Casablanca Bridal Quarterly Newsletter: Winter 2016 by Casablanca Bridal

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QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER WINTER 2016 ISSUE

AROUND THE WORLD WITH CASABLANCA BRIDAL AT MARKET After wrapping a successful selling season for our Spring 2017 collections at the Fall 2016 markets, we take a look back at some of the notable highlights from these events. N AT I O N AL B R I D AL M A R K E T C H I CAG O

H A R R O GAT E B R I D AL M A R K E T

At the National Bridal Market Chicago, Casablanca Bridal was thrilled to be nominated for the 2016 DEBI Award for Bridal Manufacturer of the Year. Our staff attended the exciting ceremony, and was excited to see our special runway version of Dahlia, Style 2272 grace the stage.

Set in the countryside of Northern England, our Harrogate Bridal Market show was an event that we are excited to expand upon in the years to follow as we prioritize the global expansion of our brand. As an official event sponsor, our team enjoyed presenting the Customer Service Retailer of the Year Award at the 2016 Bridal buyer Awards.

N E W Y O R K I NT E R N AT I O N AL B R I D AL WE E K

Our New York International Bridal Week highlight was our press show runway presentation, which featured a packed house of bloggers, editors, magazine personnel, photographers and videographers, who raved about our Beloved by Casablanca Bridal, Casablanca Bridal and AmarĂŠ Couture collections.

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BL227 SIMPLICITY BL227V

T H E O N E D AL L AS B R I D AL M A R K E T

V O W | N E W W O R L D O F B R I D AL AN D W O R L D O F P R O M

One highlight at our Dallas event was that the market staff was so impressed with Casablanca Bridal’s Spring 2017 lineup that they pulled 3 of our gowns to feature in their photoshoot for upcoming show catalogs.

At both the August prom show and September bridal show, our Southeast Casablanca Bridal team met with buyers in our exciting, beautiful new showroom location at 12-W122. Featuring new décor and an updated look, there has never been a more calm and upscale environment for buyers to place orders.

B e l o v e d b y C a s a b l a n c a a t T h e K n o t G a l a’ s R e d Carpet Following New York International Bridal Week, the Casablanca Bridal team was happy to celebrate the 20th anniversary of The Knot at their annual Knot Gala taking place at the New York Public Library. The party’s theme was Fêtes des Rêves—an enchanted, whimsical party of dreams. Our team was personally invited by The Knot staff for an exclusive red-carpet interview, at which we showcased Style BL219 Sweet from Beloved by Casablanca Bridal. This was live broadcast to an audience.

BRIDAL MARKET WINNERS Every store that placed their order at one of the Bridal Markets was entered to win 1, 2, or 3 new gowns. Here are the winners drawn from the accounts who placed orders at their respective bridal markets.

DALLAS

ATLANTA

LOS ANGELES

CHICAGO

NEW YORK

1 free gown

Ava’s Bridal Couture

Elegant Bridals

Camarillo Bridal Boutique

Abbot’s Bridal

Rana Bridal

2 free gowns

Linda’s Bridal Images and Mr. Tux

Pure Bliss

Anabelle’s Bridal Boutique

White Willow

Amelia’s Bridal

3 free gowns

Aurora Unique Bridal Boutique

Amrehein’s Brides

Bridal Center

Wendy’s Bridal Gallerie

Ve’Lace Bridal

HARROGATE 1 free gown

2 free gowns

3 free gowns

Bridal Couture

The Dressing Room

Reflections Bridal Studio

casablanca certified: deadline approaching Are you Casablanca Certified? Please recall that this season, Casablanca Bridal has provided a comprehensive training guide for measuring standards, bridal terminology, and other valuable bridal consultant information that will help your store be the best possible brand advocate. As we look to heavily push our customizations in our 2017 marketing plan, resulting in more and more brides requesting custom changes, we hope that all of our stores will be on board with the knowledge it takes to properly execute these customizations. Please visit our Asset Manager in order to download the certification

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training program guide, as well as the quiz. The deadline for the quiz

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is December, 31st, 2016, in order to be fully able to participate in our 2017 Quarter 1 Dealer Dividends program, where each Casablanca Bridal, Beloved by Casablanca Bridal, or AmarĂŠ Couture gown sold between January 1st, 2017 and March 31st, 2017 will result in a $25 gift card for the consultant.

