions,
yes, you can call the store, butyou can also chat with us on
the website, you can send us anemail, you can do all of these
things.
Versus an online resaleplatform.
You're sending a message tosomeone you don't know, who,
(28:57):
maybe or maybe not, has been onthe website in the last 24 hours
.
You don't know who's on theother end and like doing what
we've been doing for now fouryears.
We've had people unfortunatelybuy $5,000 dresses and never get
their dress.
I had one customer who had tohire private investigators in
another state to find thisseller who took $5,000 for a
(29:22):
bird address and never found it.
She just never sent it.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
What was the she never got the dress.
She just never found it.
She just never sent it.
What was the?
She never got the dress, shejust never got it.
No, she's like I spent money.
I spent money.
It's out in the ether Maybe.
Yep, we think.
We don't know.
So wow yes, the depths we willgo.
Speaker 2 (29:36):
I mean at this point sadly right.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
Like you know, you think like, oh, I can just say
it didn't come, maybe I'll getthe money back.
You know, I mean it's creatingall these horrible habits.
Speaker 2 (29:52):
Well, totally, and this is what goes back to like
the personal.
This is what we offer is likeif there's an issue, you can
call us, you can talk to someone, like there is someone who's
there to help you.
It's not this black hole of anonline option, it really is a
black hole, and communication isalso limited a lot.
Right.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
And like, yeah, I understand it, especially for
the people who sustainability issuper important to You're going
to use these kinds of sites.
Maybe You're going to use themfor your regular clothes as well
, or different sites for regularclothes as well.
So you're more used to oraccustomed to the system, Right,
but it's kind of a gamble.
It is a gamble and you justdon't know.
And also some sites withrentals.
(30:31):
I've recently had a badexperience with rentals and
things.
You don't know whose sidethey're going to pick.
Are they going to pick you, thebuyer?
Are they going to pick thesellers Right To favor?
So it's really a shot in thedark.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
It really is, and maybe you're willing to take
this risk for that bag thatyou've been eyeing For $20 or
for $30.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
Or your shoes.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
Right, yeah, yeah, but not your wedding dress.
This is your wedding dress andof course, every budget is
subjective, for sure.
But if you're spending $2,000,$10,000, you should know what
you're getting.
You should know if it's goingto fit.
You should know what conditionit's in.
It sounds so elementary, but upuntil now, there's no one
advocating for secondhanddresses with a professional
(31:12):
person behind them, right, andwho's?
also had experience in theindustry, I mean yes, and that
really comes down to like thatexperience part that you're
talking about.
It's like you are notsacrificing experience in any
way.
It's a new way to do it and itmight take a little bit longer
to get things done, but likeyou're going to feel so good
that you saved some money.
You were sustainable in doingit, you didn't have to wait six
(31:33):
months, you don't have thisanxiety of like is my dress
going to fit?
Am I going to love it?
Like there's so many thingsthat can come out of buying
secondhand, especially with us,that like it just seems like a
no brainer.
Speaker 1 (31:44):
It's.
It's so clear and it's like Iknow this took a lot of thought
to get there Totally.
It's so clear and concise forthe consumer but that's because
of your entrepreneurial spiritand your mind and whatnot.
What keeps your entrepreneurialspirit alive in like really
tough times.
I mean, you're a mom, you werea military wife.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
What keeps you going A lot of sarcasm.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
Oh yeah, great, me too.
Perfect, all right Nextquestion, just kidding.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
I mean, there are days where I just lose sleep.
I mean, if you're anentrepreneur, it is not for the
faint of heart.
You buckle up.
It's a roller coaster.
It will drag you through thetrenches.
But those really high, highsand those validations from the
customers of like, oh my God, Iwish this was around when I was
getting married.
(32:29):
I would have totally boughtsecondhand.
Or I tried buying online and itdidn't work out.
Or I wish you had known aboutyou sooner.
Like that's really what keepsme going.
You know, like disrupting anindustry sure, Great, so
exciting.
But like what?
Why?
If your customers aren'tresonating with that, then
what's the point?
And so getting that feedbackfrom customers who are like I
(32:49):
actually had the best experiencewith them, they're really nice
and their quality is great,those are the reasons why you
keep going.
Speaker 1 (33:01):
Right, Not because you're like I'm shaking it up.
Speaker 2 (33:02):
It feels unrealistic to touch.
What's real is what you'regoing to see day to day, totally
, and it's not easy.
I mean to your point, yes, I'ma mom, I'm a wife, I have things
outside of the business, butlike, if you're not doing
something for the better ofhumanity, like what's the point,
right, you know?
Like I'm not just there tosacrifice my kids and my
household, you know Well and Ihope that you can sleep easy at
night, knowing you're doingsomething good.
Good yeah, totally.
Speaker 1 (33:24):
I mean it's a very luxurious space.
There's a lot I think we don'ttalk about this enough the
bridal guilt of it all.
It's very expensive.
We live in the US, we're veryprivileged and all the things.
Even if you can just add alittle bit of realness to that
and just be like I did somethinga little good.
Also, I don't hardly thinkyou're doing anything corrupt.
You probably get a good night'ssleep knowing you're making the
(33:45):
world a little bit betterTotally, and I think again back
to like hearing the customerssay that, like that's really
what keeps us going, yeah, yeah,and really what sets us apart.
Yeah, it's very demanding, yes,so how do you maintain the
balance of being a mother andwife?
And I mean, how many dressesare even in here?
Speaker 2 (34:02):
Like we're probably like 400.
Wow, yeah, something like that.
So it's 400.
Speaker 1 (34:06):
I mean if each dress came from one bride Customer, of
course, that's that manycustomers, yeah, yeah, that many
people Like the team is howmany people here?
Speaker 2 (34:13):
So we are three deep, including myself.
Great.
Speaker 1 (34:18):
And her children.
They're on staff too, no justkidding no child labor law.
Speaker 2 (34:25):
I mean like we's kind of this part of the social
strategy.
Speaker 1 (34:28):
Oh my God, adorable.
Speaker 2 (34:29):
Yeah, she's so cute and my son was in here when we
first started the business and Iremember him holding the
mannequin's hand, looking at herlike he's going to marry
someone special.
Yeah, so they're in it in somedegree.
I am better at it now with thebalance, now that I do have a
full-time employee who handlesthe day-to-day operations and
(34:50):
thank God for her because she isa gem.
I don't think I could do itwithout her.
Like I had a baby at thebeginning of the year, like
there's no way that I could beable to grow the business, step
away, give birth and like upuntil recently, and with her
part-time right.
So like it's not easy balancing.
