Inside the Block
We're shining a spotlight on the vibrant businesses and and unique history of the Warehouse Block in Lexington, Kentucky! Every first and third Sunday of the month we're serving up a fun blend of inspiring, behind-the-scenes stories of the Bluegrass region's most dynamic district!
Inside the Block
Episode 2: The White Dress Bridal Boutique!
From undercover police building to elegant bridal boutique, step into the charming world of The White Dress of Lexington, nestled in the historic Warehouse Block. Join the dynamic team—Julia, Beverly, and Daniel—as they share their journey in the bridal industry, reveal current wedding dress trends, and offer insider tips on assembling the perfect crew for your dress shopping adventure.
Warehouse Block developer Chad Walker reveals how theatrical elements and wedding cake tiers inspired the transformation of this unique space into a welcoming bridal haven. Along the way, we celebrate love stories that span generations—from high school sweethearts reuniting in their 70s to starry-eyed brides in their 20s—proving that romance knows no age. And yes, we'll share a few entertaining 'bridezilla' tales that remind us why the bridal industry is never short on drama. Join us for this delightful journey through the world of wedding fashion, where every dress tells a story.
Hi and welcome to Inside the Block podcast episode 2, where we are filming now at White Dress here in the Warehouse Block, and I'd like to introduce Chad Walker, who needs no introduction at all, owner of the Warehouse Block, julia, beverly and Daniel all members and owners of White Dress. So we're here to talk about weddings, we're here to talk about celebrations and we're here to talk about the best bridal shop here in Lexington. Tell us how you got into the bridal business. Oh my gosh, I got into the bridal business about 24 years ago in a small town in eastern Kentucky, just about like Bev here, she's been a little longer than me so we met at a conference. That's how we ended up here, but I'll let you tell her about the unique routine.
Speaker 1:Okay, well, what got me in bridal business? I was originally a dental hygienist and I didn't like being down in the mouth all the time. So I got married and my husband. So I got married and my husband I'll blame you, yeah. So my husband said what would you like to do? Then I said I really don't know. And stay home and watch soap operas. And he said, no, you can't do that. So I had no idea what I was doing about starting a ladies clothing store in Blackpool, and that was 42 years ago and we started ladies clothing and then we branched into wedding gowns. My first bride was six foot tall and she had has a. I took two measuring tapes together to go measure her hips and I found the company that would make any size wedding gown. So I saw how happy she was and that just got me hit from bridal. So 42 years later, I'm still here. I love that. That's great, daniel.
Speaker 2:Well, I got, You've been in the bridal. Well, I kind of got into it a little bit at a younger age because Bev dressed me all through all my prongs and all that kind of stuff oh, I didn't know, you guys went back that year. No, no, since I was probably 12 or 13 um yeah, I'm the newcomer, so that's who y'all want he messaged me on Facebook one night and was like are you interested in working at the dress shop?
Speaker 2:I was like at Union Boutique, and she said no, we opened a shop up in Lexington. She said I told my business partner that you would probably be interested in it.
Speaker 1:So I came up and met with julia and the rest is history you know, then the first weekend and julia was like I'm keeping him we, I recently was able to well, I forced them to like allow me to try on some wedding dresses. Yeah, as you do, and I was really shocked by how I came in. I didn't tell you my height, my weight, my size, what my measurements, and immediately Daniel knew exactly. He was like I already have some things picked out for you based on you know even my personality. Like it was wild, like you knew kind of what I and we'd only spoken maybe three minutes the last time I was here. It's uncanny.
Speaker 2:So tell me about your process with that, because that was insane well, typically when we do appointments, we'll have an interview and now we'll send in the stuff and they kind of give us a picture sport or you know, it's sizing. Um, you kind of, uh, look at Facebook and kind of get a feel of what they look like and that kind of thing, and pull from there. When you get an appointment, you kind of learn their actions and when they tell you that they want certain dresses, a lot of times that's not what they buy, because they don't. You know, they see it in their, they see in their mind, but when they see that person it's not what they want in their mind, but when they see that person it's not what they want Totally typically by the total opposite, right, right, that wasn't even what they wanted.
