Cheers to 5 Years!
Sip & Shop
National Bridal Sale – Extended!!
Bride-to-Be and Baby Makes Three!
“First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes Katie with the baby carriage….” While this old rhyme used to reflect tradition, it’s not so these days. Many of our brides have a child or children already and sometimes, when we meet them, they’re expecting a child. Love is love and we’re excited to be a little part of this amazing journey! P.S. We’ve had a few babies of our own so we understand the pregnancy experience too!
In order to make the shopping experience enjoyable, here’s a few tips to keep in mind when bridal gown shopping with a baby on board:
1. Shop for a Flexible Silhouette. The most obvious challenge when shopping while pregnant is clearly that a woman’s body is shaped very different. If it’s a first pregnancy, this can be a bit of a guessing game on how much the bride’s body will change during and after the pregnancy. When a bride is not very far along in her pregnancy, it’s easy for a professional to get an idea of body shape and size in order to make recommendations on gown silhouettes however if mama is closer to her due date, sometimes it’s just helpful to be able to show a picture of her pre or post-baby body shape. Gown silhouettes like an empire waistline allows for a woman to either conceal her bump or if she isn’t sure what shape she’ll be at the time of the wedding. If the bride is happy to flaunt her baby bump, choosing a silk jersey or satin underlay with lace overlay can accentuate the baby-to-be. A few features that offer a variety of fits are corset backs and straps. Corsets can easily be adjusted by lacing different or creating a different panel. This is helpful if a bride finds herself bigger or smaller than expected. Straps can easily be lengthened or shortened. This can be helpful if a bride finds her “girls” to be bigger or smaller than expected.
2. Take it Easy. A pregnant bride is shopping for two so it’s important not to get worn out by shopping all day. Take shorter trips and make an appointment during a time a day when energy is at it’s highest and morning sickness has passed. (By the way, morning sickness can occur any time of day. Been there, done that. It can be survived! Just pack some crackers.)
3. Take Your Time. The due date clock is ticking so it’s important to get to shopping for the perfect gown however that doesn’t mean the big decision should be hasty. When shopping with less than nine months to the big day, understand that some lines or custom options may not be available. On average though ordering a bridal gown will take 4-6 months so the dream dress should still be available. If shopping with an even shorter time-frame, like less than a trimester, know that there is always an option to purchase directly out of the store and when designers have lines in stock, those dresses will ship quickly.
4. Consider the Budget. The bride / mama-to-be now has baby outfits and her own bridal gown to purchase. It’s important to be take the big budget into consideration. Preparing for baby and the wedding at the same time may change what a bride wants to spend. This is also a perfect spot to share a quick reminder. When setting the bridal gown budget, remember alterations. On average alterations can run $100-$300. Be sure to add the alterations budget into the bridal gown budget in order to avoid any surprises.
5. Go For Comfort. Brides should go for as much comfort as possible on the big day. Choose comfortable shoes. When a woman is expecting her center of gravity changes. In order to be comfortable to dance the night away and to easily walk down the aisle, flats are key. Don’t worry, style doesn’t have to be sacrificed for comfort! There are lots of beautiful choices for bridal flats.
6. Find Your Color. In the past, tradition would say that white is reserved for virgins only. These days, there is so much more than white or ivory to choose from that tradition has gone by the wayside. A bride should choose the color gown that best compliments her skin tone and the style of her wedding, if that happens to be white, go for it!
7. Trust the Professionals. Fear not, the professionals (that’s us!) are here to help create the best plan for getting the perfect gown with the best fit for our mom/bride-to-be. Also we’ve had babies so we’ve been there too!
If you’re a bride with a baby on board, we hope these tips have provided some great ideas so you can “Be Your Own Kind of Beautiful.”
Invest in Your Undies!
From $500 to $5000, purchasing a bridal gown is a significant investment. What you wear underneath your gown should be included in that investment. Selecting the correct foundations and shapewear can make all the difference in the fit of your gown and how comfortable you feel throughout your big day!
