Absence makes the heart grow fonder......

Over the last year my business has taken an interesting turn... There have been very beneficial opportunities and learning experiences. I found that I truly enjoy working directly with girls to help them find exactly what it is they are looking for.... If you have worked retail and at bridal salons then you have a clear understanding that they tend to leave a bad taste in your mouth. Between Brides, Mother of Brides, friends etc. it tends to be a very chaotic process. I enjoy making the process simpler and stress free. I find that girls are less likely to stress when they are informed/prepared and know exactly what to expect. Brides and girls in general aren't looking for surprises when it comes to something of such high importance like their wedding.

That being said my blog is going be making a transition to The Paper Dress boutique. The Paper Dress Boutique is a boutique style Bridal salon that offers a concierge service and will be located in Austin, Texas. I am very excited about this new venture... I'm very hopeful that it will be new spin on what seems to be mundane among bridal salons.

The Paper Dress Boutique blog will not only be dipping into Bridal trends but also everyday fashion... Stay tuned for the many changes to come!!

Have a Great Monday,
-The Paper Dress

Oh My.... Yes I am behind

It seems that things never seem to slow down, it is one crazy week to the next. Which I guess is a good thing because I seem stay busy on a consistent basis. And I would probably be complaining if it were the other way around, I mean who wants to be bored.... Certainly not me!!

Anywhoo so an update on NEW designers this week and next is the launch of the NEW collection from Franc Sarabia and many other Spanish Designers as it will be the Fabulous Barcelona Bridal week..... I am sure many of you have heard my not so fantastic story about my first trip their last year. Although I am only slightly sad to not be attending this year I am so beyonddd excited to see what great things the Spanish designers have in store for us in 2012.

Spanish designers tend to border on extravagant while American designers tend to be a little simple in comparison to the ruffles and lace that flow out of Barcelona Bridal week. I will be sharing pictures as I receive them from designers...... SO definitely keep an eye for whats to come off the runway.

- Happy Dress Shopping

Oh My... New Designer of the week Tara Latour

Okay so yes I am behind on updating the blog since last week, it has been a crazy two weeks. With everything finally well sort of calming down I can get back to introducing new designers I came across at market.

I was lucky enough to be in the same ballroom as Tara Latour(http://www.taralatour.com/) who is a brand new designer out of Minneapolis, MN who just finished attending Parsons school of design. Tara started designing her collection 3 months prior to actual market, her collection was really something I have never seen before. After looking at wedding dress after wedding dress well I think you can say that it is a sea of white ruffles and lace. Tara was able to incorporate shades of color into her ivory gowns which I think brought a lot of individuality and personalty to the gowns. When I say shades of color I don't mean one of those gowns that are all bright red and you have to question whether they are attending prom or their wedding. The fabric was hand dyed to slowly blend from light to dark.

The wedding industry can in many cases bring confusion as to what is actually couture and what just has the couture name. I can say after meeting Tara that her gowns were actually couture(meaning hand sewn and created) the gowns took between 100-200 hours to complete. They turned out absolutely fabulous, and she couldn't of had a better introduction into the Bridal industry. I don't know many NEW designers that have the opportunity to show their collection to Kleinfelds and have Brides Magazine coming in to specifically check out the breath of fresh air that blew through the Whitney Suite.

Tara has sooooooo much potential within the industry and I think she is only getting started. She will definitely be a force to reckon with, just watch :)

-Happy Dress Shopping.

Oh My.... Bridal Week Round 2 was Fabulous

As most of you know the last 4 days were spent in New York for Bridal Market #2. I was responsible for showing my designers collections for the weekend. Being something I was a little nervous about doing alone because it is a pretty big task to coordinate everything and have it be a successful experience. That being said it was really a wonderful experience I got to meet some very extraordinary people that have been in the industry for years along new up and coming designers like "Tara Latour" whose collection I will be introducing later this week (so stay tuned!!!). So for a little break down to how the days went: Friday I arrived in NYC at like 2pm and spent the remainder of the afternoon and night preparing my booth area so that it was fabulous for the Saturday opening...... During my booth preparation I submitted the gowns going to be used for the lobby of the hotel, My designer Alina Pizzano 's(www.alinapizzano.com) gown was chosen to be placed on one of the podiums(picture below), after thinking WOW that's amazing and it doesn't get better than that......Pixton Couture(www.pixtonbridal.com) was chosen for the center piece of the show(pictured above). It was a great honor as that is the first thing seen when you walk into the Fabulous Intercontinental Barclay Hotel. Placement in shows like this is everything, it is the difference between being just another gown or standing out. Anywhoo after all the gowns were placed lets just say my head was spinning I was veryyyyy excited to be the one to give my designers the thrilling news. And on to Saturday: Which is the first official day the show began, if anyone is confused as to what the show really is, it is basically the purchasing time for boutiques. So anything you see in a bridal store was probably purchased or chosen during this market or the one in October. Saturday, Sunday, and Monday I had a lot of stores come by and show interest in the collections so that was very exciting that their was quite a bit of traffic and the designers were getting good exposure.