Speaker 1:When they have their vision for the Pinterest board, it's usually not what they end up with at all. That is so interesting. It is very interesting. Yeah, and that's one reason brides here, we don't let them just wander through the racks and stuff. We take that interview seriously and we go through that process step by step and then we ask a lot of questions when they're here for their appointment. Yeah, so we get to know them quite well. So I think that's great.
Speaker 1:Especially, something like this can be incredibly overwhelming and the decision fatigue, especially when, like, the stakes are so high. It's such an important day, right, I love that. You take a lot. They get lost in the excitement of having their families and friends with them and that kind of thing, and, of course, try to keep them on track and help them find what they really love. What's the largest entourage you've ever had? She loved charity people. 14, I would say 14, 15, yeah, 14 or 15 people, yes, yes, oh, were they hanging from the rafters? That's, that's quite. It's a year.
Speaker 1:I said I know a lot of people have opinions. I do A lot of opinions, I'm sure so. Do you have like a suggested cutoff, maybe just bring them all. Right now we suggest like we have three different appointment levels. We have the micro, which you can bring two people. We have their standard. We got four people. We do do BMP appointments, like where they can have food, and they can bring up to eight people. So I just tell people they need to bring their most special people with them, totally.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's the ones that they value their opinions with, absolutely. Can't just be any in person. Yeah, if you have a really opinionated girlfriend, you might want to think about that. I can't. I was talking about the box. You might be the good one to pick. There are different lanes for all your friends. Yes, well, I mean your friends, if they've got. You know they've married, you know, got married. They think they're a wedding expert with one wedding. But you're looking at, I've been brought up for 42 years, has been probably 10 years close to you know, with it. So you know we do this every day. It's, you know, the 5Q. We don't know, we have no clue what we're doing here, but you do. So yeah, orders with another bride. Welcome to my shop, yeah.
Speaker 2:And it's what we love. We love bridal. Yeah, I mean we do, we love it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love, and it's what we love. We love brawl. Yeah, I mean, we do we like? Yeah, I love working with the brides. I'm trying to do that them. Paperwork, paperwork it's my worst enemy. What do you like about so much about working with the bride? I just love meeting all the interesting people, I mean, and just what puts together a wedding like the the parents, the grandparents, the aunts, the girlfriends. It's just so interesting to see how all that comes together in her vision. So I just love seeing the people when they come through the door. And another thing and it's a lunch story, I mean, how people meet and things I was trying to chat earlier.
Speaker 1:So much is online dating, but then we had people that were high school sweethearts. Maybe they got married. Things happened and used down the road. We had one couple get married and they were like in their 70s but they'd been classical sweethearts and just screwed why. You know, here they were in their 70s getting married. So there's a lot really sweet stories, and so you were telling me the other day that when did you say the majority of your brides are usually like 20s, 30s, 40s, but you have I mean, you have some that are 50s. You know absolutely. We've done it to 80 years old. We've had a couple get back together after living through their lives and their spouses and past and stuff. They got back together. So it's kind of cool.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:They were girlfriend, boyfriend, like the new younger years. So cool yeah. What do you like about weddings, chan?
Speaker 3:So I know nothing about weddings, I know nothing about ladies. You had one, yeah, I did, but my part was like, yeah, I showed up, I made sure to take a shower, I was clean, that's all I had to do. That was really about it. I had to remember to bring the other ring and yeah, that was the extent of it. And so, to that point, though, I knew nothing about weddings, and when these guys reached out, originally like we're gonna move, uh, I went over to their place on southland drive, where the former location was, and just kind of tried to take it in on a saturday afternoon, bribes running everywhere, I mean absolutely zigging and zagging, but what I noticed was is that they had, they had a like each dressing room had a mirror, then they had like a hallway and it had a mirror, and then there was kind of like out front there was a setup, and so I noticed that, even though a lot of the ladies were getting dressed and coming out, all of them would go out and do the big formal like stand in front of the mirror and their family would be around, and that was the reveal.
Speaker 3:So when we thought about this space and again, knowing nothing about women like I jill, and I sat down and I said I want this somehow to be like a stage, like a big sprochel, yeah.
Speaker 3:And so even when it's a, it's almost like a rehearsal for the big day, because you get this, yeah, like wow, this is the way you look. And so I designed a stage. And then j's like it needs to be softer, it needs to kind of tear, and so that's where the wedding cake design came up with. The stage kind of has those little you know where it also allows you to sort of step up to it. And that was a neat design that I would have never come up with in my life because, again, I know nothing about girls. But it just made it more of a nice approachable fun space where you know like it just made it more of a nice approachable fun space where you know they'll set up chairs out here and you come out and get that really big moment of now this is what it's going to look like and it was great. So we got a lot to get back to.
