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!

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.  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

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!

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??!! …

March was as usual an exciting and busy month for us at Abigail’s Collection. We received some beautiful new thank you letters and pictures from March’s newlyweds. Congratulations to everyone especially Faye and Joe, we loved your pictures so much we decided to feature one alongside this our first ever blog…. We also launched our fab new website which is proving a real hit with our Customers, one of our Bride’s commented that it is one of the nicest sites she has ever seen, which is saying something – her husband-to-be is a graphic designer! Please let us know what you think, feedback is welcome…. Also in March we enjoyed a staff buying trip, we drove to Harrogate to visit the largest bridal trade exhibition in the world and select new styles for the new season ahead. As usual it was great fun. Despite walking for hours to meet with Suppliers and aquiring sore feet in posh new shoes we still managed to bust a few disco moves in the evening and also aquired sore heads after one or two cocktails!……