Try on a variety of undergarment or shapewear styles to find the best fit for your gown. Seek styles that won’t show with your gown and that you’ll be comfortable in all day. This can include a strapless bra, a Squeem bodyshaper and comfortable panties that won’t show a line.
Wear your shapewear or foundations during your bridal fittings. Wearing them can change what alterations need to occur on your gown. For example, your boobs might will sit higher when wearing a strapless bra or corset. Get “the girls” situated where you want them and where you feel secure using your foundations before making any adjustments to the bodice of your gown.
Be sure to wear your “Something Blue!” While foundations and shapewear can enhance the look and fit of your gown, it can also serve a special purpose like your something new and something blue! Leave the old and borrowed for pennies, brooches and hankies!
High quality undergarments will help you achieve the best look for your best day. Budget for these items – this is not a place to cut corners. Good quality shapewear will begin at $50 and up. A really great strapless bra will be $40 or more and low back or corset style bras will be $50 or more as well. Our goal at Hello Beautiful Bridal & Formal Wear is to help you find a gown that fits so well you don’t need much extra to create the shape but sometimes it’s unavoidable. In those cases, we make sure to recommend the best, most effective undergarment for your big day! We want you to “Be Your Own Kind of Beautiful”!
Dancing With My Dad
As we celebrate Father’s Day, I was thinking about my Father-Daughter dance at my wedding. I actually had two. First, my dance with my dad. I remember crying as we danced to Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World.” He said to me, “You picked a really good guy. I’m proud of you.” The year leading up to that dance with my dad had been a roller coaster. Life had presented some unexpected but amazing experiences and arriving at our wedding day felt like we were crossing a finish line. I don’t know that I could have survived that wild year without the consistent reassurance from my dad. The second Father-Daughter dance at my wedding was my husband, my daughter and me. We swayed to Kenny Chesney’s “There Goes My Life” and tears streamed down our faces. We’d made it. The emotional changes we’d gone through in the past year, all came flowing out. There wasn’t a dry eye at the reception. I remember my husband saying, “I knew if we could just make it here, everything would be alright.” Nearly 10 years later, we still tell our daughter, Mackenna, about the beautiful dance we had together.
In honor of Father’s Day, we wanted to share some popular Father-Daughter dance songs. We hope your dance with your dad is amazing, emotional and memorable for your big day! Cherish the moment!
- What A Wonderful World – Louis Armstrong
- There Goes My Life – Kenny Chesney
- Butterfly Kisses – Bob Carlisle
- My Wish – Rascal Flatts
- You Are The Sunshine of My Life – Stevie Wonder
- My Girl – The Temptations
- I Loved Her First – Heartland
- How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) – James Taylor
- My Little Girl – Tim McGraw
- I Hope You Dance – Lee Ann Womack
6 Months!
Wow! Here we are celebrating 6 months at Hello Beautiful Bridal & Formal Wear. It’s so amazing! This has been an incredible journey already and we’re so excited to see what the future holds. In this short time, we’ve experienced a lot! Here’s a few things we’ve learned along the way.
Lesson #1: Great shoes are a must! We learned very quickly the shoes we thought were comfortable for the hustle and bustle of our every day were in fact sharks attacking our tootsies!
Lesson #2: Family Time! People often ask us if we get tired of working together since we’re sisters. We don’t! It doesn’t feel like work, it just feels like fun. We can talk to each other in our own sister language and we already know how to disagree / fight. Haha! There’s just less hair pulling than when we were kids.
Lesson #3: Stay the course! We know there are challenges to being business owners and we also know, we are absolutely headed in the right direction. We were thrilled to be recognized as The Best of Kearney for Wedding / Formal Wear Shops for 2015. That was a great start! The incredible increase in walk-ins and appointments tells us people know we are here and they love the experience. We’re going to keep on following our personal motto, “Work Hard and Be Nice to People.”