I'm not.
I don't think I have it downand anyone who tells you they do
is like total BS, like theydon't have it down.
Speaker 1 (35:13):
There's no way, it's never a perfect 50-50.
Speaker 2 (35:15):
It's never.
No, it never will be.
And I think, like that's justthe season of life, Like if you
have kids, you have a household,you run a business, like there
will never be a perfect day andif there is, get ready for it to
not be the case.
Anyone who makes it seem likeit's perfect is lying to you.
Speaker 1 (35:33):
It's all a facade.
Speaker 2 (35:33):
Well, yeah, totally Right, and I think that the
transparency part to that islike it's not easy.
Just the other day I got aphone call from the California
tax board and I was like Hello,I know.
She's like hello, yes, I'mcalling about your tax account.
And I was like I don't believeyou, I think this is scam.
She's like no, no, no, really,let's talk about it.
I hang up and our part-timestylist is behind me and she's
(35:54):
looking at me and she's like areyou okay?
Yeah, and I was like I'm aboutto sell the company.
She's like looked at me allserious, I'm just kidding.
No, you know, for me it's that4.30 time cutoff to about 8
o'clock.
I'm in mom mode.
Yeah, you've bound her Pickups,groceries, dinner, bath,
(36:16):
homework, cleaning and then, ifthere's still things left to be
done, I'm working till 10o'clock at night on the couch
with my husband watching TV,trying to have some sense of
normalcy I've gotten better atit, but yeah, it's not an easy
skill, no, and I think the only.
Speaker 1 (36:33):
Like you know, we can sit here behind the mic.
You can tell me all about it.
I don't have kids, I don't owna business.
And you're just not going tounderstand it until you do it on
some level and being honest andopen about it.
Speaker 2 (36:43):
I think it's now become more of a normal thing to
talk about.
But like that mental load ofall of that, like that's
exhausting, it's tiring, it'sexhausting.
It's like, no, yes, I love mykids, yes, I love to do what I
do for them, but like no, Idon't want to have to think
about dinner five days a week.
You know, like if I could hirea private chef, we all would be
(37:03):
great.
Speaker 1 (37:11):
That would save me so much time.
That being said, you know, ifyou were to go back and like,
look at all the lessons you'velearned from pre-Love Twice and
then in Love Twice, what are thelessons along the way that have
really stood out to you?
Speaker 2 (37:19):
There's a time and place for everything.
It sounds so basic, but therewere definitely days where I
questioned what was my purpose.
You know, like getting marriedat 22, I thought I solved it all
, Check mark On to the nextright, Next thing to accomplish.
But like now in my 30s, lookingback, like most 20-year-olds
(37:41):
have no idea what they're goingto do with themselves.
And that's okay.
You know I now tell20-year-olds that's okay.
You know I now tell20-year-olds take your 20s, live
your life.
You have time to figure it outand then, when that time comes,
you'll be so much happierknowing that you gave yourself
that grace.
You know, I think now, lookingback, I realize I was tough on
(38:02):
myself, I was hard on myself andthat's just how I was brought
up.
You know you have to get yourshit together quickly.
So I think, looking back, Iwould.
I'm proud of how I got throughthose humps and bumps along the
road and I still feel likethere's definitely those days
where I question it.
But it's not.
It's not a purpose question,it's like let's get through it
(38:24):
and move on.
Speaker 1 (38:25):
Yeah, yeah.
I love that notion of just likewe'll get through it and we'll
figure it out.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (38:30):
Things just come.
There's a reason why thingshappen when they happen and why
they happen, and I think it'snot until now that I look back
and I'm like if I hadn't been amilitary wife, I wouldn't have
moved around the country, Iwouldn't have tried different
boutiques and business modelsand seen so many different
designers and manufacturingprocesses, and what worked in
one store might not have workedin another store.
(38:51):
I saw the small business facet,I saw the corporate facet, I
saw the international facet.
There's so many things thatworked in my favor that brought
me to Love Twice, that reallygave me the skills and
experience I needed to start myown brand.
Speaker 1 (39:05):
Right.
We never know, in those littletiny steps that you think are
like, why is this happening tome?
Like this has no use for what Iwant to do in my life.
And then you end up someplacewhere you really want to be in
your life, which I hope is Love,toy, sprite, all Absolutely,
and you're like, wow, those werelittle steps I needed.
Speaker 2 (39:20):
No, I didn't know I needed them.
No, there's job and it didn'twork out.
You know Like it will give yousomething, it will serve you in
some way.
Just take a step back, figureit out.
Speaker 1 (39:37):
Oh yeah, I love it.
Well, Sarah, thank you so muchfor joining us on the podcast.
You are wonderful.
We have to tell everybody wherethey can find you, find the
store, find the website.
All the good things, yes.
Speaker 2 (39:47):
So we are online at wwwlovetwicebridalcom and
hashtag, or at usernamelovetwicebridal.
We are in Beverly Hills, onRobertson Boulevard.
You can call us, you can bookan appointment, you can text us.
Honestly, just shout it outfrom the rooftops.
I think for us it's justgetting our name out there,
telling girls she can sell herdress with us, she can buy her
dress with us, yeah, yeah.
(40:09):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (40:12):
Thank you so much for listening to Confessions of a
Wannabe it Girl.
Don't forget to rate andsubscribe to the show.
As always, we'll see you nextTuesday.
You.
Hi guys and welcome back to Confessions of a Wannabe
it Girl.
Today's episode is recorded inthe beautiful Love Twice Bridal
Store located in Beverly Hills.
I'm so excited for you guys tomeet Sarah, the owner and
founder of Love Twice Bridal.
In this episode we are divinginto entrepreneurship how to
balance being a mother, a wife,her journey of becoming the
(00:26):
owner, the creator of Love TwiceBridal.
And, of course, when I saycreator, I mean founder.
But she really did come up withthis concept of having a luxury
consignment bridal shopHonestly, very crazy, very
innovative.
Of course, sarah did have 13years experience in the bridal
industry.
She's previously worked forAnthropologie Weddings, formerly
(00:46):
known as BHLDN and Pernovius,and she, of course, is a mother,
a wife, an entrepreneur and,honestly, just a boss.
We're diving into some tea inthe wedding industry.
We talk about how you can get asecond hand.
I put in air quotes.
Some of these dresses at LoveTwice Bridal haven't even been
worn and they've ended up in thevery amazing, trusted hands of
(01:08):
Love Twice Bridal.
So if you are deep in yourbridal era, you're looking for a
dress, you cannot miss thisepisode and if you're looking to
shake up this space and think alittle outside of the box.
