What's Your Vision: The Customized Wedding Dress Experience with Renee Grace Bridal

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Have you ever wondered why wedding dress shopping can feel so limiting and overwhelming? Owner Terry of Renee Grace Bridal challenges the traditional bridal shopping experience by offering fully customized wedding dresses designed specifically for your body and vision.

During our delightful conversation, Terry reveals how the name "Renee Grace" honors her two daughters' middle names, reflecting the family values at the heart of her business. She explains the frustrations many brides face when shopping off-the-rack: loving the top of one dress but hating the skirt, or being told certain alterations are possible when they actually aren't. At Renee Grace, these problems disappear because everything is designed and created in-house.

The most valuable insight Terry shares is about the emotional connection to finding the perfect dress. When you find the right dress, three things happen --You swish back and forth, you start petting yourself, and you don't want to take it off. This visceral reaction is something every bride deserves to experience, which is why Terry advises against visiting too many bridal shops and becoming mentally exhausted by options.

For brides eager to experience this unique approach to wedding dress design, Terry will be at the Bride's Mafia "Mimosas with the Mafia" event on March 23rd at Memorial Hall, where you can play with paper dolls and sample components to design your dream dress. Whether you visit her downtown Sharonville boutique or catch her at an event, you'll discover why the right wedding dress is about far more than following trends—it's about celebrating your body and personal style on one of life's most significant days.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
We are making our own story as we go.
Hi everybody, this is KathyPiech Lukas, with your Dream Day
.
I'm at Renee Grace Bridal withTerry, the owner, and today
we're going to talk about customwedding dresses that are
personalized for you.
Thank you so much for joiningus today.
You're welcome.
Thanks for having me.
So where does the name ReneeGrace come from?

(00:21):
Oh, that's a question I getasked all the time.
So it's actually the middlenames of my two from.
Oh, that's a question I getasked all the time.
So it's actually the middlenames of my two daughters.
Oh, wow, yeah, so I don't know.
I'm just, as a designer, Ididn't really want to name it
after me and so they're veryspecial to me, so naming it
after my daughters.
So it is a family business.
It is.
My husband used to work in thebusiness for a little bit.
He doesn't anymore, but he did.

(00:43):
My husband doesn't either.
He actually it's a funny storyhe assisted me at a wedding and
after that he he just said getyour own stuff.
Literally, just like that --"Just get your own staff.
Yeah, well, my husband, weactually, you know, we make all
of our dresses here, and so forabout six months my husband was
the cutter, because we cut a lotof things on a laser and so he

(01:06):
was in the back trying to workwith fabrics.
It was good.
It was good for us.
We learned a lot and learnedhow to train someone by having
him on the program Makes amarriage stronger.
Fortunately, we work reallywell together, which is good,
and we're all about weddingshere really well together, which

(01:27):
is good.
And we're all about weddingshere, yeah, wonderful.
So with your dress lines, howdoes the process work?
If somebody wants to purchase acustomized dress?
Yeah, so what we do is we haveover a hundred different designs
here and how we're differentthan other stores.
As you go to another store,you're going to try on their
dress and you're going topurchase it as is, and they may
tell you you can get thesechanges done, but they're going

(01:47):
to have to be done inalterations later.
Sometimes the alterationistscan do what you want, sometimes
they can't, and sometimes thesalespeople don't know what
they're telling you can't bedone.
So here, because we design andmake all of our gowns here,
everything's done in-house.
You get to work with me as adesigner and then we can

(02:08):
personalize the gown to howeveryou want.
You know how.
We've all gone to stores, we'veall gone looking for something
and we're like I love this dress, I like the top of this dress,
but I hate the skirt, or viceversa.
So here we can mix and matchand combine and change fabrics
and really personalize that gownto what you are looking for and

(02:29):
to create your vision and bringthat to life.
That's huge.
Yeah, because every person has adifferent body type.
Yes, and what I think what alot of ladies who are shopping
for their dresses don't realizeis that what looks good on a
model in a magazine may not lookgood on your particular body

(02:49):
type Exactly.
And I have so many girls whowill come in and they'll say,
well, I want X, y and Z, but Idon't want these things.
And so I always pull one.
That's not what they wouldthink, and a lot of times
they're like, oh, I didn't thinkI'd like that on me.
Or the things that they put ontheir Pinterest board they're
like, oh, I don't like this onme at all.