Speaker 1:He did all that. No, nothing to answer the topic. Tell me about what Chad did for this tiered cake. The way he brought the idea to me, I thought it was very cool. I just thought it was a great idea. Some of us, on the other hand, did not. What does that tell you? I'm going to get her on board with it. But when she got on board, she was good, but she wasn't here at the time, so that made a difference. Oh, but you had to be a person. Well, I mean because I was still impactful and they were, you know, sending me pictures and I'm like, oh, and I'm like they're gonna go up that many stairs. I told you that let me work on it, should we? I?
Speaker 3:think that was the compromise was to ramp it, because if it had gone up all the steps now it wasn't gonna happen. But it was kind of like a secret.
Speaker 1:Uh, you know back here, but that is my only requirement was I asked him. I said I want a curved wall. I love that because he had seen it in other spaces. Sure, that was short, that was fine. So was this room originally a part of the building, and tell us about the history of this building? I know it's a fairly historic spot for the warehouse block.
Speaker 3:So this was the 7040 building used to be where it was. Oh gosh, what's his name? Jt Perry had his offices here and when we first looked at it for these guys it was a mess. So the, the police department, rented as an undercover like area for years and just had it was an absolute mess. So that they went, you know, took a leap of faith to say, all right, we don't necessarily 100 like, yeah, you know, construction debris everywhere.
Speaker 1:And it was undercover officers who were just using it as like their undercovers. So was it covered in? Just like?
Speaker 3:It was just dry.
Speaker 1:Miller.
Speaker 3:Highlight yeah, it was just like a whole yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, like dorm rooms on the head, like a frat, a frat, yeah, yeah. And then the front windows had this fun, a one-man-l, and in the front windows had this one aluminum looking stuff. It was a reflective thing and Chad's, of course, said, well, put new windows.
Speaker 3:It's a hard sell to sit and talk about something as like light and lacy as a wedding dress shop and they're looking at it going. It used to be an undercover location for the police. There's no windows in the front that we busted all those out. There's no windows in the front we bust it all those out. There's garbage and construction and stuff everywhere. I'm like all right, let's see what you can do. Let's wait until next time.
Speaker 1:There's holding cells.
Speaker 3:The good news is it was the undercover drug division and I didn't tell them this, but I got rid of some of the other undercover drugs and the coffee and a lot of people have always been really happy to be listening.
Speaker 1:I've been banned now and that's why everybody's really happy.
Speaker 3:That's right. When Perry had his offices here I mean that was part of the deal, was he always paid people in cash? So the one room downstairs is technically a vault it doesn't have a vault front on it, but it is like double insulated and so that was one of the things that we kind of pay homage to of their old location is it had a vault. So that became like a place you could like a store long term, things like that with dresses. Um, another weird I'm gonna say weird, uh unique historic feature is that old man perry uh always wanted to keep him out of his work. He had this thing about being able to, even if he's doing paperwork, to keep an eye on people and this is back in the 20s and 30s. There's no, you know, cctv and so he had those portholes up there that while he's sitting on his throne in any of the three rooms upstairs, he could lift the little window and look out and see his guys.
Speaker 1:Check to see if we can get those reinstalled. That's to watch your brides.
Speaker 3:Watch. These guys reinstalled.
Speaker 1:That's to watch your brides watch what's these got. Yeah, that was a really interesting kind of uh, this it's like only in school micromania. I was actually like no, you're doing it wrong.
Speaker 3:You slap it back down only place, though, that you can truly get the angle that you need to is when you're in the exact yes, only actually thrown. It's all the bathroom.
Speaker 1:Those are in all the bathrooms so if you don't know what we're talking about, because you're listening to this in the audio version of this podcast. We're sitting in an area of white dress which is in the back. So what was this room originally then?
Speaker 3:uh, it was just a great big warehouse. It was a big, great edge here.
Speaker 1:Yeah but the second floor above or adjacent to us has little portholes, as we would call it.