Zara has some great insight.
So let's dive in, guys.
Some great insight.
So let's dive in, guys.
Welcome to Confessions of aWannabe it Girl.
(01:28):
I'm your host, marley Fregging,and I'm here to help you filter
out all the bullshit and becomethe next it Girl.
This podcast explores thereality of what it really takes
to make it out there.
As it turns out, it is way lessInstagrammable than I thought
it was going to be.
I'm still very much a work inprogress, but there's simply
nothing else I'd rather be doingthan chasing my dreams.
(01:49):
So let's learn from my mistakesand work together to achieve
our dreams with more confidence,clarity and direction.
Let's get after it All right,guys.
Welcome back to Confessions ofa Wannabe it Girl.
I am joined by the lovely Sarahfrom Love Twice Bridal.
Thank you so much for beinghere.
Thank you for having me.
I'm very excited to talk to youabout all things bridal, bridal
(02:11):
industry, entrepreneurship, howwe got there.
You're also the, do you say?
You're the owner, the creatorof the concept.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
I say owner and founder.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
Founder yes.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Someone asked me if I was CEO and I was like, I guess
.
Yeah, sure, I don't technicallyhave a C-suite, but call me
whatever you want, we'll take it.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
But for those who don't know, how do you explain
what Love Twice Bridal is?
It's not your traditionalnormal per se bridal shop.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
No so easy.
Elevator pitch Love TwiceBridal is a luxury consignment
store that bridges the gapsbetween sellers and buyers
looking to resell or buy asecondhand wedding dress.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Yeah Right, so yet something that sounds like so
essential to a very expensiveindustry.
Yet there wasn't really like aspace for this free, so let's
get into that.
What inspired you to focus onthe luxury bridal consignment?
Kind of a mouthful and alsolike I don't know.
It's just not like I don'tthink.
(03:11):
I mean, obviously I'm deep inmy bridal era, so like I think
about this thing, but I don'tknow, the day-to-day person
might not think about luxuryconsignment, bridal no.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
So I think let's kind of take it back to 2020.
I was store director at a majorflagship here in Beverly Hills
and, thick of the pandemic, shutdown canceled weddings.
I had to stick people withtheir contracts.
They would ask like, hey, youknow, my wedding got canceled,
we're not getting married inItaly, what do I do with my
dress?
And sorry, you have to take it.
(03:40):
But these are the resaleplatforms that you can use to
resell your dress.
And it kind of sucked because,like, they came to us to buy
their dress, so in theory theyshould be able to resell their
dress with us, but contract saysall sales are final.
I would give them these resaleplatforms and, sadly, a lot of
them yeah, exactly right, like alot of them just never see
another life.
And so that's really when I waslike there needs to be a place
(04:02):
where a bride can just drop herdress off sight unseen, leave
the work off to professionalsand then hopefully, if and when
it sells, you make back somemoney.
So that's really where the ideawas born out.
It was really the pandemic 2020.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Right, but we didn't just end up here in Beverly
Hills in a gorgeous consignmentshop.
There were steps along the way,I'm sure, yes, so pandemic hits
you shop.
There was steps along the way,I'm sure, so pandemic hits
you're still there.
When did you decide to leave?
And start.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
So I started with the company end of 2019.
Pandemic started March 2020.
I built the business model overthe summer, so June, july and
then formed an LLC in August,quit my job in October and then
had our pop-up location inJanuary of 2021.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
And what did that look like?
It was just so glamorous andperfect, right.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
It was a 600-square-foot corner spot at
the platform in Culver City.
Cute, it was four walls.
We had a makeshift iron barfitting room and it wasn't until
we built the space in literally24 hours that I realized the
curtains were sheer.
Good, very good.
I sent my sister out to Targetto go buy curtains and we, like
(05:10):
safety, pin them quickly so thatthey were doubled up and people
couldn't see through thewindows.
Right, that was a seven-weekspace and then moved into an
office space.
Believe it or not, that washome for about two years and
then we moved into this biggerspace October of 2023.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
So not too long ago, almost a year and how was those
bumps along the way, like, howdid you even find?
I mean, I feel like at somelevel, as I look around at all
the beautiful dresses, like it'seasy to find brides.
But then again it's like howdid you find brides to sell your
dresses?
Totally.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
And it's still something I do for fun, but
really it comes down to like,how do you get your name in
front of these people who don'totherwise know that you're an
option for them?
And so a lot of my pastimehobby building the brand was
going onto Facebook marketplaceand finding these listings and
telling the girl like hey, Istarted a brand, this is what we
do.
Can we help you sell your dress?
Girl like hey, I started abrand, this is what we do.
(06:07):
Can we help you sell your dress?
And it's so gratifying to getthose messages of girls who are
like, oh my gosh, yes, I needhelp.
I've been trying to sell it formonths.
Yeah, let's partner together.
And then we sell their dressand they're just so grateful and
we still do that.
It's just something fun we getto do.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
No, yeah, I mean, it sounds fun to look around for
wedding dresses all day.
It's a very easy thing to fallinto this scroll.
Yes, I want to dive into alittle bit about your journey in
the bridal space.
It didn't start here.
You'd been in the business fora while.
You were married quite young,tell us the journey.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
Yes, so I have been in the industry now for 13 years
.
It did start when I got married.
I was a senior in college whenmy husband and I decided to get
married.
It was 22.
Would I let my kids get marriedat 22?
No, but it led me here.
So whatever good things happen,um, I decided to hold off on
graduate school.
(06:56):
I was supposed to be anoptometrist.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
I got my.
You're clearly doing that.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
I got my undergraduate degree in biology.
Um, and I was like you knowwhat, if it's meant to be, I'll
go to grad school.
It'll be there when we're done.
I should have mentioned he's inthe military at this time.
So we decided okay, let's getmarried.
We knew we were going to bemoving around.
We had just planned our weddingand I said you know what, that
was really fun, I'm going to dowedding planning.
(07:26):
Hated that.
Why did you hate it?
It wasn't that instantgratification.
Like you spend two weeksputting together this plan for a
bride or a couple and youpresent it to them and they hate
your ideas.
That's literally me, yeah.
And I was like this is hard.
No, I don't want to spend mytwo weeks at a computer for you
to shut down my ideas.
So at the same time, I had myhand in an internship at a
(07:47):
bridal boutique.
Loved that.
I had always loved fashion.
At one point I remember lookingback and thinking fourth grade,
I was drawing wedding dresses onthe playground.
So it was there.
Yeah, you know, it was alwaysthere.
I just didn't really hone in onthat, sure.
