Abigail's Collection

Wow!! It’s certainly been busy for us!! The shop has literally been buzzing with lots of lovely Essex Brides and Grooms some of which are still shopping for Summer 2010 weddings!!!  Girls, Girls,Girls …. why have you left it this long?  Well don’t panic, it’s no problem – if you still need help with your wedding dresses, bridesmaid dresses or Groomswear for Summer 2010 just contact us and we’ll get you booked in asap…  On a personal note February’s always a big month for Neill celebrations, of course there is Valentines day but Rob and I also enjoyed our birthdays this month (well I sort of enjoyed it but realised it was finally time to invest in some new anti-wrinkle cream much to the delight of Estee Lauder!).  On 26th of Feb we celebrate our fifth wedding anniversary, this year it’s represented by wood!  Yes, it’s Wood?!! (When exactly is it gold or diamonds Ladies?)  Anyway, ‘wood’ aside, we’ve booked the day off work and intend to do something lovely together, perhaps lunch somewhere special and a romantic dog walk in the ‘woods’.  I may persuade Rob to watch our wedding dvd again.  I always cry when I watch it.  Our wedding day at Layer Marney Tower was everything that we had dreamt of, we had so much fun together and I have often wished that we could have our wedding day all over again which is (drum roll please) why I am soooooooo excited to tell you about our latest project ‘The Essex Wedding Belle Ball’, it’s a chance for us to wear our wedding dresses again whilst the Guys glam it up in a Tux!!  The venue will be set with with a special red carpet entrance and a sparkling champagne reception followed by fabulous dinner and dance.  I’ve got a very special evening lined up with some brilliant entertainers – it’s going to be absolutely fabulous, the date is May 28th, it’s being held at Charter Hall and tickets are available on 01206 577757, check out the website for more info.  Of course like many of you I need to suss out if I can actually fit into my dress but I’ve got my Seamstresses on stand by for us all so don’t worry if like me your dress needs a little alteration here and there (out!).  By the way if you would like friends to join you (married or not) they are welcome just so long as they follow the dress code too…. See you all there, it’s going to be fantastic! x

We’ve got gorgeous new dresses, had some beautiful new shop pictures taken and we’re enjoying welcoming lots of new Brides & Grooms.  It certainly looks like it’s going to be another fab and busy year in the world of weddings!  Christmas has been and gone and as lovely as it was we are all relieved that the snow has finally melted.  Thank goodness most of our Christmas Brides and Grooms report that their guest lists were (mainly) un-disrupted, six newlywed couples report that it snowed on their actual wedding day which I’m sure made for some stunning winter wonderland pictures.  And talking of stunning; we’re thrilled to be an exclusive Essex wedding dress stockist and have the new ‘Eglantine’ French label now in store.  This delightful collection features classic pure silks and vintage lace styles delicately adorned with pretty crystals.  Also new in are some striking designs by our gorgeous White Rose wedding dress label and the sought after 2010 designer dresses by San Patrick have also arrived too! New for the Grooms Room at Abigail’s Collection is another 6 waistcoat designs, a staggering 100 new fabulous fabrics for our made to measure suit service and a grand new total of 400 cuff-link options!!  Newest staff member N’swana has completed her three month ‘trial & train’ period with us and is officially welcomed to the Team (N’swana we love having you around, keep up the good work) and the lovely Lauren is congratulated on her promotion to ‘Senior Consultant’, well done Lauren we’re very proud of you and hope you enjoy popping the champers in celebration.  Here’s to a lovely year and to customers past, present and future we hope that all of your 2010 new year wishes come true!  Happy New Year from us all!

I am soooo proud to announce that we scooped not just one but two more business awards at the 2009’s Colchester & District Business Awards ceremony last Friday evening!  Six hundred guests gathered at the glittering black tie dinner and dance to celebrate the best and most successful businesses in Colchester, Essex.  The girls, Rob and I were really excited about the event and were absolutely thrilled to have reached the finals in two categories, however, to actually win both ‘Growing Business of the Year’ and ‘Excellence in Customer Services’ was simply fantastic!  We all drank far too much champagne to celebrate our double win and poor Lauren had to look after all of my Clients on Saturday because I was struggling with one of the worst hangovers ever!!  Our thanks go out to the Newsquest paper group for organising such a brilliant event, to our Customers for all of their support and to CCL Communications and Springlands Nursery who were the Judges of our categories.  We are very proud indeed and now have a total of 7 award trophies!  Thanks also to one of our lovely Brides (Sarah) who popped in with a congratulations card and made us giggle by saying that if there was an award for winning awards we would probably win that also!

