SECOND OPINION

What’s New for 2022? That’s the question Sue Lovell is being asked time and time again

Well, the new Omicron variant is definitely new for 2022. Meaning that we are not out of the woods yet in regards to Covid.

The new algorithms for Facebook and Instagram are fun and totally different to all we have previously known and come to terms with. Delivery times have become longer, and prices are rising, and that in turn changes when and how we need our customers to buy.

So that’s all new! But hey, this isn’t our first rodeo. We know how this works – we have got this – we are ready, like coiled springs, to adapt and rise to another challenge, and combined with the supply chain issues and consumer uncertainty, we are heading for another year of being kept on our toes.

As 2021 came to an end, I sat with my accountant discussing the past 20 months, and she asked me where I saw 2022 taking me. Usually, at this point in our meeting, I can roll off a list of exciting things I have planned – new designers, new collections, events and promos I have scheduled. I can draw on what worked well the previous year, what I can do differently, and what was successful or taught me a lesson or two. This time around, however, I struggled to draw on any inspiration from 2021.

The year started like a slap on the bum with a wet flannel, and three and a half months of binge-watching Netflix commenced, which in itself felt like an eternity.

I took an online course in yoga, which I found greatly helped me in my quest to binge-watch Netflix. Season three of the Real Housewives was viewed mainly from a ‘downward dog’ position. I learned to eat a custard cream without breaking from the ‘Warrior Pose’ – a very good life skill to have – and I lay on a yoga mat and through gritted teeth, tense muscles and a clenched derrière, I relaxed – a lot – and then I had another custard cream, and relaxed a bit more. No one could accuse me of squandering our lockdown time.

Then in April, we opened our doors – and the rest of 2021 was a blur. I didn’t know what I had done, what was successful or what was accomplished, other than every bride was dressed for her wedding day in the dress and accessories she had chosen, ordered, purchased. Regardless of weight loss, gain, change of venue, season, or mind on style, we altered, adapted and we blooming smashed it!

Seriously, we smashed it! BrideCo members helped me and each other work supply chain miracles, deal with alteration conundrums, and we pulled a few Hail Marys out of the bag on the way. When faced with a bride who had lost five stone, and trying to work out how we downsize a dress, low and behold, a bride who had ordered the same dress, and who had gained three stone over lockdown, dropped from the heavens and we were able to do a swap. Little wins that helped us get through, and no bride or dress was hurt in the making of 2021.

I keep saying “That’s what we do well, isn’t it?” We plan, prepare and anticipate every possible curveball.

Yet why do I feel I am in the opening scenes of Squid Games? A group of eager but nervously exhausted people inside a large room with a computerised voice announcing that: “Everyone in the industry has debts you need to pay off, winners of all the levels will get a handsome amount of money, losers will be eliminated – Welcome to Squid Games”. It sometimes feels like that, like we have signed up for an ivory and lace version of a cutthroat gameshow, hopefully with less bloodshed, equally as brutal, but with undoubtedly more pressure. But oh, the joy is so sweet when we successfully complete another deadly round: we can’t pay attention to who has bowed out or been eliminated, we soldier on and we focus on the prize.

We successfully completed all the levels in 2021, now we have more trials to endure, more games are afoot, but hey, let’s keep focused, and keep our eye on that prize.

The next installment

At this point, can someone remind me what the prize is? All this excitement has clouded my memory, and focusing on staying alive/afloat has not only exhausted me. but has somewhat taken the sparkle out of the industry.

But fear not, sparkle is everywhere. We have embraced the glitter after a rough couple of seasons, and we are sparkling so brightly. There won’t be a bridal shop in the country that hasn’t got its full quota of glitter on the rails, or in the window. Sparkle isn’t just an embellishment, it’s a way of life!

We needed this to lift the spirits, and give our brides a boost, to bring the excitement and joy back into planning a wedding. So many brides had to forgo the wedding day of their dreams due to Covid, and this has really made 2022 brides more grateful that they will/may/fingers-crossed, get their day. We don’t take anything for granted any more, and that in itself, is a blessing.

So after sitting with my accountant, and nervously shuffling around looking for inspiration to grab me by the shoulders, I knew I had to have a new plan in place. I had already done my marketing preparation, I had planned my social media strategies, and then realised that all that was once working, is now changing. Because of the changes Apple has brought about, the algorithms that previously worked have now become less reliable. Dare I say, pointless, in fact?

Images makers

Because of the rise of TikTok, video is the defacto process for successful social media posts, and brides love a video.

Here is a fun fact: did you know that you will retain 95% of information given to you in a video, compared with just 10% of the written message? If you watched a video of me saying that, you would probably retain that information far easier than you have by just reading it. That leads us into the algorithm: they can’t tell you how much of a written post is actually read by the target audience, but it can tell how far the video was watched. It can see how engaged the audience was, and then serve up the results for you so you can fine tune your next video.

I think there are many who have not wanted to embrace the world of video and self-promotion. Some of us are not comfortable with our own face being the face of our business. But video content does not only mean embracing the TikTok generation, it means anything that the algorithms see as using an MP4. So, a standard picture post that has animated graphic will have the same algorithm response as someone repeatedly bouncing in and out of a wedding dress.

I was at a party with a few wedding photographers recently, and they were telling me that the impact Instagram is having on their industry is very disturbing. Some brides spend so much time filtering and altering their own image before posting, that when faced with their wedding photos or videos, they cannot identify with themselves. There is a huge disconnect between how they perceive they look, and how they actually do.

This causes disappointment with their wedding photos, which has made some photographers give into pressure, blurring, manipulating and filtering images to be more in line with how the bride wants to look. But then others who recognise heavy editing, and find the bride unrecognisable. No matter what they do, someone is left disappointed and unable to trust what they see.

The right picture

That got me thinking as to how we represent ourselves. If we are so heavily filtered that we are not recognisable to our brides – if our images are so manipulated to be flawless, thinner, taller – then how can a bride trust us?

We want to be the best version of ourselves, undoubtedly, but if we put out there a completely false image, there will be nothing to connect us when we meet someone in real life. No matter what is new, what we do that is different, the core principle should not change. Trust, and a recognition of honesty, is vital to every relationship.

While there is so much ‘new’ (and a little bit scary) in ’22, we should most definitely be keeping an eye on what is constant, reliable and real. In a world where we say we want to be authentic, we want to be unique, and true to ourselves, we shouldn’t be filtering out our individualities and manipulating ourselves to look like everyone else. We should celebrate our own individual looks, our own strengths and own them, and give our brides the confidence to be who they really are, not the filtered version.

Be real, be genuine, and our brides will recognise in us what is beautiful in them. So perhaps that is the prize in a world of fake and false image: be beautiful and comfortable In what you do, and show every bride that we fall in love with people, and that can’t be seen through a filter, that has to be taken on true face value.

Modern, glamorous and unforgettable... Let us introduce you to the SS 22 collection from Pure Bridal, where all gowns retail below £899. Please contact kerry@romanticaofdevon.co.uk for more information on becoming a stockist.