Speaker 3:So that way, old man, perry, jt perry, yeah old man perry could lift up the I don't know a wooden flap yeah, that was a pulley system, so he would actually pull the cord inside the path through, and that's what lifted it, because he didn't want to have it up all the time, because, you know, he didn't want to catch him in a compromising Well, of course, he had it all figured out.
Speaker 1:He thought I'm going to knock the elevator. You're talking about surveillance? Yeah sure, definitely some good surveillance. So, nanny the railroad, I think this used to be a loading dump, yeah yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:So the railroad was right here and this was really offloaded material.
Speaker 1:It was really a neat place. We were like when we first saw it. I think we were supposed to have gotten in here in May. Our lease was up at our other place in May and they kepting oh, it's going to be green, it was two more weeks, it was two more weeks.
Speaker 3:Two weeks, just like the bunny pit two weeks.
Speaker 1:I'm working on your copy of Wedding Drugs. So by September we just said that we started moving in. Sure, they were still painting and things and we just started moving in.
Speaker 3:We were ready to get started.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you have quite the landlord it's Miss Whitney. What is?
Speaker 2:his character?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I don't know. I mean he had his vision and he worked with our vision too. I mean I've got some pictures on my phone. It's what we thought before, when we were just like you saw, it wasn't as good. I mean, you really need to be use your imagination then, but it worked out really well.
Speaker 2:I think I've seen the pictures too. We're going to get those pictures. This is where we're going to get it. It's going to be fixed.
Speaker 1:There won't be as many rats. Oh, it's like.
Speaker 3:Oh, what a lot of fun calls but, and I will say too, after we signed the lease, uh and this somebody brought this up, I think one of you guys even said well, you know, you're gonna have to deal with all those girls in the neighborhood. And so I went back and looked and your all's lease was the lease that put at least the buildings that we own the girls ahead of the boys as far as quantity of buildings. So you got to make that be so. That's what catapulted the game, and so we called the Herald leader and they came down and did a story within an hour. That's when we called everybody and said we're going to do a photo shoot, and it was great.
Speaker 1:We had a good time with it, and he's got more women entrepreneurs in mind than that one else. Blogger. What is she doing on Girls? Uh, that's.
Speaker 3:No, I, they've been dealing with these two. They beat me up all the time. You learned it all. It's all right. I'm not going to win, so I'm okay with that. I'm bent Resolved.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. How Okay, I'm bent, resolved. How can tomorrow? That's pretty bad, that's good.
Speaker 1:And Daniel's out there with me and it seems like such a fun place to work. I mean, yeah, I love that, I love that, and I know that your brides feel that when they come in, that's what we want. Yeah, that's what we strive for.
Speaker 2:Yes, we want our brides to we call it the white dress experience and to we we call it the white dress experience. We and you become a white dress. You're in the white dress family. Even if you're married in 10 years, we still like seeing the pictures and saying, oh, it's their anniversary. You know, these were our girls that we worked with.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know speaking of which is coming our 10-year anniversary yes, in september, and um, they've been a little year 10 years incredible. Yeah, so we're been here eight years and then we'll be open Our business will be in November 10 years. So we're putting together a big party for all that. So keep your calendar up.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, I have a whole lot.
Speaker 1:So what's going on and what Tyler's bored to? We've got some surprises coming out, but we know we're doing 10 days of giving. We know that for sure That'll be for our brides. We're doing some other things. We're going to end with a party Fantastic. We're working on things. Now. We've got a revamp logo and all that good stuff. Oh gosh, see there, 10-year makeup. I was 30 when I started.
Speaker 3:I'm still 34 business card on it. I just told it.
Speaker 1:It's a great guy. Let me tell if he heard his weapon. Well, yeah, I can get. I need to go 35. Yeah, that's right, it was. And you started when you were oh my gosh, I was 20 something, I was like 24 or something like that when I started the industry. I don't know how has the industry changed in that amount of time? Oh Lord, that's a big one, because it used to be. We had to wait for rides to come to us and social media blew up and took over. Like when we started it was like a newspaper ad or radio ad or something like that, and that's changed a lot. I mean, social media has a lot of play in that. Now, sure, the award amount is still good. I mean, you sure do have a frivolous refer, you, you know, for bringing in some things.