So, yeah, did an internship2011.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
And as we moved around.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
I worked my way up at different boutiques around the
country.
So part-time stylist, full-timestylist.
At one point I was a practicingmanager, because a manager at a
boutique was not full-time.
So I intercepted a lot ofcustomer issues and really kind
of dug deep into the customerservice element.
Moved back to San Diego, whichis where I started my career and
got a position as an assistantmanager an alterations manager
(08:30):
and a bridal stylist at the sameboutique.
Okay, so a lot of hats, a lot ofhats at one store.
And then I was given an extrajob.
I was told that I can start thebridesmaids collection at the
boutique, and I was so excited.
I asked for compensation andgot fired excited.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
I asked for compensation and got fired oh
cute.
So, uh, that's terrifying, yeah, and that probably I mean,
let's just dive into that for asecond.
That doesn't seem right to me.
No, like, I mean, I feel like,especially as women, yeah, and
I'm hoping, for the most part,that the bridal industry is
women.
However, I'm scared maybe therewas not some of that in there
that you would think that thatwould be more supported, more
understanding of theconversation, but asking and
(09:10):
that is still not a modern ideathat when you should ask, you
should get completely slammedout the door, correct?
Speaker 2 (09:15):
And at that time I mean four years into the
industry.
I had invested enough time inthere where and I proved myself
I wasn't making that much money.
Granted, this was 2015.
I was making $35,000.
This was before the additionalwork.
So for asking for more money,it wasn't unwarranted.
And did you have kids at thispoint too?
(09:36):
No, thank.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
God, thank God that helps.
But your military wife,military wife, yes, so got fired
.
Yes, did you move then?
Just?
Speaker 2 (09:43):
because why not no?
No, but we were coming towardsthe end of his military career
so thankfully another brand wasopening up a store close by.
Got hired there, worked my wayup with that company, got
pregnant while at that companyso I did leave on mat leave as
their service manager.
(10:05):
Our maternity leave was sixmonths and so during that six
months I really I kind of had toask myself, like, is it worth
going back?
Because childcare is soexpensive, right, and I wasn't
making that much money.
So there was definitely aturning point where, if I'm
going back, like it needs to beworthwhile for me.
The exact same time I happenedto get a promotion, we'll take
it.
Yeah.
Time I happened to get apromotion, We'll take it.
Yeah.
So that's what brought us backup to LA, which is where I'm
(10:26):
originally from.
But in getting a promotion witha six-month-old, we moved in
with my parents.
Yeah, because the reality ishaving a six-month-old in a
full-time job in LA is not cheap, right, things had to get done.
So we moved in with my parentsfor nine months and it was just
fine, it was great.
Yeah, I mean you could ask myhusband, he might tell you a
(10:47):
different story.
We all got points of view.
It was helpful Between myparents' schedule, my schedule,
my husband's schedule, we hadthe nanny five or six hours in a
day versus 10 hours in a day,you know, between the commutes
considered Like it really workedout.
So I was with that company fora year and a half, and then my
position got eliminated.
Of course, god, you're reallyjust doing so good with the luck
(11:10):
on this journey.
I mean, looking back, I didn'trealize how much, like all the-.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
But what kept you in bridal?
Then you were like you kind ofget handed all the bad cards,
but what made you want to stickwith it?
Speaker 2 (11:21):
It's truly so much fun.
Yeah, you are helping someonewith the happiest moments in
their life, and it's such aniche market where, like this
isn't just a pair of jeans Right, you know, this is not just a
t-shirt that she can throw away.
Like this is hopefully forever.
Her photos are forever.
You are a part of that journey,whether or not she remembers
(11:42):
your name, but she'll definitelyremember the store she bought
her dress at and her dress shewore.
So it's just, it's such amemorable experience so, yeah,
so left that job, took my handat wholesale for a couple months
and hated that, and then endedup at this international
flagship, which was right beforethe pandemic.
And that brings us and thatbrings us here Right back to
Love Twice.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
So you know, making a luxury bridal consignment shop
is very unique, very bold, verydifferent.
What was like the like feelingsaround what you were doing?
Like, how did you face thosechallenges that were presented
in starting this?
Speaker 2 (12:16):
Yeah.
So I think, looking back and westill feel this today we're up
against what we consider thetitans of the resale market as
far as bridal is concerned,these online resale platforms.
They're backed by mediacompanies, they're faceless
names and that's all people know.
That's how you resell a dress.
And so when you comparebootstrapped small company like
(12:39):
us up against theseconglomerates almost where
that's the expectation Marketingreally is a big challenge for
us.
I remember early on in thebusiness I paid $6 for a click
on Google ads.
I was like, oh my God, $6 forone click.
In hindsight, that's probablyaverage, right, but when you're
bootstrapped and you've takenthe money out of your bank to
(13:02):
start your company, those reallystart to add up and you I'm
sure, yeah, so we've gottenbetter at it.
I have recognized my strongpoints, and marketing is not one
of them.
So there.
So then, did you hire someone?
Yeah, so passing that off tosomeone who understands the
analytics and where you'reactually getting that conversion
, where to put in your money atthis point in the business, has
really been helpful for us tokind of take my hands out of the
(13:24):
pot and let someone else dotheir job.
Did you get any free time?
Speaker 1 (13:27):
back or no?
Speaker 2 (13:29):
No, no, yeah, I wish it's a nice thought and then I
think, just misconceptions, likewith secondhand.
You're always up against thisnotion that the dresses are
dirty, or old, yeah, what is?
That.
Yeah, I think just up untilrecently, secondhand hasn't had
a big push behind it right.
And so now that younger girlsare into it and getting into the
(13:53):
sustainability factor to it,it's like you can have
everything there's no qualitythat's sacrificed, there's no
condition that's sacrificed,there's no style and, for us,
there's no experience that comeswith buying a secondhand dress.
That's really the biggest thing.
So there will always bechallenges, for sure, but I
think knowing what we were upagainst early on would have been
really helpful in building thebrand.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
Yeah, that's so interesting, that cause, like
when I hear you talk about it,I'm you know we're thinking
about the resale sites andwhatnot, but, like in my mind,
maybe because, like I feel likewe're broken, living in LA,
we're so confused I think moreof the bigger brands are the
competitor, not just thosewebsites, and it's so
interesting to think that it'sjust such a different person.
(14:36):
I guess we're looking fordifferent view.
You're trying to get the peoplefrom the sites to have an
experience.