Lesson #4: Love is love! Each journey is so different. We love hearing stories of how our couples met and their plans for the future. In the words of Willa Cather, “Where there is love, there are always miracles!” The joy we see when brides say Hello to their perfect gown is infinitely fulfilling!
We want to give a big thanks to our family, friends and community! You believe in us and our vision and it fuels our passion for providing an amazing experience to each and every one of our shoppers.
To our shoppers – our doors open for you! We love having you at Hello Beautiful Bridal & Formal Wear and helping you prepare for life biggest events!
10 Tips for Bridal Gown Shopping
Searching for your gown is a fun and exciting experience! In order to make the search even more enjoyable, here’s a few simple tips for your big shopping day!
10. Try On All Dress Styles. Even if you have some ideas, it’s really helpful to try on a variety of gowns to understand what truly fits your body best, and what you feel most comfortable wearing.
9. Have a Small Party. Having too many people attend your try-on session and providing input can actually make it challenging for you to make a decision. Bring only those who will give you their honest opinion and who will respect your vision and decision (even when they like a different gown.) We recommend three or less attend your appointment…have as many in your wedding party as you wish though!
8. Foundations Are Important! Bring a strapless bra along in case it’s needed. Spanx, no Spanx, wear them if you want too. Your bridal consultant is going to try to help you find a dress that fits your body so well you won’t need to bother with them.
7. Strip Down. Don’t worry about being seen in your bra and underwear in the dressing room. Your bridal consultant is focused on getting the gown unbuttoned, unzipped, and ready to put on you. Also, your bridal consultant most likely has all the same body parts as you do so there’s nothing to be worried about.
6. Bring Your Shoes. If you’ve got an idea of the heel height or style of shoe your planning to wear for your wedding, bring it with you to your appointment. It’s helpful to be able to put them on with your gowns.
5. Size Doesn’t Matter. From one designer line to the next, size will vary wildly. Don’t worry about the number on the tag. Focus on finding the style you’re interested in and let your bridal consultant fit you for the correct size. Also, the size of gown you get will 99% of the time, not be the same size as the daily clothes you wear. Where size does matter is when your bridal consultant is measuring you to identify your dress size. Ask to see the measurement charts they’re referring too and be part of the decision-making process when it comes to your gown size.
4. Speaking Of Size, Order the Size You Are Now. While many brides plan to tone up or slim down prior to the wedding, ordering for your current size is the best decision to ensure your gown fits. If you lose a significant amount of weight and your gown needs to be altered several inches, it is possible you will have to re-order if there is time before your wedding. Same situation if you gain weight too.
3. 6 Months Isn’t 6 Months. Manufacturer’s recommendations are to expect a bridal gown order to take six months to arrive. However, a bride needs to allow for one month for any necessary alterations. For example, if you’re getting married in October, you need to have your dress ready for fittings in September which means it needs to be delivered in August. Six months before August is February so if you’re ordering a gown, February would be the latest a bridal consultant would recommend you place your order.
2. Hair and Makeup. It’s helpful to do your hair and makeup to give you a better visual of what your big day may look like. Often, brides will try on gowns without makeup and with their hair in a pony, and then they will struggle to focus on the gown they’re searching for because they’re too worried about not looking the part.
1. It’s Okay If You Don’t Cry. In our experience as bridal consultants, very few women actually cry when they find their gown. Also, don’t be embarrassed if you do. All emotions are acceptable because it’s your day, your vision, your gown. We are here to help you realize that vision so you can be your own kind of beautiful.
Say Hello to our Bridal Designers!
Hello Beautifuls! Hello Handsomes!
We’ve shared a few images of the designers we’ll be carrying and now we’re ready to officially introduce you to all of them. We hope you love them as much as we do! But first a little about the process of identifying our lines….
This was an incredible and exciting process! We had our wish list of lines that were unique to Kearney and are thrilled to be able to work with many of them. Some of the must-haves for our lines: style, price and designers. Brides deserve to have an amazing variety of dresses when shopping for their big day. We want to be prepared for everyone!