Speaker 1:So it grows, you know that way. And then I'm so old I'm doing Well, I'll pay Just 34. She put brides that I had in Pockville and now I'm doing their daughters and even some of the grandchildren, and they still are coming from Pockville to see me. I'm in my stage where I'm doing their second wedding, and then you can flip through a book.
Speaker 2:Sometimes I start with a cut. We just joked way back when and he's like he's a third sometimes.
Speaker 3:Sometimes he's a third, so you know I'm glad we used to joke way back when too, that was. The thing is like you guys would be the place where you get the dress in seasons you could get the cave. You've got several like exercise places in town that'll do like bride boot camp, that's right.
Speaker 1:Le Petit Delicat could do your wedding cake.
Speaker 3:Yeah, oh yeah, david Hungerford does rings and it used to be and I'm hitting on this it used to be two doors down. There was actually a lady that specialized in divorce lawyers, and that's all about the crazy things left. So we now have nothing but causing things about weddings. From now on, it's like none of that two or three ends.
Speaker 1:We're always full-circling. I just don't know None of that. Two or three ends, we're always full circling. What's good?
Speaker 3:Absolutely.
Speaker 1:Alcohol helps, it helps tremendously, we can have a loss party. So how have wedding dresses, though, changed, like styles? How have they changed? So I'm thinking, if you guys can start, what does that mean If it hadn't been 40, you said 40 years ago? Well, 42 years, I started in 82. So in the 80s it was a whole different style.
Speaker 1:Right In the 80s, I must wear gowns from the United States. All the beading was glint on and you know it was glued on. Uh, then the chinese people started coming in selling you wedding gowns that had sewed on beading that didn't fall off, and they were cheaper than the wedding gowns. But oh, wow. But yeah, you've got classic designs, and there's really probably five to six designs, and they will re keep remaking those uh, different ways.
Speaker 1:But, um, you know, sometimes I call them butt bows. We had series of one to big butt bows back in the 80s. I need to take mine off. Yeah, now bows are back. So I mean, yeah, bows are back. You know, they're putting on the shoulders, they're making wraps with bows, and so a lot of things you keep repeating.
Speaker 1:I mean, they take, you know, a basic dress and they'll keep adding things to it, and probably every seven or eight years. Yeah, they'll see they can join a trend. Yeah, you're going and they come up with new fabrics all the time more, more stretchy fabrics, more comfortable fabrics and that kind of stuff too. So the industry's been improving over the years? Yeah, because it used to just be satin and taffeta and that was it, and now we've got stretch, crepes and silky fabrics and all that stuff. No, what are the biggest trends, would you say, like right now, in terms of cut or color, low-embellish and all the follows? Oh, in terms of colors coming back, we see trends in blues and pinks are still hot. Oh, very actual blue or actual pink.
Speaker 2:And there's a full and black, a lot of black Floral, floral Blister.
Speaker 1:Yep, it's sad that we're going back to the 90s. That's what they called us last market. We went to yeah and we're going back to the 90s. Yep, ytk.
Speaker 3:Bows are back, Brandon.
Speaker 1:Bows are back. Bows are back. You heard it here first. That's amazing.
Speaker 1:So when I got married 15 years ago, I remember walking into the bridal shop that I used in Oklahoma and it was every single color, it just every single color. It just felt like it was all the same color white. And here what I noticed like you can really, I mean, even if you hadn't your heart set on it being like white, I mean, there's ivory and there's all. There's so many variations of that. I just think that's so nice. Well, everybody's skin tone is different. Yes, it's ugly, and your what? What is no longer really popular. I mean, it's good for, uh, people that are mixed race, you know, and you're you know, but that's the end time, you know. You know, darker skin tones look good in the bright white, but most people can the Ivory's, and now we're still all pink undertones. It just brings out the coloring or skin and things. Myth. They caught the Scott out of her and why? There's, of course, why, and yours, yeah, in belay, what would be your favorite wedding gown color?
Speaker 3:um, yeah, it's so hard to pick just one, sending her looking at this and a myriad of of all over white.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's very difficult.
Speaker 3:I'm still jealous because I look around and like girls always have the better pick. You know, like it's like you're black and then you wear white underneath and then just, and wouldn't you just like pull people exactly the same as us?
Speaker 1:you know it's up no that's right, we're all boy, boy, boy, moms and dads.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, I can't yeah, there's art to it. It's really cool to see all of it oh, it is art.