Come to a bridal shop, whichthis really is, and that's why I
keep, every time I ask aquestion, I make sure to say
luxury consignment shop, becauseI think there's a very big
difference between like oh, thisis just like, oh, I bought it
used and versus like I went to abridal shop and I had an
(14:58):
experience, totally.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
And when you say secondhand, right Like, and
luxury like.
We're very particular about thedresses we take in.
We have a secondhand dressthat's $15,000.
So it's not to say that thesedresses aren't your dress is not
beautiful.
It's that it's not relevant tothe market.
It's that we're going to curatethe collection so that the
girls who are shopping with usknow that we really do take
(15:21):
pride in what we're building andwhat we're offering you as a
secondhand shopper.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
No, that's so true.
And like who do you think isyour ideal client?
Like who is your target person?
How did you come up with whothis person is?
Speaker 2 (15:34):
Yeah, so lots of testing for sure, but most
recently she is generally 25 to35 years old, I would say fully
employed.
Average budgets $35,000 to$5,000.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
Average budget for California average budget for
the nation feel very differentto me, though Very much.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
I think the knot states that an average wedding
dress is like $1,800.
I mean, you're factoring in,like the Midwest right and like
sure, budgets are bigger inbigger cities Makes total sense.
But, like, the biggest driverfor us is, our customer wants a
savings and so knowing ahead oftime that you can save 20 to 70%
off of a designer dress, likewhy wouldn't you buy second hand
(16:13):
, why wouldn't you?
Yeah, and you're sustainabledoing it, you know, yeah, we're
going to dive so much into thatsustainability conversation.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
You know you said you've realized what you know
you're not good at.
What do you know you're good atas being a boss?
How did you figure it out?
What was your natural skills?
How do you let go of thecontrol of, maybe, what you're
not good at and hone in on yourskills?
Because I think that's a veryimportant entrepreneurial lesson
.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
For sure.
It's interesting now lookingback at my career and being able
to take the bits and pieces ofthat journey all the way up
until now.
People skills I think it is askill set that you have to use
consistently in order to onemanage people, to work with
contractors, to work with CMOsand finance and the city,
(17:00):
because your taxes and all ofthe things, all the facets, it's
not just a customer element, Ithink customer skill sets are
really important.
I think thinking outside the boxis really important.
When you're an entrepreneur,often as an employee of a
company, you're given, you know,parameters of how to work and
how to run efficiently, andthat's not the same thing as an
(17:21):
entrepreneur, you know.
You kind of have to wearmultiple hats and kind of think
outside the box and be ready topivot because shit hits the fan
you know yeah yeah.
Am I allowed to say that?
Yeah, absolutely, you'reallowed to say that for sure.
You kind of have to be quick onyour feet, yeah, and I'd like to
think that I'm good at that forsure.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
Yeah, take them and run.
That being said, I feel likeyou are really quick on your
feet because you saw this wholethought, oh, how I can fix it.
But you know, maybe from theoutset, looking in, they think
someone could make thinksustainability is why you just
started this.
Can you tell us about, like,the importance of the you know
(18:01):
industry and sustainability?
There really isn't a lot ofsustainability, and how does
Love Twice Bridal contributemore towards a sustainable
future?
Speaker 2 (18:10):
Yeah, so up until now I think, with the market really
pushing sustainability, therehasn't been a lot of
transparency from designers onother production models, right,
and so we really do try our bestto curate our collection based
off of how the designer makestheir dresses.
So we don't take everythingunder the sun, unfortunately,
(18:31):
and with that comes how theirdresses are made.
We know what designers aremaking dresses in bulk, sitting
in warehouses, and those are theones we don't take.
So it's unfortunately part ofthe game where we kind of have
to break it to the seller thatthese are the reasons why we
can't sell your dress.
But that is one big way that weare pushing sustainability.
We advocate for those brandswho are doing their part and
(18:53):
cutting their dresses made toorder, so one by one, as opposed
to hundreds or thousands at atime.
Speaker 1 (18:59):
Let's talk about a little tea in the industry.
This is a very expensiveindustry Totally.
Yet I hear you talking abouthow you didn't make that much
money working in it, and likethere are.
You know people that I thinkmaybe the dress is the biggest
deal.
I was probably one of thosepeople that the dress was the
biggest deal, like I don't care,we could have had a picnic but
I wanted to wear the dress.
You know whatnot?
(19:19):
How?
How does, like all of this mushgive us some of the tea you
know you've got?
You said there's dressessitting in storage but they tell
you this is going to take sixto eight months.
Correct, yes.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
Why?
Why Sales pitch.
I mean, they're trying toconvert you quickly.
I get it as a business owner.
Money is money, right, anymoney in is money that you're
going to need later, for sure.
But if you're shopping $2,000and under, it's likely your
dress is not made to order.
You know, let's kind of takeour emotions out of it for a
second.
For sure, why is it priced solow?
(19:51):
It's probably not made ofnatural fabrics, okay, fair,
it's probably not made in the US, you know.
And when you considermanufacturing practices, it's
likely that that dress was cutin bulk, sitting at a warehouse
for a company and that boutiqueis able to order it at any time
and they're going to tell you ittakes six months so that you're
able to close the sale.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
Right, yeah, but then it could have been there.
It could have been there.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
That's part of the scheme, that's part of the
allure.
I wouldn't even say it's ascheme, because there are brands
that do require you to ordersix months.
Is it likely?
No, and so because there is notransparency from the designer's
standpoint of what dresses areactually made to order versus
warehouse, you're going tobelieve the stylist.
So if that's something that isimportant to you sustainability
and how the dresses aremanufactured ask your stylist.
(20:37):
You know they're going to tellyou, and if you don't feel like
that's the right answer, take astep back, walk away.
Do your research before youcommit to buying Right, because
someone will tell you the truthSomeone somewhere is going to
tell you the truth.
(20:57):
What do you think in yourjourney of getting to here was
the most surprising thing youlearned about the bridal
industry.
It still shocks me.
But honestly, just the turnoverin styles, you know, and I
think this goes back to likeagain, the sustainability
feature is, like every designerreleases a collection every six
months, so like, within sixmonths your dress becomes
obsolete.
Yikes yeah, which in most,people's.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
In six months they won't be married.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
Well, that's not the case.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
Not always, not always, but like I mean, I think
about if they told me it wasgoing to take eight months to
get there?
Right, I'm going to leave.
I mean, I'm crazy.
I'm also very neurotic.
I'm like I'm going to leaveextra time to make sure it's
there long before that and youshould Totally.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
It's not worth the anxiety that can come of it.
However, if you are a trendsgirl and you are all about the
trends, just know that unlessyou are getting married less
than six months from when thedress was made, your dress is
already out of style.