UNVEILING A NEW VEIL COLOR OPTION We are excited to offer matching veils for our Casablanca Bridal and Beloved by Casablanca Bridal lines. While our veils previously were only available in ivory or white colors, we now offer champagne colored veil packages. To inquire about how you can purchase our high quality veils, which have great pricing, please contact your sales representative.

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BL232 DELIGHT BL232V

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SPRING 2017 TOP BOOKED Wondering what is currently trending across each of our three lines? Here are the Top 7 Booked Styles to date for the 2017 Spring Season. CAS A B L AN CA B R I D AL

1. 2276 AMBROSIA 2276V

4. 2273 POPPY

2. 2269 PLUMERIA

5. 2277 HIBISCUS

3. 2282 HYDRANGEA

6. 2267 MORNING GLORY 2267V 7. 2285 VIOLA

B E LO VE D B Y CAS A B L AN CA B R I D AL

SPRING 2017 TOP BOOKED 1

1. BL219 SWEET BL219V

4. BL221 AFFECTION

2. BL232 DELIGHT BL232V

5. BL217 PATIENCE

3. BL218 HARMONY BL218V

6. BL229 INTRIGUE 7. BL222 ROSY BL222V

AM A R Ã&#x2030; C O U T U R E

SPRING 2017 TOP BOOKED 1

1. C113 EVANGELINE

4. C114 DANIELLA

2. C124 ANASTASIA

5. C117 NATALIA

3. C121 NICOLETTE

6. C119 AURELIA 7. C120 JULIANA

CAS A B L AN CA B R I D AL

CARRYOVERS 1

1. STYLE 1975

4. STYLE 1827

2. STYLE 2205

5. STYLE 2201

3. STYLE 2072

6. STYLE 2229 7. STYLE 2169

CAS A B L AN CA B R I D AL

CARRYOVERS 8

8. STYLE 2215

11. STYLE 2232

9. STYLE 2228

12. STYLE 2163

10. STYLE 2077

13. STYLE 2210 14. STYLE 2004

C a s a b l a n c a B r i d a l S h o w c a s e U p d at e s Please note that effective November 1st, 2016, Casablanca Bridal has updated the policy and protocol for our Bridal Showcases (recall that Bridal Showcase is the Casablanca name for a trunk show). These changes include: • Fee change from $350 to $450, due at time of booking. • Showcase sets will now ship 3-day, ensuring dresses arrive the Thursday before your event. • Shipping labels will be sent via email the Friday before your event. • Fall 2017 showcase bookings will open up February 1st, 2017, and first shows can be scheduled beginning the weekend after New York Market (April 29th). • Change in incentives, effective 1/1/17: • Retailers may offer a 10% discount on MSRP and may be applied at retailer’s discretion. The 10% discount will no longer apply to the wholesale price of the gown. • Complimentary rush (up to $80) for special orders, to be applied at retailer’s discretion. • $25 gift card incentive for all gowns sold during the showcase weekend, ONLY if the show is attended by their sales representative or a corporate member. • Increased Marketing efforts, effective 1/1/17: • Showcase added to respective brand’s website, Casablanca Bridal Facebook event listings and WeddingWire event listings. • Month-of e-blast to national bridal leads. • USB with video content.

CELEBRATE FOREVER W I T H CAS A B L AN CA B R I D AL

Celebrate Forever is a faith driven non-profit organization, started by Casablanca Bridals owners Mr. Kevin and Ms. Gloria Lu. When a store sells a Casablanca Bridal gown, they are not just selling a dress – they are selling the concept of true love and lasting marriage from a business with a non-profit extension that helps tangibly back these aims. Celebrate Forever believes that individual change leads to improved relationships, healthier families and stronger communities with the power to make a positive impact in the world through unconditional love. In order to help promote these ideals, the organization hosts various community programs. Most recently, our flagship store hosted a Celebrate Forever Comedy Date Night, where comedians Frances Dilorinzo and Sam Fedele, both of whom have been married 23+ years, made jokes about love and marriage.

J o i n T h e C o n v e r s at i o n ! Be sure to submit your #CasablancaBride photos to marketing@ casablancabridal.com so that we can feature you and your brides across our various social platforms! Follow, tag and mention us for additional social media coverage of your store location.

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AM A R É C O U T U R E AMARECOUTURE

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B E LO VE D B Y CASAB L AN CA B R I DAL BELOVEDBYCASA

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Meet The Team: New to casablanca bridal As Casablanca Bridal grows and expands, we are excited to welcome some new faces to our team. To help you put a name to the face, we are pleased to introduce these individuals below. They share with us their title, start date and their favorite wedding moment.