Speaker 1:I mean just beautiful fabrics, cultural art. I mean they just beautiful fabrics, cultural art. I mean each one is just so special for sure. I've been saving this question for a while. Are you ready? Any Bradzilla stories, any wild rhymes throughout the years?
Speaker 3:That's how I got put in the book.
Speaker 1:That's a tough. They can remain name-lost, right? Yes, I had one that I had a bride. I had a bride one time and she told me she was going to lose weight. And of course I hear that every day, like I hear that every day. I had the best idea bridal shop in the front of zempic lab into that. So so she, she, she assured me she was gonna lose weight and I was like no, but can't order the dress. What the hell? You know, just saying you're going to do this and we have no idea what you're going to do. And she was like, oh, but I guarantee I can do it. And I was like, okay.
Speaker 1:So I said I can't order the dress like that because that's just not you know. So we went ahead and ordered her dress in the size she needed and she did. She asked about, you know, about classes. So the alterations lady was ready to kill me, but it was okay. But you know, she was like I told you and I told you so. And I was like what a told you so moment. And I'm like, oh my gosh, here, roll out, it works out for you, and it always sounds like the alterations lady took care for her, but it's not recommended, you know so not illegal. My night. Oh, do you have any good brazilian? You know most of my brides have all been really good. Just make something up.
Speaker 3:Well, just let's go replace glass on this window like every weekend. It's a house I want somebody to sign a map.
Speaker 1:I think it. It's the mother, more it's. Oh, I couldn't see that Some mothers want their daughter's wedding to be the wedding they didn't get.
Speaker 2:They live vicariously through their child.
Speaker 1:They'll come in and the bride will love a certain dress. Oh, no, no, no, I don't like that one here. Try this one, and it will be something the bride just does not want. You know at all. And stop, that's what your mother wants, or the grand, and sometimes it's the grandmother yeah, too, you know that's what I believe.
Speaker 1:All those entourages, well, and yeah, and it's sad, because sometimes we have to pull the mothers outside and say you know this is your daughter's wedding, you know this is what she wants, right? Oh, I'm so glad you do that. And sometimes it's hard and you know you can have people like that. And sometimes you know it's just when you bring a lot of people. You know everybody's got 10 different opinions and things, so it makes it harder. It's easier if you've got your closest friends and keep it small, keep it personal, and then we do offer, like when you order your dress it comes in. You can bring more people back and say look at my dress, celebrate and celebrate with them, let them come and help you pick it out. But that really has been more the momzellas than so much the bride selling moms.
Speaker 1:Oh, that was the idea I could totally Speaking of which, we cater to momzillas too. I can get them. Oh, that's nasty, that's nasty. Well then, maybe we just keep them busy with that, Like no, you need to go over this way and check out your own.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we go with us away and check out your. Yeah, we typically like when we do an appointment, I'll tell them. I'm like okay, ladies, you know this is about what we're here for. It's for the bride and everybody's got to be nice because we're team bride, you know it's, it's about her. You know, when I pull the curtain, when I pull the curtain and stuff, it's like it's about you, know you?
Speaker 2:So if they don't like the dress, it don't matter. Yeah, because they all go home. The pictures is what you've got left right. Don't like the dress? It don't matter, yeah, because they all go home. The pictures is what you've got left Right. At the end of the day, it's what you love. Because if you say yes to a dress and we've had it happen before they say yes to the dress and then in 24 hours we get a frantic, crying, sobbing voicemail, more than one message on Facebook Don't order, I'm coming back tomorrow, I'll come back the next day. And Julie's like calm down, it's fine, I'm not ordered it yet. I'll help you, it'll be fine, because they get caught in that moment of what they don't really like.
Speaker 1:Right, I love that you're. There's so much more behind the scenes, this process, and I think a lot of people give it credit for. A lot of people give it credit for. A lot of people think you're just walking in and you pick out a dress from off of the rack no-transcript.
Speaker 2:That's so much fun and it is so much fun, but there's so much stuff that goes behind the scenes that we do. You know stock and ordering and you dealing with vendors and steaming, because all these dresses don't just come up there by the show, they come in like small packages.
Speaker 1:Design the vending later. How do I free up? I of England are out of print. I'll squish you one of them Right away.
Speaker 2:You steam and steam. It's about five pounds of steam, All right three.