So just be mindful of whatyou're looking for, right?
Like, if you are a classic gal,go with that feeling, find a
(21:51):
dress that's going to give youthat classic feeling, because
there's always going to be a newversion of classic, right?
So be tasteful, of course, asfar as like, how you want to
translate that timeline, butit's kind of crazy.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
Yeah, it is kind of crazy and it kind of goes
against.
I mean, I think about I don'tknow if you guys have seen this
documentary, but there's thisdocumentary about Brandy
Mayville and it's called BrandyHellville and you know they
talked about how fast fashion.
You know they release newstyles every week and you would
think the bridal, because of theamount of time, is going to go
(22:27):
much slower and there's notgoing to be new trends every
second, but six months, whenyou're talking about a year,
usually planning is still prettyfast.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
Yeah, well then you think about all the boutiques
that carry these brands, right,because now, as a business owner
, buying inventory, that's ahuge money suck right.
So you're now expectingboutiques to buy new collections
every six months.
It takes six months for them toget the first collection and
then they're gone, and then it'snew, no Well then?
so, like they release market inApril and October, yeah, as a
(22:57):
boutique, you could order inApril.
You don't get your new productuntil October.
And then you go back.
So you haven't even sold any ofthese items yet.
And then you go back and buymore, right?
And then you have to figure outoh well, heaven forbid, I don't
have this space.
What do I do with all thisproduct?
I would tell you, 50% of ourdresses have never walked down
an aisle.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
I was literally.
That was exactly what I wasgoing to ask.
I was like do these dresses endup here?
Yes, yeah, so we work.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
Yeah, we work with brides, of course, and boutiques
who have product that's notmoving or that they don't need.
It's not to say they'rediscontinued or damaged, they
just don't have room for themand they're expected to buy more
stuff, Right?
So secondhand doesn't mean youknow your grandma's 40-year-old
dress.
Right For sure, sure With hugesleeves and whatever you know
these are dresses that someonecould still order brand new.
(23:40):
The boutique just didn't needit anymore.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
Yeah, Do stores keep extra in stock.
Sometimes Do stores keep extrain stock?
Sometimes they have to.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, they have to.
I mean just the nature of thewedding industry.
If dresses take six months tocome in and you have a bride who
gets married in three months,you want to sell her something.
Yes, every store has someoff-the-rack option, right.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
Yes, and when those off-the-rack options don't get
picked and there's new stuffthat's now off the racket comes
usually to here.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
They could send it to us, yes, but we also team up
with charities who serve theunderserved community.
We work with a charity calledBrides for a Cause, who donates
their proceeds towardswomen-focused charities.
So there are other avenuesother than resale for beaches.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
So let's talk a little bit about the process of
when a dress shows up here, whatdo you do?
Speaker 2 (24:25):
So let's talk a little bit about the process of
when a dress shows up here, whatdo you do?
So we actually have a prettythorough process leading up to
its arrival to our store.
A bride decides she's done withher dress, she's gotten married
.
She gets it dry, cleaned.
She fills out an intake formfor us.
We do some research to figureout one.
Is it within the last fouryears or not?
Because the last thing we wantis to take in an old dress
that's not relevant to themarket, give the seller false
(24:46):
hope that it's going to sell andit's just not what our brides
are looking for.
So we'll do market research.
We'll fill out a consignmentagreement and that includes her
market research to figure outwhat we're reselling the dress
for.
Has her terms and agreements onit.
Once she's decided she's readyto move forward, she completes
her agreement.
We receive the dress.
We do a quality control.
If the dress is not up to ourstandard, we will email the
bride.
(25:06):
We will send her photos.
We will tell her why we can'ttake it in or, if we can, it's
going to require her to get itcleaned.
It's going to get we got to fixit and that's just going to
translate to a higher sellingprice.
What ends up happening is, ifyou take an address with low
quality, you get negotiations.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
Or it doesn't sell and you don't negotiate, right?
No, the price is the price.
The price is the price You'vesaid it.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
We've said it the worst.
What I should say is the mostwe can do is if a bride wants to
negotiate, we'll tell her it'sup to the seller.
It's not our decision to make.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
Right and I think like that could be a
misconception about Live TwiceBridal.
It's like you walk in you think, oh, you guys own all these
dresses.
We do not own any of thesedresses.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
You are the agent for these dresses I like to say
we're like brokers almost yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
That's crazy.
I mean it's very crazy versuslike other places.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
Like you're trying on the sample to get the dress,
versus you could walk out thedoor with this dress.
You can walk out with thisdress and brides are open to
buying a sample, if you thinkabout how many girls have tried
that sample on yeah Right.
So, like, if you're open to asample sale, you should be
shopping secondhand first, youknow.
Speaker 1 (26:07):
So true.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
Like how many people have tried that sample on?
How many hands have touchedthat dress?
How many repairs have been madeto that gown?
Probably a lot, right, becauseevery boutique, if it's a
bestseller, that dress isgetting tried on four or five
times in one weekend, right,right.
And then now you have damageclips on there and you have
handprints on there and it'sstretched out significantly from
the size that it was Right.
(26:28):
So if you are open to buying anoff-the-rack dress, I ask you
to please shop secondhand,because these dresses are in way
better condition.
Speaker 1 (26:36):
Right.
And so, that being said, also,what's the process if it's
coming from a store?
Same thing, very much the samething, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
And because it's been on the floor, even more
particular right, Because it canhave those damages that you
wouldn't otherwise see on abride's dress that she wore for
10 hours in a very controlledsetting, so to speak.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
And let's talk about the bridal experience.
So you want to come to life,love twice bridal.
What can you expect?
What kind of mindset should yoube coming in?
Do you come?
And this is the first place youshould try on dresses?
Absolutely not.
Okay, great.
So don't do that, because weare an off-the-rack store.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
We definitely encourage our brides to shop
before coming in, and the reasonwe say that is because we don't
do holds right.
So the dress is the dress.
They're one-off pieces.
We cannot order them for you.
They're here today, gonetomorrow.
Online store is something wedon't have control over.
All of our inventory is listedon our website, so somebody
(27:31):
could just buy it.
Yes, and, believe it or not, itdoes happen.
A girl will come in on aSaturday.
She's ready to buy.
It could have sold on Sunday,and that's because we are on
Google.
We do all of our SEO marketing,we do all of the things needed
to convert online, and this isreally where we set ourselves
apart from resale platforms isyes, we do have a physical brick
and mortar location, but wehave a try-at-home program.
So anyone who comes across thisdress on our website can put a
deposit towards the dress, takethe dress home or have it
(27:53):
shipped to them.
