0:17

Well , hello everybody . Welcome back

0:19

to our 10th episode , and

0:21

this week we have a very special guest with us

0:24

. We always say this about our guests .

0:26

You can't hear me , it's way

0:28

past our 10th episode at this point 10

0:31

?

0:31

Uh-uh , we posted our 10th

0:33

episode . I got the congratulations on my sprout

0:35

, oh some of a nutcracker .

0:37

It's 11 . Let's just roll with

0:39

it . Okay , sorry , guys , 11

0:41

. They're all starting to blend all together . I'm just

0:44

keeping it updated . It's 11 . Welcome

0:46

to our next episode of

0:48

the Flower Files . Yeah , sorry , we went

0:50

and did . We had another guest

0:52

last week , but yeah

0:54

, we're here now and

0:57

now we're on our 11th one . So

1:00

we have a different kind of vendor

1:03

behind the scenes person with us this week . We

1:05

are talking to Miss Mackenzie

1:07

from Mia Rose Bridal in Middletown

1:10

, delaware , and I

1:12

think I've probably been to

1:14

your store even before

1:16

it was yours since I was

1:18

in high school . Like I found my prom dress

1:20

there when they had all the Sherry Hill lines

1:22

, like all of that . So to see

1:24

your space transform into

1:27

what it is now , I recommend

1:29

you to God . Kenley's

1:31

been there . I've been in there . Like

1:34

your seamstress is incredible . Like

1:36

I always recommend everyone to , and every

1:38

time we go in it's like , wow , did you see that one in the front ? Wow

1:41

, I haven't seen that one before . I wonder what Mackenzie's

1:43

doing .

1:46

We stripped the same mannequin for Kenley's

1:48

dress as I stripped for my prom dress . Same

1:51

window , same mannequin , everything .

1:54

So it's a little more

1:57

special because of well

1:59

, this was well before Wildly Native and well

2:01

before we knew you , mackenzie . So we have

2:03

, like our personal connection there with

2:05

you , the space and everything in between , and now

2:07

with Sal Chutes and Britals , and

2:10

all of our time with you . So

2:12

it's me , amber , mom , um

2:17

. But , mackenzie , I want

2:19

to ask you to do a little bit of

2:21

introduction about yourself . It doesn't have to be long

2:23

, just kind of who you

2:26

are , and we'll go from there . And

2:28

then I have questions for you .

2:30

Sure , well , thanks for that amazing intro . And

2:33

I'm Mackenzie . I am the owner

2:35

and kind of founder of Mia Rose

2:37

Bridal . Outside

2:40

of Mia Rose Bridal I am Nick's

2:42

wife and Mia's mom , and

2:44

also a fur fur mom

2:46

to three dogs

2:49

. So , like this , what kind ? We

2:51

have a yellow lab . Is that what you're asking

2:54

me ? Dogs Talk about dogs all day too . A

2:58

yellow lab we have a people . And now we

3:00

have this little tiny Pomeranian

3:02

Elkhound who was a shop

3:05

dog for a few weeks until

3:07

he is going through his teenage puppy

3:09

stage . So he doesn't come in to see brides anymore

3:11

, but back after

3:14

he gets out of that crazy teenager

3:16

stage . But yeah , most

3:20

importantly family . And then

3:22

the boutique is kind of

3:24

passion and life and they

3:27

always say don't treat like your job

3:29

, like your hobby , like your job , or vice

3:31

versa . But I feel so lucky

3:33

that I actually can say that it

3:36

is kind of my hobby and it's just

3:38

a passion and I don't have

3:40

bad days and stressful

3:42

days sometimes . But yeah

3:44

, yeah .

3:46

Well , I feel like with like I

3:48

agree with you on that . And to like we

3:51

I love flowers , mom loves flowers Like we've kind

3:53

of I know Amber does like we've kind of merged

3:55

that into what we do and having

3:58

that like love

4:00

for what you do , like you want to wake up and

4:02

want to do something that you love

4:04

. You don't want to try to go on vacation

4:06

and escape from a life that you don't want to live

4:08

. So right , and people come here

4:10

and like wow , this is like a vacation , like

4:12

well , it's what we do .