Speaker 1:All right, we get to sauna. Yeah, because it's so spotty.
Speaker 2:You'll have people say oh, you don't work, it's just playing in dresses. I'm like, I'm in work, you get off at five o'clock. Yeah, store closes at five.
Speaker 1:They don't always mean we get to leave If somebody's in there.
Speaker 1:That works, that's great. So if I was a bride and I was interested in, like, how do I get in contact with you? How do I like what are your hours, number, all that good stuff? Well, we're up and daily 11 to 5, 5-ish. We're closed Wednesdays and Sundays. You can get us a call here at the store or do Facebook or Instagram. That'd be me Great. Jillian will answer your message pretty much 1 o'clock, 2 o'clock, then about morning She'll call me the next morning and say we've got so-and-so coming. Come and I'm like oh well, you didn't, they didn't call you. Oh, I got a message, one this morning.
Speaker 2:I'll be on my way to work if I got your brother today.
Speaker 1:They get out of here. He's a fly. That's just like. Aren't you so happy that you don't know about it and that just makes convenient here for the brides? Yeah, people have weird hours and jobs that they can't. They have a lot of hours, you know, and there's a lot of nurses, you know health professionals, you know they're working night shifts and they're shopping while they're on break and things Right. Or shift, you know, and things, Of course, and that's what you know being a full-service bar or store is about.
Speaker 2:You know it's giving service and trying to take care of your people when it's convenient for them. Yeah right, not a box. You know, like a box appointment it's more personable. You know, like you don't just go in and you're like I like that dress, that's the one I want.
Speaker 1:There's not, there's not 50 million dresses so that you know, yeah, it's really hard for the brides to look through our stock because we do have such a large selection. Yeah, no, I would be very, I mean, and it would be intimate. Everything's beautiful. So you could kind of well, I love this for this reason, I love this for this reason, so I love that. It's a tailored experience for sure. But then, and all these 600 dresses plus, if you can't find the dress, then we, mr custom here is really good. We have a couple of custom companies. Oh yeah, we have a couple of companies that will take your vision. You know, if you have a dress that has short sleeves, you want long sleeves.
Speaker 2:We call it the Frankensteins.
Speaker 1:Oh, I don't know. Don't tell the bride that Frankenstein.
Speaker 2:We're piecing two different dresses. I've got a skirt on from this dress on and a top from this and a Julia's going.
Speaker 1:My best story is I'm in Market, start on from this dress on and a top from this, and Julia's going. My best story is I'm in, I'm in in market in Charleston and, uh, what was it? March? We were down there and he calls me and he's like boss lady, I got this dress and this crew wants to do all these things to it. But I told her we couldn't do it and I was like uh-huh, keep going. So can we do this? We need to do this. I thought you were doing what I'm doing. And he's like well, that's what I wanted. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.
Speaker 2:Well, nobody never have it.
Speaker 1:And nobody will ever have it, because nobody will ever have it. Really, though, that gives you the opportunity, your desire, your gall. I mean the question. I mean there's people that go to a designer and pay, you know, tens of thousands of dollars, but they charge minimal and the charge is really minimal, and you get that look that you're wanting. I mean they'll change the color of fabric, They'll change laces out sleeves, out Absolutely.
Speaker 2:We do temple-ready dresses for a lot of these modern girls.
Speaker 1:We had Brad just a couple of weeks ago. Send me pictures yesterday, 400 to 400.
Speaker 2:Modest dresses. There's a lot of Ukrainian and you know denominations that have to be modest, Sure, and we do do that.
Speaker 1:That's great and you do have because I've seen her with my own eyes, your own scene stress who does alterations here? She does work independently, but, yeah, she is in the building and she's able to help Brad's win. That's correct. So again, all about the one-stop shop. I love it. Well, maybe let's go look at the building a little bit. I mean, it's too historic and too cool not to look at the toilet as the flat of Bodger. I'm the toilet manager. You want to get what you want. Until I go to the party, I need you to go to the party. Go out the window, party With the window. That's what I'm saying. And Chad was showing us the building. He was like yeah, like it's like a theater. The theme is just a bit of a design feature. Yeah it the design featured, yeah.
Speaker 1:It's been a while since we were really so excited about showing us this. I'm telling you I need to get it opened back up. That's right, it ran.