Well after being (very happily) based on the first and second floor of a building in  Colchester High Street for three years we’ve officially opened our new ground floor shop doors to the world and can now welcome our customers into 2300 sq feet of wedding gorgeousness over 4 floors!!  Now that we have the space and after many requests we are thrilled to be able to offer a Mother of the Bride range in our luxuriously decorated Mother of the Bride department.  Customer feedback about our small but beautifully formed own label collection has been wonderful so far, thanks to everyone who has already ordered their outfits with us. Our launch party on Sunday was absolutely fabulous!  Everyone loved our new look Bridesmaids and Menswear departments, it was such a buzz!! We’d really like to thank Dave of Dreamwave Events for his fabulous and funky tunes, Bespoke Caterers and their brilliant staff for their delicious canapes, Nick Reade for his outstanding magic and our very own N’swana for the beautiful songs that she sang! (check out the Abigail’s Collection facebook page for the You Tube Video of her amazing performance).  So, yes, the bubbles literally flowed and everyone complimented us on our beautiful shop - a few customers even threatened to move in, perhaps not a bad idea, if we all move in the staff can save on travel and my Doggie would probably get less lonely…. It was really lovely to see our customers past and present as well as getting the chance to catch up on a few wedding photo albums that we hadn’t yet seen …. Katie Elias’ album was amazing and Casey and Sean looked so wonderful (can’t wait to catch up after her honeymoon).  Special thanks goes to Laura, Wedding and Events Co-ordinater at Braxted Park for joining us with her Sister Katie and it was also really special to have Mark and Lesley Designer and manufacturer of their award winning label ‘Mark Lesley’  here to celebrate with us.  We’ve just received our Mark Lesley gowns in-store and are really excited to have them, they are simply gorgeous; fabulous structure, stunningly elegant fabrics and beautiful bead work!….  So many exciting things to report and so much happening …. actually the refurbishment has been thoroughly exhausting, all of the staff have had to work really hard and over long hours to get everything finished - it’s with huge thanks to them all (including my adorable Husband and Business Partner Rob) that we managed to get our new shop up and running and with minimal inconvenience to our customers so I’d like to end by saying thank you to all of our Customers for their support and especially to Rob, Kirsty, N’swana and Lisa you are the best ever and I am very lucky to work with you all! x

Well it certainly feels as though it’s been a long winter!  I think that customers and staff alike are feeling the benefits of the long over due Spring sunshine.  Personally I love Spring and not just for the sun but for the sense of ‘newness’ that it brings.  Spring’s all about growth and development and Abigail’s Collection is defintiely in full Spring mode!!…  Just a few weeks ago Lauren sadly left to have major foot surgery.  The first of this year’s (two maybe three) operations has gone well though and she’s being nursed by her Mum (and dog Clover).  Everyone wishes her well.  We miss Lauren already and Rob sarcastically says he has no one to tease anymore!!  Lisa and N’swana have been working like troopers this month (well done and thank you girls) and we’re all ready to welcome our new Manager ‘Kirsty Vaughan’ who joins tomorrow!  With 5 years industry experience and a natural passion for all things bridal we’re really excited that she’ll be working with us.  It’s certainly a busy time to be joining because the business is expanding with an additional 1500 sq ft, yes I said an additional 1500 sq ft!!!  Watch this space for news of our swanky refurbishment and exciting July launch.  Customers are really positive about the expansion and we’ve had some lovely feedback from Brides.  On Saturday amidst the usual bridal buzz we welcomed back two previous Abigail’s Collection Brides with their Sisters for whom this time, it was their turn for a wedding dress; Hayley (was) Hart and Claire (was) Ferris came to see us with their lovely bride to be Sisters Claire and Kirsty.  Many congratulations to Claire (was Ferris) who is now Mum to a little girl called Grace (we love that name) ….. and thank you to Hayley for the beautiful Aruba wedding day picture, we loved it so much we decided it was a perfect pic for this sunshine themed blog …. just looking at it makes me want to book a holiday, maybe I could squeeze into Claire Hart’s suitcase when she goes off for her St Lucia wedding abroad, she’ll need someone to get her into her dress after all?!… Mmm, I think Rob may have something to say about that little trip, if only because he doesn’t trust me and my airport shopping reputation!

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!

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??!! …

Okay so it would be wrong to publish names but we all giggled when Rob (in menswear hire) told us the reason one of our menswear waistcoats was returned completely buttonless was because an Usher had quite literally torn his clothes off during a passionate fling with one of the bridesmaids! Oooo, sounds like the start of a flourishing new Colchester romance!! Our own new love this month is the lovely Lisa who has joined us for a while to support the hectic menswear hire department and our many Saturday bridal and bridesmaids customers. Already proving herself as a real asset, Lisa is a bubbly, kind and friendly person and we love having her around, well done Lisa and welcome to the team! A special mention of congratulations to Jodie and Dan Lowe, it was a pleasure assisting you all with your wedding wear, we are so delighted that your wedding went well and can’t wait to see more pictures, Dan nearly made me cry when he spoke of how beautiful he thought Jodie looked as she walked down the aisle, who says modern men aren’t romantic? Last week saw the arrival of the first of our gorgeous new collection of Divina Sposa wedding dresses, ‘Parma’ is a stunning crinkle and flat taffeta combination which features a striking layered flamenco style skirt…. I have resisted the temptation to put it on myself (last time I put a dress on I nearly got my bottom stuck). I think I’ll leave it to Lauren who absolutely loves it and says ‘It’s such a wow dress, I adore it!’…