Try it on for three days beforeyou commit to buying it, right.
So we're making it easier forgirls to buy a secondhand dress.
You don't have to be physicallyin Los Angeles to shop with us
If you're looking at a dressonline you'll be able to try it
on before you commit.
Speaker 1 (28:11):
See, that is so smart , because this is really getting
into your business smartness.
Not only do you have the store,which you could have, truly the
luxury bridal experience, bringthe girlfriends, bring the mom,
whatever try on the dress, butif you're not going to fly to
Los Angeles and also, then itthrows you back into competing
right with those other sellers,it's you could do either or yes,
or both, which we do get girlswho are like hey, you know, I'm
(28:33):
not sure, can I do the try athome program?
Speaker 2 (28:35):
Yes, if you need three days to mull it over, by
all means put down your deposit,take it home and if you don't
love it, bring it back.
This is really where we kind ofset ourselves apart from a
resale platform.
It's like, let's say, you areonline, you do have questions,
yes, you can call the store, butyou can also chat with us on
the website, you can send us anemail, you can do all of these
things.
Versus an online resaleplatform.
You're sending a message tosomeone you don't know, who,
(28:57):
maybe or maybe not, has been onthe website in the last 24 hours
.
You don't know who's on theother end and like doing what
we've been doing for now fouryears.
We've had people unfortunatelybuy $5,000 dresses and never get
their dress.
I had one customer who had tohire private investigators in
another state to find thisseller who took $5,000 for a
(29:22):
bird address and never found it.
She just never sent it.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
What was the she never got the dress.
She just never found it.
She just never sent it.
What was the?
She never got the dress, shejust never got it.
No, she's like I spent money.
I spent money.
It's out in the ether Maybe.
Yep, we think.
We don't know.
So wow yes, the depths we willgo.
Speaker 2 (29:36):
I mean at this point sadly right.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
Like you know, you think like, oh, I can just say
it didn't come, maybe I'll getthe money back.
You know, I mean it's creatingall these horrible habits.
Speaker 2 (29:52):
Well, totally, and this is what goes back to like
the personal.
This is what we offer is likeif there's an issue, you can
call us, you can talk to someone, like there is someone who's
there to help you.
It's not this black hole of anonline option, it really is a
black hole, and communication isalso limited a lot.
Right.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
And like, yeah, I understand it, especially for
the people who sustainability issuper important to You're going
to use these kinds of sites.
Maybe You're going to use themfor your regular clothes as well
, or different sites for regularclothes as well.
So you're more used to oraccustomed to the system, Right,
but it's kind of a gamble.
It is a gamble and you justdon't know.
And also some sites withrentals.
(30:31):
I've recently had a badexperience with rentals and
things.
You don't know whose sidethey're going to pick.
Are they going to pick you, thebuyer?
Are they going to pick thesellers Right To favor?
So it's really a shot in thedark.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
It really is, and maybe you're willing to take
this risk for that bag thatyou've been eyeing For $20 or
for $30.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
Or your shoes.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
Right, yeah, yeah, but not your wedding dress.
This is your wedding dress andof course, every budget is
subjective, for sure.
But if you're spending $2,000,$10,000, you should know what
you're getting.
You should know if it's goingto fit.
You should know what conditionit's in.
It sounds so elementary, but upuntil now, there's no one
advocating for secondhanddresses with a professional
(31:12):
person behind them, right, andwho's?
also had experience in theindustry, I mean yes, and that
really comes down to like thatexperience part that you're
talking about.
It's like you are notsacrificing experience in any
way.
It's a new way to do it and itmight take a little bit longer
to get things done, but likeyou're going to feel so good
that you saved some money.
You were sustainable in doingit, you didn't have to wait six
(31:33):
months, you don't have thisanxiety of like is my dress
going to fit?
Am I going to love it?
Like there's so many thingsthat can come out of buying
secondhand, especially with us,that like it just seems like a
no brainer.
Speaker 1 (31:44):
It's.
It's so clear and it's like Iknow this took a lot of thought
to get there Totally.
It's so clear and concise forthe consumer but that's because
of your entrepreneurial spiritand your mind and whatnot.
What keeps your entrepreneurialspirit alive in like really
tough times.
I mean, you're a mom, you werea military wife.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
What keeps you going A lot of sarcasm.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
Oh yeah, great, me too.
Perfect, all right Nextquestion, just kidding.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
I mean, there are days where I just lose sleep.
I mean, if you're anentrepreneur, it is not for the
faint of heart.
You buckle up.
It's a roller coaster.
It will drag you through thetrenches.
But those really high, highsand those validations from the
customers of like, oh my God, Iwish this was around when I was
getting married.
(32:29):
I would have totally boughtsecondhand.
Or I tried buying online and itdidn't work out.
Or I wish you had known aboutyou sooner.
Like that's really what keepsme going.
You know, like disrupting anindustry sure, Great, so
exciting.
But like what?
Why?
If your customers aren'tresonating with that, then
what's the point?
And so getting that feedbackfrom customers who are like I
(32:49):
actually had the best experiencewith them, they're really nice
and their quality is great,those are the reasons why you
keep going.
Speaker 1 (33:01):
Right, Not because you're like I'm shaking it up.
Speaker 2 (33:02):
It feels unrealistic to touch.
What's real is what you'regoing to see day to day, totally
, and it's not easy.
I mean to your point, yes, I'ma mom, I'm a wife, I have things
outside of the business, butlike, if you're not doing
something for the better ofhumanity, like what's the point,
right, you know?
Like I'm not just there tosacrifice my kids and my
household, you know Well and Ihope that you can sleep easy at
night, knowing you're doingsomething good.
Good yeah, totally.
Speaker 1 (33:24):
I mean it's a very luxurious space.
There's a lot I think we don'ttalk about this enough the
bridal guilt of it all.
It's very expensive.
We live in the US, we're veryprivileged and all the things.
Even if you can just add alittle bit of realness to that
and just be like I did somethinga little good.
Also, I don't hardly thinkyou're doing anything corrupt.
You probably get a good night'ssleep knowing you're making the
(33:45):
world a little bit betterTotally, and I think again back
to like hearing the customerssay that, like that's really
what keeps us going, yeah, yeah,and really what sets us apart.
Yeah, it's very demanding, yes,so how do you maintain the
balance of being a mother andwife?
And I mean, how many dressesare even in here?
Speaker 2 (34:02):
Like we're probably like 400.
Wow, yeah, something like that.
So it's 400.