4:15

Yeah , so lucky to be able to say that right . Yeah

4:18

that we love that , what we do

4:20

.

4:21

Yeah , it's very , very unheard of Mom

4:23

. Ava , do you have any comments so far ?

4:28

No , I think it's

4:30

a gift to be able to do what you love

4:32

. And people are like you can't

4:34

actually like your job this much and I'm like , no

4:37

, really , I think we do , but you can yeah

4:39

, you can .

4:41

You kind of just have to find that , though , and that's

4:43

kind of where I was opening the boutique

4:45

. It's like I wanted flexibility

4:47

in my life . I also wanted to be present for

4:50

my daughter , who's 13 now Like

4:52

it's such a core age and I have flexibility

4:54

, but I'm also super busy at the boutique , but I

4:57

have such a great balance now , which is like

4:59

such a blessing really

5:01

.

5:02

Yeah , so we're

5:04

going to get into the questions , and

5:06

with the first one , of course , what

5:09

made you get into the wedding dress business and

5:11

why in Middletown , like

5:13

because there's ? So many different avenues that

5:15

you can go into in the wedding world . But

5:17

why dresses Bridal

5:19

gowns specifically ? Because there's no

5:21

more prom , because you had said that you're kind of going

5:24

out of prom and now it's like your shop

5:26

is Mother of the Bride , bride and

5:28

that's kind of it .

5:29

Yeah , Kind of like narrowing down

5:32

, focusing on the brides . So

5:34

really I started . So this month

5:36

is actually three years of us opening the

5:38

store .

5:39

Oh well , there you go , there's .

5:40

something for years , woo-hoo

5:43

. So it was kind of

5:45

during COVID . Really it was February

5:47

of 2021 . We're still going through COVID

5:50

. I was actually in the health care business

5:52

for 10 years . I say

5:54

business health care field . Yeah , yeah

5:56

, wait , wait , wait . What were you ? So

5:59

I did health care management

6:01

from anything from billing and coding

6:03

to actually managing an office

6:06

or private practice . So

6:08

you weren't like a surgeon assistant . I was not

6:10

like no , I wasn't . In

6:14

the heat of COVID , working

6:16

one-on-one with COVID patients . I was

6:18

actually blessed enough to be able to work from home

6:21

during that time and

6:23

that really gave me the

6:25

almost avenue to slow down

6:27

a little bit and kind of figure out is

6:30

this really what I want to do forever ? So

6:33

really , covid was like a blessing almost

6:36

to me . I sometimes feel guilty

6:38

saying that because I know businesses struggled

6:41

during COVID and things like that , but

6:43

it really gave me just an opportunity to

6:45

slow down and realize what's most

6:48

important . I really enjoyed being home

6:50

with my daughter doing

6:52

the homeschool thing during that time , working

6:54

from home at the same time .

6:58

It changed the relationship , doesn't it ? It

7:00

does .

7:01

It really like I realized

7:04

oh , I'm working all the time , I'm

7:07

missing swim meets , I'm missing

7:09

all these things for her . So

7:12

I always had it in the back of my mind because growing

7:14

up , my mom actually had a petticoat

7:16

business . In petticoats like the crinlin and

7:18

everything that is designed now underneath

7:21

of the gowns , Women

7:24

used to rent them and

7:26

she ran her own business out of our house

7:28

. So I always , growing up , I had brides

7:30

in and out of the house trying on these petticoats

7:32

with their gowns and as a little girl , that's

7:34

so cool right .

7:36

Yeah , yeah .

7:37

So you probably saw so many

7:39

styles from back then

7:42

to now and I was young

7:44

so it wasn't really like , oh , look at that

7:46

, it was just admiring like gosh , wow

7:48

, look how pretty yeah .

7:51

Because everything's pretty back then .

