Today we’d like to introduce you to Jessica Bird.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
In 1990 Laurel, the owner of the Bride Room, designed and created her own dream wedding gown. I (Jessica) met Laurel through her son seven years ago and we have been a team ever since.
I watched Laurel alter hundreds of wedding dresses out of her own home. Four years ago, when her basement could not hold another dress, we moved her business into the Old Draper School. As the construction workers and interior designers worked on our space, they would casually call it “the bride room”. The name stuck and here we are.
In the beginning, we were really quite small. Laurel handled the bridal appointments, alterations, and daily operation necessities all on her own. I jumped in and assisted Laurel in any way that I could when my school schedule allowed.
During those times Laurel and I would set goals of having one bride a week. We survived mostly on Laurel’s expert alteration and customization skills. We would also take vintage and past-season wedding gowns and repurpose them into something new and unique. She could make any bride’s dream dress a reality.
Today we have three bridal stylist and three seamstresses in addition to Laurel and me. We work with exclusive designers and have hundreds of gowns in stock that are beautiful, unique, and perfectly represent us and everything we aspired to be.
I can’t believe how far we have come!
A lot has changed…. But it’s all to pursue the same goals and dreams from our humble beginning.
Our dream is to celebrate everything that is uniquely YOU. We create an environment that empowers brides to find and say yes to the dress that expresses their authentic selves and makes them feel confident and beautiful.
We are so honored to be part of our Brides’ special day.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I think we experienced a lot of the normal growing pains of creating a business. The Bridal industry is nuanced and alien in a lot of ways. There is a steep learning curve, and we made a lot of mistakes getting to where we are today.
The Pandemic was a huge obstacle and even though 2020 was one of our most challenging years it was also the most rewarding. It was amazing to see our team come together and be an innovative force for good in our community.
When Covid hit weddings came to a halt and so did business. We leveraged our sewing skills and infrastructure to design and produce masks. This change in focus was inspired by one of our brides. She was a nurse, and her wedding was postponed. She called us and asked, “instead of finishing my dress will you make a few masks for me and my colleagues? We are in desperate need”.
Laurel realized instantly that this was a way she could use her talents, skills, and business to help the community. Laurel reached out to other medical professionals and asked if they needed masks. Every single one said yes. Soon we had thousands of requests for masks from medical personnel on the front lines fighting the devastating effects of the coronavirus. We asked our community for support in fulfilling this massive task and people came by the dozens to help. People donated material, time, and skill to make these masks and get them to those who needed them most. Because of our community rallying together, we were able to give back to our heroic medical professionals.
Soon requests started coming in from non-medical personnel to purchase our masks. We decided that by producing and selling our masks we could continue to help our community by providing and important resource that was in limited supply and high demand. This also gave us the opportunity to provide safe employment to those who would be without it otherwise.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
The whole enterprise of starting and growing the bride room has been centered around our love for brides and our desire to elevate the bridal experience. We have set up our boutique in a way that is meant to be intimate, welcoming, and fun. Even on our busiest days, we make sure to never have more than three appointments going on at once to maintain that inviting feel. We fill that space with carefully curated gowns from our wonderful designers. We have traveled around the country meeting and cultivating relationships with incredible designers who have a track record of making gowns that our brides love including Monica Lorretti, Madi Lane, Lotus threads, Rosa Clara, and a private line that we exclusively carry for our brides. We offer in-house customizations and alterations done by our incredibly talented seamstresses supervised by the owner, Laurel. We go above and beyond the normal alterations of hems and tucks. We offer custom changes to sleeves, necklines, and custom beading and lacework. We are firmly committed to ensuring that each dress sold is altered to the brides’ specifications. Our team comes to work every day with a passion for helping brides feel confident, beautiful, and loved as they choose one of the most expressive and meaningful articles of clothing they will ever wear, and we love to celebrate our brides as they make this journey. When a bride says “yes” we pop a confetti-filled balloon over their heads as their entourage cheers them on. It really is a blast and we love how unique and fun our celebration is.
Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
A late-night run to In n’ Out and the first sip of an ice-cold fountain Coke always makes me happy. I love spending time with my wonderful husband Philip and our golden retriever Atlas. I can’t tell you how often people tell me I have the best job and they are absolutely right. Seeing brides find their dream dress and have a special moment with their mom or sister makes my day. I can’t believe that I get to provide for my family while working my dream job. It brings me a lot of joy to know that we have built something that can offer this same happiness and support to our employees.
Pricing:
- Our collection of dresses range from $1,200 to $7,000 with the majority of our dresses between $1,700- $2,500.
Contact Info:
- Email: hello@utahbrideroom.com
- Website: utahbrideroom@gmail.com
- Instagram: @utahbrideroom
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/utahbrideroom/
Image Credits
Love Brittny photography
Loren B Photography
Makayla Films
Swayzek Photos