The damp, dreary and cold weather has kicked in and so what did Rob and I decide to do???…. find an excellent last minute deal online and book a holiday to Mauritius! We went for a week and it was aaaaaamazing, I feel very lucky indeed, it was a holiday to remember forever!!! Whilst Rob and I were relaxing in the sun Lauren, Kirsty, Nswana and Lisa held the forte fabulously well, they had a very busy week and so a huge well done girls! For anyone that is considering Mauritius for their honeymoon or wedding I say ‘go for it’! The weather was beautiful, the food was lovely and the Mauritian people are wonderful. Highlights of our romantic holiday included a trip to a tropical bird park where we had a once in a lifetime experience of walking with lions, we were safely guided by a South African Keeper and walked with two Lions for an hour through a sunlit forest, it was awesome. Also whilst in Mauritius we visited a beautiful Hindu temple and the stunning Chameral waterfalls. We stayed on the east coast in a hotel called the Sugar beach. We saw several wonderful weddings taking place there, a few were set in the beautiful gardens and one or two on the stunning beach. One couple had a very quick and vey windy ceremony and then spent so long having photographs taken (literally about three and a half hours) all of their guests got bored and seemed to leave!! We all know it’s important to capture the moment but I wanted to tell them to quit the photo shoot and go and celebrate their wonderful occasion with their guests before it was too late!! Other shop news …. It’s awards season and our fourth year competing in the Colchester Business awards …. This year we are in the final for not one but two award categories including ‘Growing Business’ and ‘Excellence in Customer Services’. We are very excited about attending the awards ceremony on November 27th so watch this space and please keep everything crossed for us….

Wedding Fair season has been (and nearly gone) which means we’re nearly at Christmas! I can’t believe it’s only ten weeks away!! It seems like only yesterday Rob, Lauren and I were having to psyche ourselves up for onslaught of the September and October early morning Sunday wedding fairs and now we’ve nearly finished them which means (for Rob & I), back to a lovely routine of Sunday morning doggie walks, bacon sandwiches and relaxing Sunday evenings with the X Factor! …. Wedding fairs are great fun but can be hard work loading, unloading and setting up (Rob would argue that I mainly chat whilst he unloads the cars, I keep telling him it’s called ‘networking’) …. Anyway, we love catching up with our friends (other industry exhibitors) and the best bit of course is meeting new Brides and Grooms and stealing chocolate fountain profiteroles from melting chocolate moments! Charter Hall was a success, lots of brides came to see us at the stand and booked appointments and we’ve seen some of you already who have excitedly placed orders for bridal dresses for wedding days as far ahead as 2011 and in the case of one lovely Bride 2012!! It just shows that it’s never too early to get the dress arranged girls!!! We’re busy in-store getting ready for our October sale which takes place on 25th and 26th and features some absolute bargains at just £299 (see web site/call for more details) we think we may have queues to contend with … one Bride has even threatened to arrive at 7am in order to get first choice, now that’s bargain hunting dedication for you!

March and September are the months in which we do the bulk of our wedding dress and bridesmaid dressbuying for the coming season, we order gorgeous new dresses and accessories and should see them in-store by January. Last week Rob and I went to Harrogate to meet with our Suppliers at the biggest European trade event where we excitedly watch fashion shows which showcase the latest designs and decide what dresses to order for our Brides to choose from. We have chosen some stunning new bridal gowns and accessories. It was a mega busy few days with lots of walking from stand to stand, my feet survived although I’m not so sure about my liver!! We met up with our favourite friends from the industry (Jo & Richard from the Princess Wardrobe in Pontefract) as well as other fab bridal shop owners and industry contacts. It’s a great time for networking and also a great time to let our hair down. One night we arrived back at our hotel at 3am having danced our socks off in a nightclub! We were the last to leave and both Rob and I agreed that we are getting far too old to party!! Lauren and Kirsty held the forte at the shop on Tuesday which was extremely hectic as usual. All of the wonderful weddings at the weekend went well and we returned to many lovely comments and cards, thank you all especially to Amber & Tony who delivered the most magnificent thank you gift basket of Thornton’s goodies, you are so kind and I am now so fat!!!