Speaker 1 (34:06):
I mean if each dress came from one bride Customer, of
course, that's that manycustomers, yeah, yeah, that many
people Like the team is howmany people here?
Speaker 2 (34:13):
So we are three deep, including myself.
Great.
Speaker 1 (34:18):
And her children.
They're on staff too, no justkidding no child labor law.
Speaker 2 (34:25):
I mean like we's kind of this part of the social
strategy.
Speaker 1 (34:28):
Oh my God, adorable.
Speaker 2 (34:29):
Yeah, she's so cute and my son was in here when we
first started the business and Iremember him holding the
mannequin's hand, looking at herlike he's going to marry
someone special.
Yeah, so they're in it in somedegree.
I am better at it now with thebalance, now that I do have a
full-time employee who handlesthe day-to-day operations and
(34:50):
thank God for her because she isa gem.
I don't think I could do itwithout her.
Like I had a baby at thebeginning of the year, like
there's no way that I could beable to grow the business, step
away, give birth and like upuntil recently, and with her
part-time right.
So like it's not easy balancing.
I'm not.
I don't think I have it downand anyone who tells you they do
is like total BS, like theydon't have it down.
Speaker 1 (35:13):
There's no way, it's never a perfect 50-50.
Speaker 2 (35:15):
It's never.
No, it never will be.
And I think, like that's justthe season of life, Like if you
have kids, you have a household,you run a business, like there
will never be a perfect day andif there is, get ready for it to
not be the case.
Anyone who makes it seem likeit's perfect is lying to you.
Speaker 1 (35:33):
It's all a facade.
Speaker 2 (35:33):
Well, yeah, totally Right, and I think that the
transparency part to that islike it's not easy.
Just the other day I got aphone call from the California
tax board and I was like Hello,I know.
She's like hello, yes, I'mcalling about your tax account.
And I was like I don't believeyou, I think this is scam.
She's like no, no, no, really,let's talk about it.
I hang up and our part-timestylist is behind me and she's
(35:54):
looking at me and she's like areyou okay?
Yeah, and I was like I'm aboutto sell the company.
She's like looked at me allserious, I'm just kidding.
No, you know, for me it's that4.30 time cutoff to about 8
o'clock.
I'm in mom mode.
Yeah, you've bound her Pickups,groceries, dinner, bath,
(36:16):
homework, cleaning and then, ifthere's still things left to be
done, I'm working till 10o'clock at night on the couch
with my husband watching TV,trying to have some sense of
normalcy I've gotten better atit, but yeah, it's not an easy
skill, no, and I think the only.
Speaker 1 (36:33):
Like you know, we can sit here behind the mic.
You can tell me all about it.
I don't have kids, I don't owna business.
And you're just not going tounderstand it until you do it on
some level and being honest andopen about it.
Speaker 2 (36:43):
I think it's now become more of a normal thing to
talk about.
But like that mental load ofall of that, like that's
exhausting, it's tiring, it'sexhausting.
It's like, no, yes, I love mykids, yes, I love to do what I
do for them, but like no, Idon't want to have to think
about dinner five days a week.
You know, like if I could hirea private chef, we all would be
(37:03):
great.
Speaker 1 (37:11):
That would save me so much time.
That being said, you know, ifyou were to go back and like,
look at all the lessons you'velearned from pre-Love Twice and
then in Love Twice, what are thelessons along the way that have
really stood out to you?
Speaker 2 (37:19):
There's a time and place for everything.
It sounds so basic, but therewere definitely days where I
questioned what was my purpose.
You know, like getting marriedat 22, I thought I solved it all
, Check mark On to the nextright, Next thing to accomplish.
But like now in my 30s, lookingback, like most 20-year-olds
(37:41):
have no idea what they're goingto do with themselves.
And that's okay.
You know I now tell20-year-olds that's okay.
You know I now tell20-year-olds take your 20s, live
your life.
You have time to figure it outand then, when that time comes,
you'll be so much happierknowing that you gave yourself
that grace.
You know, I think now, lookingback, I realize I was tough on
(38:02):
myself, I was hard on myself andthat's just how I was brought
up.
You know you have to get yourshit together quickly.
So I think, looking back, Iwould.
I'm proud of how I got throughthose humps and bumps along the
road and I still feel likethere's definitely those days
where I question it.
But it's not.
It's not a purpose question,it's like let's get through it
(38:24):
and move on.
Speaker 1 (38:25):
Yeah, yeah.
I love that notion of just likewe'll get through it and we'll
figure it out.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (38:30):
Things just come.
There's a reason why thingshappen when they happen and why
they happen, and I think it'snot until now that I look back
and I'm like if I hadn't been amilitary wife, I wouldn't have
moved around the country, Iwouldn't have tried different
boutiques and business modelsand seen so many different
designers and manufacturingprocesses, and what worked in
one store might not have workedin another store.
(38:51):
I saw the small business facet,I saw the corporate facet, I
saw the international facet.
There's so many things thatworked in my favor that brought
me to Love Twice, that reallygave me the skills and
experience I needed to start myown brand.
Speaker 1 (39:05):
Right.
We never know, in those littletiny steps that you think are
like, why is this happening tome?
Like this has no use for what Iwant to do in my life.
And then you end up someplacewhere you really want to be in
your life, which I hope is Love,toy, sprite, all Absolutely,
and you're like, wow, those werelittle steps I needed.
Speaker 2 (39:20):
No, I didn't know I needed them.
No, there's job and it didn'twork out.
You know Like it will give yousomething, it will serve you in
some way.
Just take a step back, figureit out.
Speaker 1 (39:37):
Oh yeah, I love it.
Well, Sarah, thank you so muchfor joining us on the podcast.
You are wonderful.
We have to tell everybody wherethey can find you, find the
store, find the website.
All the good things, yes.
Speaker 2 (39:47):
So we are online at wwwlovetwicebridalcom and
hashtag, or at usernamelovetwicebridal.
We are in Beverly Hills, onRobertson Boulevard.
You can call us, you can bookan appointment, you can text us.
Honestly, just shout it outfrom the rooftops.
I think for us it's justgetting our name out there,
telling girls she can sell herdress with us, she can buy her
dress with us, yeah, yeah.
(40:09):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (40:12):
Thank you so much for listening to Confessions of a
Wannabe it Girl.
Don't forget to rate andsubscribe to the show.
As always, we'll see you nextTuesday.
You.
Popular Podcasts
United States of Kennedy
United States of Kennedy is a podcast about our cultural fascination with the Kennedy dynasty. Every week, hosts Lyra Smith and George Civeris go into one aspect of the Kennedy story.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com