KARI LOFTIN

SHEILA MARTINEZ

SOPHIA LIN

National Sales Manager

Graphic Designer

Production Coordinator

September 19th 2016

August 17th, 2016

September 6th, 2016

“When the groom first

“The first kiss as husband

“Popping champagne”

sees the bride”

and wife”

EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH Each month, the Casablanca Bridal staff nominates a coworker who they feel has gone above and beyond to support their department and the company overall. The winning employee is announced at an all-staff meeting, then presented with a prize, as well as a front row parking spot. Here are our Casablanca Bridal Employee of the Month winners for the last quarter, along with their title, length of time with the company, and favorite wedding moment.

J U LY

AUGUST

OLIVIA NICHOLS

ALYSSA VELASQUES

Customer Service Specialist

10 months

1 Year

“First Dance”

“The bride and bridesmaids

SEPTEMBER

CHARLOTTE PRATT Marketing & PR Associate 11 months “The reciting of the vows”

candid moments”

WEBSITE UPDATES Effective as of November 2016, new changes will be coming to our website and retailer login. We are working with our web team in order to get representation for veils and sashes on our website, along with making our Available to Sell inventory much more organized and swift to navigate. Pricing will be displayed for products on our retailer login. The retailer login and asset manager will also be seeing more user-friendly updates. We appreciate your patience as we continually optimize your experience with our online services.

Casablanca Bridal Extended Opening Hours In order to best service our customers, Casablanca Bridal has extended our operating hours in order to be more widely available for the myriad territories which we serve. Please be advised that rather than our prior hours of 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM PST, you can now reach us beginning at 7:30 AM PST, until 5:00 PM PST on Monday through Friday, effective November 1st, 2016. We are so happy to be available a whole hour earlier!

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES For assistance with customer service, please contact 800-531-6494 or email info@casablancabridal.com. For assistance with our Social Media Program, to submit Real Bride photos, or for other social media and marketing inquiries, please reach out to marketing@casablancabridal.com, or 714-224-1601. For assistance with placing orders or collection information, please email at orders@casablancabridal.com or contact your local sales representative:

AD DRESS B OO K

C O R P O R AT E O F F I C E

National Sales Manager Kari Loftin Office: 714.224.1607 Email: kari@casablancabridal.com N E W E N G L AN D

Northern NY, ME, VT, MA, NH, RI Pat Shanahan Cell: 315.767.0101 Email: pfs63@yahoo.com N O R T H EAS T

Southern NY, CT, DE, MD, NJ, Eastern PA David Baslow Cell: 818.292.3496 Email: bazz2dabone@aol.com S O U T H EAS T

VA, WVA, TN, GA, NC, SC, FL, MS, AL Bill Stryker & Lisa Stryker Office: 240.469.4175 Emails: ultrastyk@yahoo.com lisadeu65@yahoo.com EAS T E R N M I D WE S T

Western PA, OH, IN, MI, KY Pete Skalba Cell: 440.864.7252 Email: peteskalba@gmail.com WE S T E R N M I D WE S T

IL, NE, WI, MN, ND, SD, IA Alan Powell Cell: 610.703.0182 Email: apssalesllc@gmail.com N O R T H E R N S O U T H WE S T

Northern TX, OK, KS, MO, NM Gary Coffman Cell: 972.342.9449 Email: garycoffman@gmail.com

S O U T H E R N S O U T H WE S T

Southern TX, AR, LA, MS Ron Calk Cell: 832.945.0047 Email: casablanca.ron@gmail.com P AC I F I C N O R T H WE S T

NV, WA, OR, ID, MT, WY, AK Jolee Johnson Cell: 626.808.7247 Email: Jolee.johnson@gmail.com WE S T C O AS T

CA, UT, CO, AZ, HI Luke Tasky Cell: 626.602.6845 Email: Lrtasky@aol.com U K , I R E L AN D , S C OT L AN D & WAL E S

Andy & Denise Burgess-Farrant Office: 044 1237 470111 Email: enquiries@casablancabridal.co.uk CAN AD I AN D I S T R I B U T I O N

Anna Decorso Cell: 647.748.2244 Email: Anna@ageangroup.com M I D D L E EAS T

Harry Kaprielian Cell: 514.578.0946 Email: hk@canadextrading.com

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