All in all it was a great 4 days, the Wedding Channel Couture show did a Fabulous job of getting everything together and making everything run very smooth. They really made it out to be a very enjoyable experience, being in that stressful of situation I was just ready for things to fall apart and for gowns to not show up etc... but none of that happened everything was better than imagined.

I actually did a pretty good job of taking pictures this time, even though I forgot my camera the one on my phone saved the whole trip.

Below: are a few more pics that will give you a little bit more incite to the show. Ohhh and the cupcake photo well if you know me then you would know that my favorite thing about going to New York is going to Crumbs(www.crumbs.com) cupcakes...... Not sure why I mean there are probably like a million cupcake places but I like this one best probably because my dad had them shipped in for me on one of the birthdays where he was out of town. Soooo it is def. a place I must go every trip (ohhh and now they have a store in Newark Airport)

-Happy Dress Shopping :)

Oh My.... Let the stress begin(Bridal Market Round 2)

This week I will be headed to New York for Bridal Market Round 2. Typically I attend market to help out my current clients, but this time will be a little different. Instead of just accompanying my designers I will have my own booth/suite and be debuting their collections on my own. I am VERY excited!!! Hopefully my Visual Merchandising 101 class will come in handy. Well I don't think it was 101 but you get the idea. I think Mrs. Prideaux my professor at the University of Texas would be proud :)

A majority of the time designers place a dress here or a dress over there, and I personally find it to be quite boring. During market in October I visited the Newest show at Pier and they had some very extraordinary booth setups and the same goes for Spain Bridal week in Barcelona. I plan to at least bring a little bit of that to my Booth.

Anywhoo on to the designers...... The designers I will be showing this weekend are http://www.alinapizzano.com/ (oh and she has a blog too be sure to look her up), and Pixton Couture Bridal http://www.pixtonbridal.com/. Both designers are American Couture designers, everything is produced in the United States. I believe that they both have great concepts, talent and could possibly be one of the next IT designers.

I will be blogging a few more times this week in preparation for the weekend.

-Happy Dress Shopping.

Oh My..... Did you see her shoes

So I typically don't write about Bridal Shoes or any shoes for that matter. I have a NEW and VERY expensive obsession with shoes :). But really I think every girl does, for some reason my shoe obsession didn't occur till my twenties which I am sure my Dad is very thankful for.

Anywhoo so besides writing my weekly blog I also read many other wedding blogs only a daily basis. It is always nice and interesting to view the perspective of others and what they consider to be the next big thing..... So today I was flipping through the previously posted blogs and came across the Martha Stewart wedding post about SHOES. I thought to myself why have I never thought to write about shoes, probably because every bride thinks of the dress first and accessories later. That and most bridal shoes are just okay in my opinion, most of the time they have a small heal or they are totally overboard and are completely decked out in Rhinestones.

In many cases for girls who are as shoe obsessed as I am the SHOE is probably just as vital and finding the dress. The Martha Stewart blog mentioned: Mary Kyri's New couture line (www.mary-kyri.com) they are crazy fabulous. I have always figured I would have to go out side the box in order to find crazyyyy fabulous shoes to wear when the day finally comes. There are many options for bridal without looking bridal if that makes since. The lovely Christian Louboutin has Amazing bridal appropriate heals, along with Stuart Weitzman, Dior, and Benjamin Adams is very common in Bridal salons.

Have a GREAT Week!!

-Happy Dress Shopping :)

Oh My.... Bridal Market Round 2

The second Bridal Market is right around the corner, therefore the weeks leading up to it are bombarded with phone calls and emails. Many stores don't attend more than one market and they only purchase once a year. This concept I find very difficult to work with! Only because not all designers debut their new collection at that time, ex:Spanish Designers debut their collections in May. I would like the bridal industry to eventually expand past the current purchasing season. There are so many alternatives and options other than what you see during the 2-3 month purchasing period. Making all of your decisions at once doesn't give you very much to work with or the availability to be open to new designs and concepts when they do come out.

Sooo in preparation for April Market in NYC I will be periodically posting NEW concepts and ideas presented by designers for 2012.

-Happy Designer Shopping