Just what will you see when you walk into our shop? Maybe you’re following us from states away and haven’t had the chance to peek inside our three front windows. Perhaps you are waiting for the day Mr. Right pops the question (can’t hurt to nail down your favorite bridal designers in the meantime). Whatever your reason, we want you to experience our salon just like any other #AnnaliseRealBride. Below you’ll find a brief description of every nook and corner. We also teamed up with J & D Photo to give you a 3D virtual tour of our space. Hit play and go crazy clicking around and see if you can spot the areas I’m describing below!
When you first enter our space you may be surprised by how many shades of white and ivory one retail space can hold. While it is a lot of white, we feel like it makes ourshop cozy and calming. To your left there will be a ghost foyer table. This table usually has a stack of magazines that we encourage our brides to take a copy of, business cards, a flower display (sometimes real, usually artificial… maybe you can judge our work week by which flowers you find), and a candle! If you walk past the foyer table to the front of you will be a shelf. On this shelf we have various accessories from earrings to hair vines. Our collection is small and will never grow to be too big, but we do adore these little pieces of jewelry and how they help brides finalize their look.
If you walk to the left and turn you’ll find our main salon viewing area. You’ll probably recognize our white couch from our ‘Say Yes’ family photos. To either side of the couch, there are two chairs. For big parties, this additional seating is much needed. Fun Fact: these chairs were originally zebra. We painted them, yes painted, before putting them in the shop. The platform in front of all this seating is the platform that our brides discover their dream dress on. That mirror has seen friends, families, brides, babies, and all the kind souls that make our work so meaningful.
As you begin to walk down the hallway you’ll see two dressing rooms with a bench and robe folded on top of the bench. Since we only have one bride in the space at a time, we usually use one room to put brides in dresses and the other to store all the dresses during the process. Trust us, too many ball gowns in one room gets overwhelming! Beside the right dressing room is a rack of smaller belts and veils. This is where we go once brides have narrowed down their favorites and want to see what they’ll look like with a veil.
A little further down the hallway to the right you’ll find a second sitting space. This space is great when brides arrive early to their appointment and need a place to wait and sip champagne. The mirror wall you see is on wheels. You heard me right, on wheels so that we can roll that puppy out to give our brides an aisle to walk down. To the left you’ll find another room full of dresses. This room holds all different silhouettes and the right side of this room is designated to our sample gowns. Take a look around and see if these right-off-the-rack beauts catch your eye!
The last little nook you’ll find is our office space. If you’ve called us this is where we answered the phone, responded to your emails, or scheduled your bridal appointment. We used to only have one white desk, but as our team has grown we’ve put two desks together to make one big desk that makes for a great communal space when we’re discussing upcoming appointments or brainstorming fun ideas for the shop!
I hope you liked looking around our salon. HUGE thank you to Jada and David with J & D Photo for this super fun tour! Maybe the next time you see it, it’ll be in person. Make your appointment today. We can’t wait to have you in the shop!
