First Person Laura Daly of award winning Bellissima Weddings, shares her thoughts on getting into the new ‘norm’
I
wonder when things will get back to ‘normal’... Do I think they ever will, or are we going to have to live forever more dealing with the aftermath of Covid? Am I going to have to change my plans daily and always be at the mercy of restrictions and upheavals? Where and how are our life celebrations going to slot in with this new stop/start regime? How heavily is this all going to figure in my day-to-day life, and how badly is it all going to rain on my parade? Will there be, perhaps, just the occasional light shower, or a constant heavy deluge and dark clouds?
How are brides going to plan ahead? Are wedding dresses going to become obsolete? Are brides going to view planning a ‘traditional’ wedding as a waste of time and decide that a quick trip to the registrar in a trouser suit is the most viable option? How on earth are we going to be able to project what our profits might be, and how are we going to keep our business afloat? I can absolutely promise you that all of the above, plus much more besides, pretty much played on an unstoppable loop in my head every single night during the last lockdown.
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And I don’t mind betting that the majority of those of us who work in the bridal retailing industry have been experiencing the same brain worms, during many a sleepless night. Besieged with countless ifs and maybes, I’m sure we all found the start of 2021 very hard indeed to process. For the third time in a year, we had to reinvent ourselves, reconfigure and re-evaluate everything, while simultaneously trying in desperation to hang on to our collective sanity and our staff! But, you know what? Somehow, we’ve done it. You’ve done it, I’ve done it. The sleepless nights seem to have done something that years of meetings, focus groups and secret (and not-so-secret) dinners have never really achieved. We’ve talked together – I mean actually talked and listened and helped each other. Togetherness I don’t think I’ve ever been so proud to be associated with a group or an industry as I am at the moment. The resilience, the camaraderie, the sheer support that the UK’s bridal retailers have shown each other in this last year has been amazing. The old saying, “united we stand, divided we fall”, seems very apt indeed. After a year of, let’s face it, epic gloom of doom proportions, the UK’s wonderful independent bridal shops are rising like hundreds of sparkly phoenixes out of the grim ashes of Covid. We’ve bolstered each other to continue to evolve, we’ve cheered each other on, and we’re reaping the rewards! Via several public online groups for retailers, and many other less-public groups, too, I’ve seen more advice and information exchanged than ever, on all manner of things, including grants, loans, helpful suppliers, best styles, shopping habits and more... and it makes my heart very happy.