(03:12):
And so it's really important totry on a dress, try on a variety
of dresses, and that's my jobis to help you find out both
what looks good on your body andwhat you're comfortable in,
because you're so nervous onyour wedding day.
Anyway, the last thing you wantto do is feel uncomfortable in
your dress, the way it fits orthe way it feels, and you don't
want to be tugging.

(03:33):
You don't want to be tugging atyour chest all night.
Yeah, exactly the worst feelingever.
Yeah, well, and you'll knowwhen.
It's the dress, yeah, threethings happen you swish, you
swish back and forth.
Then you start petting yourself, like you start petting your,
your, your, like your core areaand your hips, and you start
checking yourself out and thenyou don't want to take it off.
After that, yeah, and there'susually a big smile on your face

(03:55):
yes, yes, and that's usually.
They're like I just don't wantto take it off.
We're like that's when you lookat it.
And if I had a tip for brides, Iwould say don't go to a ton of
bridal stores there.
You know, in Cincinnati areayou can find the one that you
want to go to.
Go there, try it, and if theydon't have what you want, then

(04:15):
go to somewhere else.
I know we have this fear of ofmissing out, that we're we're
not going to find the rightdress, but if you put that dress
on and you feel all thosethings.
That's the dress, just get it.
You don't need to spend hoursand hours and you don't need to
exhaust yourself trying to findthe right dress, because you'll
know it.
You'll know, and that's exactlytrue.

(04:37):
You'll know exactly when, whenyou find that dress.
Yeah, I remember when I foundmine, my mom started crying
before I did.
I'm like, okay, this must be it.
Then, yeah, yeah, and youreally do know.
And if you don't, then gosomewhere else.
You know it's, it's fine.
But I've just seen brides getexhausted by going to like six

(04:57):
stores oh, mentally exhausted,mentally exhausted, mentally
exhausted.
And then they just forget whatthey've seen.
And they don't.
You know, it's just go to one.
It almost becomes like thePinterest experience, and I
think a lot of engaged couplescan relate to that, because what
will happen is you'll go onPinterest and you'll say, oh, I
like this idea, oh, I like thisidea.
And the next thing, you know,you have 500 pins and you have

(05:20):
them look anything alike andyou're like how am I going to
make this into a wedding design?
Exactly, and it's probably thesame type of thing with wedding
dresses.
There's just so much visuallyout there and then, yeah, so I
always like keep it simple,start small, and then, if you
have to go to other places, doWell.
And one of the things thatyou're going to be doing in the
upcoming weeks is you're goingto be at a bride's mafia I am

(05:44):
mimosas with the mafia on march23rd, from 12 to 3 at memorial
hall, and what do you haveplanned for?
Yeah, so that will be reallyfun, because what I have is I
have a bunch of paper dolls soyou get to come and play with
the paper dolls and create yourown dress right there on the
spot.
I'll also have some actualdresses and samples of things

(06:04):
that they can try, like put on adress form and take off and put
on and see what different laceswould look like or sleeves
would look like, or differentskirts, and they can really play
with it while they're there.
You know what's coming to mind.
I'm going to totally datemyself right now.
Do you remember fashion play?
Oh, yeah, know what's coming tomind.
I'm going to totally datemyself right now.
Do you remember fashion plate?
Oh, yeah, everybody says thatthat's what it sounds like and I

(06:25):
used to love that.
Yeah, I used to love to be ableto design their own dress.
Well, that's what you get to dohere.
We get to.
You get to be the Barbie.
You get to be the fashion platewhere we're putting things on
you and we're trying to figureout what looks best on you.
Oh, how fun is that.
Yeah, wonderful.
You want to go check out?
Um, uh, renee Grace Biddle, besure to come to downtown

(06:46):
Sharonville.
You're located right inside theloop.
Right inside the loop, yeah.
Or you can also head out to um,a bride's mafia mimosas with
the mafia on March 23rd atMemorial hall Hall.
Yeah, I hope to see you there.
Yeah, fantastic.
Well, thank you so much forjoining us today.
This is Kathy Piech Lukas withYour Dream Day.
Happy planning!