Wow!!  My Goodness, it’s been hectic!  Do I always say that at the start of every blog post???…..  So, firstly; Rob and I visited the British Bridal Exhibition just a few weeks ago and we had a such a brilliant time, especially at the awards ball!  It is with thanks to our wonderful customers for their votes that we made the finals for the 2010 ‘Bridal Retailer of the Year’ award, we made it to the top six in the country!  Sadly we didn’t win but that’s okay, we have many business awards  under our belt and ever the optimists, there’s always next year!  Harrogate plays home to the exhibition twice yearly and it’s where we select and buy our styles for the forthcoming season.  I’ve chosen some absolute stunning dresses from a new label called Mark Lesley.  We are so thrilled to have taken on this gorgeous range and along with their signature label we’ve also taken on their couture and paradise collection which will be in-store from September…. Last weekend I flew to Madrid for the exciting launch of the 2011 San Patrick collection, they are totally stunning!  I love this years collection and found it hard to whittle it down from the 100 styles shown on the catwalk.  Next year’s trends are set to continue with even more elegance…. beautiful lace, fabulous layering, romantic ball gowns, sleek fit and flare fishtails and wow factor glamourous ball gowns!!!  I went alone (which was a real bonus beacuse at Stansted I nipped into the Mulberry handbag store and brought myself a black Mulberry clutch, a huge treat for me and a special purchase which wouldn’t have been allowed had my adoring husband been with me, he just doesn’t get the ’shoes & handbag’ thing!)…. Business is (as usual) booming and we have received so many wonderful thank you cards and photographs and we were so thrilled to see the video highlights for Chris & Cally’s wedding – we were lucky enough to look after the beautiful Cally for her bridal, bridesmaids and menswear needs and they all looked stunning on the day.  I’m so soppy and literally wept through this mini video.  I hope you agree that it certainly looks like there was a lot of love and laughter on their big day, everyone looks amazing! Cally & Chris’s wedding day video highlights  thanks so much for sending this in and many congratulations 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….