This month we decided it was time that we treated ourselves and headed out for some ‘team building’ dinner and drinks in town … some of you may know that Rob and I had the terrible sadness of losing a baby in July 09, at 5 months pregnant I had induced labour and medical termination of a baby girl who had been diagnosed with a severe genetic problem, sadly she would not have made it to full term – the whole thing was awful and without the support of our wonderful staff, family, friends, and customers we could not have managed through our very difficult time! We wanted to say a proper thank you to our staff and our evening out was partly a way of doing that. Other reasons to let our hair down included the celebration of Lisa’s placement at Essex Uni – congratulations Lisa, we know that you’ll do really well and look forward to updates in between all of those novels that you’ll be speed reading!! Kirsty was celebrating her year anniversary with us and we can’t believe that it has already been a year – it has literally flown by! So…. with dinner, drinks and dancing high on the agenda the five of us met at Bar 19. Supper at Zi-Zi’s was great fun, Kirsty proved that she is an unbelievable red hot chilli muncher! Hilariously Lauren’s competitive (and squiffy) side kicked in – she decided to try and be as impressive but literally bit off more than she could chew and dashed off to the toilet to rinse her burning mouth whilst leaving the rest of us in fits of giggles at the table! After Zi-Zi’s we headed to a few bars and saw lots of our lovely Brides and Grooms- here’s hoping that they weren’t put off by our off duty frivolities! Rob coped admirably with us girlies and was introduced to toffee flavoured vodka at the vodka bar on the way to Roberts Nightclub which was an eye opener for all concerned, even Rob danced round a handbag! Sunday was certainly a day of rest for the Abigail’s Collection Teamespecially after such a late finish. I am sure that I should have been more hung-over; perhaps it was the 3am cheesy chips that saved me! Thanks for a great night Guys, I look forward to next time but maybe with less chilli hey Lauren??!! …

If you’ve been to our wedding dress shop (and enjoyed one of the best bridal shopping experiences in Essex!) then you’ll know that we are often quite nosey and like to ask about the proposal! Until today one of my favourite Essex proposal stories was the Guy who asked his (now) fiancé to marry him over the radio. Now I have a new favourite … a lucky lady was holidaying in Egypt with her Boyfriend. They were doing what all couples should do when visiting Egypt and were snorkelling together around a beautiful coral reef. After a while she noticed that he had his hand in his pocket and diplomatically she swam away thinking that he may be having a wee!!!! (her words not mine, and c’mon, he’s not the only one surely!!?). Little did she know that he was carefully trying to grab the diamond ring that he had in his swimming shorts pocket!! Finally he managed to call her back and romantically he proposed underwater to her without dropping the ring!!! She is thrilled and the couple are set to tie the know at Crabbs Barn followed by a romantic honeymoon in Koh-Samui. Good Luck Anne-Marie and thanks so much for sharing your story, we loved it and you made us all giggle x

Many Congratulations to the lovely Jayne and Mark Hillsdon who have returned from Las Vegas after their fabulous wedding. Their ceremony took place at the world famous Little White Wedding Chapel on Las Vegas Boulevard. Jayne looked gorgeous, she wore a stunning ivory strapless wedding gown by Hilary Morgan. Her beautiful a-line cut dress is adorned with crystal and sparkly lace detail. Jayne sent us a lovely e-mail which said ”Considering the first time I came in to see you, I was so distressed, as the whole idea of wearing a dress absolutely terrified me, but you did a fantastic job helping me choose the right dress and on the day I really did feel like a princess walking through the Bellagio. Mark’s suit was the perfect choice for Vegas and he looked amazing. We had so many people stop to congratulate us and to take photos, it was fantastic. Everything went according to plan, Elvis was a scream, he certainly made us laugh!…’ Mr & Mrs Hillsdon are now busy preparing for the second round of wedding celebrations here in the UK and we wish them another wonderful day. We think that they are a lovely couple and it’s been a complete pleasure assisting with all of the wedding outfits x

Baby news…. many congratulations to Ian & Donna on the birth of their baby Boy Michael. Also a big Hello and ‘Mum to be’ Hug to Louise and Husband Peter Smith who are expectant Parents too. Louise is literally blooming, and looking gorgeous, she and Bump are soon to make their bridesmaids debut at Sister Sarah’s lovely wedding to Rafe on 25th July at Vaulty Manor, all of us at Abigail’s Collection wish you all good luck …. it certainly has been an exciting few years for the Bidmeads!! x x