7:52

Right . Of course Like everything's like wow , so

7:54

all these processes in the house , right ? So

7:58

she had gone

8:00

out of that business . She

8:02

actually got sick when I was 15

8:05

, 16 . She passed away from cancer . So

8:08

, in the back of my mind . I was always like gosh

8:10

, going into that kind of business would

8:12

be pretty cool . But again , I , went to

8:15

school , do what you're supposed to do kind

8:17

of thing , went into health care . But

8:20

yeah , during COVID I was like gosh , I need something

8:22

else . And I , just , kind

8:24

of a leap of faith , that

8:26

space opened up in Middletown and

8:32

, very long story short , I kind of went

8:34

for it . I started partnering with the

8:36

different designers and

8:39

kind of learning that side of it

8:41

and

8:43

, yeah , I picked Middletown . Really I

8:46

love the idea that Middletown is like up

8:48

and booming and this and that , but I also love

8:50

the idea that it's still that small downtown

8:52

community there yeah . Especially

8:55

where you are on the corner yeah , right on the

8:57

corner and people call and say , like I'm not

8:59

just looking for a bridal dress , I just wanted to call

9:01

and tell you how beautiful your windows look .

9:03

And things fall yeah .

9:04

It's cool just to kind of bring that kind of joy to the

9:06

town there .

9:08

So yeah , yeah , it

9:10

was really cool growing up watching

9:12

it changed from

9:14

the color and prom and bright

9:16

into the glitter and

9:18

the lace and what you've

9:20

switched it into and it's just

9:23

incredible and they're always full , as

9:25

they should be , so it's

9:27

beautiful and amazing .

9:29

Yeah , I feel like just the stage of life that you

9:31

and I are in , Liz , it was cool to see it go

9:33

from prom to wedding . It was almost like it was maturing

9:36

with us .

9:36

Yeah , yeah , because it used to be

9:38

that open , like it was those

9:40

two spaces where that balloon places . Now

9:43

it used to be like the two sides together

9:45

and your side used to be prom

9:47

and then the other side used to be bridal

9:49

. I think right , or was

9:51

it ? Was it ?

9:52

I don't know yeah um

9:54

, and it's kind of cool , amber , how you say that

9:56

, because I have lots of brides that come in at

9:59

this stage of their life now getting married

10:01

, things like that , and they're like I was here , but

10:03

I feel like I wasn't here because it looks so different

10:05

, it feels so different yeah

10:07

, but I hear it all the time like I got my prom

10:09

dress here um in the same space .

10:11

So it's kind of like you know , kind of

10:13

cool to hear that so

10:15

when you walk by your windows and you were talking

10:18

about your windows and how things have changed

10:20

and advanced how in the world

10:22

do you keep up with

10:24

what the possible trend could

10:26

be and how do you make the decision

10:29

of what dress to showcase

10:31

? Because you you not only have the stuff

10:33

in the windows which is just like I don't

10:36

know , it's like eye candy as you drive past

10:38

because I'm like , wow

10:41

, like you're gonna cause accidents , but topic

10:44

but but how

10:46

do you make that selection ? How do you

10:49

? How do you pick the mermaid

10:51

style versus the Cinderella

10:53

style versus the you know like ? How

10:56

do you ? How do you pick ?

10:57

yeah . So when I'm switching the windows out , I try

10:59

to pick some like all , like you said , like different

11:01

silhouettes , because every bride is so different

11:04

. Um , and trends

11:06

are fun and you know things like

11:08

that , but trends aren't always what the

11:10

brides are going for like . It's

11:12

so important to stay true , to like what you actually

11:15

love versus like , oh , this is trendy

11:17

. So , as far as the windows

11:19

go , I just try to like ones that

11:21

are going to catch your eyes like right now we have some

11:23

in the windows that are like 3d

11:26

florals and like pops of

11:28

details . That way when you're driving

11:31

by and making that corner at the light

11:33

, it's going to just catch your eye

11:35

differently . Just

11:38

different silhouettes , definitely , because some brides

11:40

want a big ball gown , some brides are like absolutely

11:42

, I need to be in something super form fitting

11:44

, so I just try to keep a variety

11:46

in in the window , yeah

11:49

, we definitely do a really good job about that and on that

11:51

kind of went into our oh

11:55

, was it our third question .

11:56

Yeah , it was just like what trends are you

11:58

starting to see and anticipate for the next couple years

12:00

? So I I I've

12:03

seen modern to crazy

12:06

3d details and it's never

12:08

the same right um , I

12:10

do get a lot of requests now for like sleek

12:12

, modern looks .