It was important for us to meet and build relationships with the lines we’ll be working with too. We strongly believe that by building a valuable partnership with the designers, sales reps, and brands we’re carrying we’ll be able to deliver an ideal customer experience at Hello Beautiful Bridal & Formal Wear. Call us Nebraska but we believe in doing business face-to-face!
So without further ado….say Hello to our beautiful bridal lines!
Allure Bridals
“Allure Bridals pursues excellence in design and irreproachable craftsmanship to create a gown worthy of a bride’s most treasured moments. We believe brides should feel nothing less than gorgeous on their wedding day. Our designs blend rich fabrics like satin and lace with decadent beading and detailing, in addition to the comfort of our patented Allure construction.
For our Allure Bridals collections, we believe in the details—beading, floral appliqués, dramatic backs, and perfect draping. Every gown features details to set it apart and make the bride shine. Beaded lace, English net and rich satin compose gowns that are nothing but glamorous. Brides deserve to be at their most beautiful, and our aim is not only to design and produce the perfect gown but to provide daily inspiration for our brides-to-be through our media presence.” – Allure Bridals
David Tutera for Mon Cheri
“Leading celebrity wedding and entertaining expert David Tutera partnered with esteemed Mon Cheri designer Martin Thornburg to create the David Tutera for Mon Cheri wedding dress collection. David works closely with Martin to develop an assortment of fashionable bridal designs ranging from traditional ball gowns to modern dresses, and couture fashions to more informal designs. David Tutera for Mon Cheri offers today’s stylish brides with high quality fabrics, hand-beaded Swarovski crystals, and impeccable fit at an affordable price.” – David Tutera Check out the David Tutera for Mon Cheri 2015 Spring Bridal line at the Chicago market.
Eden Bridals
“Eden Bridals is a California-based bridal gown design & manufacturing company. Since founded in 1988, the company has established a strong name in the bridal industry. Its success has helped the company to branch out product lines to include bridal, bridesmaid, flower girl, and social occasions.
EDEN design team works very hard to incorporate the latest and most current fashion trends and ideas into the collections. We strive to ensure high quality fabrications, refine the small style details and offer our gowns and dresses at the best possible value to all brides. Over the years, we at Eden Bridals have received numerous awards for design, innovations, customer service, and quality.” – Eden Bridals
Essense of Australia
“Combining a superb fit with couture finishing, Essense of Australia brings an attention to detail that sets our wedding dresses apart from those of many other designer labels and makes your wedding truly memorable.
Influenced by the fashion houses of Europe and the fashion center of New York, every Essense of Australia gown is painstakingly imagined and created by our talented and highly experienced Australian design team.
At the heart of each signature Essense gown is luxurious fabric and exquisite beading. The gown line offers a diverse compilation of elegantly crafted designer wedding dresses ranging from glamorous, draped Angel Satin to alluring laces and Satin Chiffon. The use of authentic Swarovski crystals and diamantés adds the perfect touch of shimmering, head-turning sparkle. Plus, with innovative couture finishing options such as a lace or zip-up back, a bride can customize her gown to best reflect her sophistication and unique style.” – Essense of Australia
Sincerity
“In 1997 Sincerity Bridal was designed for the European market and later introduced internationally. From the beginning, Sincerity Bridal took the lead as a “trendsetter” in the industry by creating romantic boned bodices with accents of color and removable trains. Sincerity Bridal has received countless designer awards from the bridal industry. Today, the Sincerity collection is inspired by modern romance with touches of color. Rich draping in a wide array of dreamy fabrics accented with distinct details make Sincerity so unique. An assortment of silhouettes from tea lengths and high lows to mermaids and ball gowns are represented. Our inspiration behind the “Sincerity Bride” revolves around soft romantic personal details that make a bride feel unique on her wedding day.” – Sincerity Bridals
Hope you enjoyed our designer introductions! We’re excited you’ll be able to check it all out soon! Stay tuned to our Facebook for more updates!
~ Megan & Jenna