12:14

Slits are a big thing now . Um

12:17

, and then complete

12:19

opposite spectrum is , um

12:21

, like we were talking about the 3d

12:24

elements a lot of like florals and

12:26

corset boning

12:28

, like exposed boning that's a big trend

12:30

right now .

12:32

I feel like we're seeing that with our brides

12:34

too . They're either white and green and

12:36

like textures , but still modern

12:38

, or we have the complete opposite , where they want like full

12:40

blown color and like , yeah , and in your face

12:42

, and what we always ask is for what kind

12:44

of dress you have , and we always they get

12:46

excited because then they get to show someone that

12:48

doesn't necessarily can't not

12:51

see it , but we always get to seem like , oh

12:53

, like that fits you , and then you can tell like

12:55

just who there is a person

12:57

like within it as well well

12:59

, it's funny when I'm doing a consult

13:01

for florals and I'm talking to a bride and I say do

13:03

you have your dress ?

13:04

yet you literally can hear

13:06

the smile in their face

13:09

. Yeah , they're like I do . Yeah , it's

13:11

like . Let me show you a picture .

13:12

Yeah , like it brings such joy

13:14

to people like and , of course , every element

13:16

of their wedding is super important . But

13:19

, yeah , they get so passionate about

13:21

the gown , which is so cool .

13:23

Yeah , yeah for sure , for

13:25

sure , for sure . It's incredible

13:27

, um . So I

13:29

guess the third question now , um , are

13:32

there any difficult times with other vendors

13:34

or customers that we wouldn't normally see

13:36

, and do you have any good stories ?

13:38

you by all means do not have to know

13:40

anyone , I wouldn't , but

13:42

yeah

13:44

no , um , as far as

13:46

vendors go , I like the

13:48

vendors I personally work with , like the

13:51

design teams and my reps

13:53

for the designers . I have such

13:56

a good working rapport with them that

13:58

I feel like I could

14:00

go to them for advice , um

14:03

, and really ask any questions

14:05

. So I keep them kind of close you

14:07

know , um , close

14:09

to me in that aspect . Um

14:12

, but yeah , no , I don't have any

14:14

like crazy , like I get the question

14:16

on time , like oh , do you deal with like bridezillas

14:19

? And I'm like no , and I

14:21

can honestly tell you guys sitting

14:23

here today like everyone

14:25

is so pleasant , um , sometimes family

14:27

members , they're kind of like a roadblock um

14:30

yeah , you know it's never the bride

14:32

.

14:33

It's never the bride , it's always the people

14:35

surrounding them .

14:36

Oh my gosh yes , and I'm

14:38

sure you guys see that too . Um , and

14:40

yeah , they come in with kind of like

14:42

a hard shell towards me , or you know , and I'm

14:44

, you know , I'm just there to help you find

14:47

a dress . I can style you , I can show you

14:49

all different styles , like what you feel

14:51

confident in . I'm not . I always say I'm

14:53

not a car salesman , like I'm not here to like

14:55

you know , I'm not out to get you know . But

14:58

some people come in with like such a defense because

15:00

sometimes they don't know what to expect and they

15:02

they want to stick up for their sister or their

15:04

niece , or you know , um , that's

15:06

really like the hardest like roadblock I

15:09

run into .

15:09

Um , yeah

15:11

, yeah , I feel like mom

15:14

I think you and I can probably agree on that too like

15:16

that is probably that

15:18

and the responses in the email . Sometimes people get

15:20

a little um ballsy

15:22

. Yeah

15:25

, um , it's like being on the phone

15:27

, like you would . If you would type into something

15:29

. It would sound different than with it

15:31

, than if you were on the phone , like it's just

15:33

it , yeah , so it it

15:36

happens , yeah , yeah

15:38

, yeah , it's just and it's sometimes it's a super stressful

15:41

time too , so I completely understand

15:43

it , and I mean by

15:45

the end of the appointment .

15:46

We're all best friends anyway , so yeah

15:50

so accessories

15:52

.

15:52

I feel like that's another spot where people

15:54

are like I went this and I went this

15:56

and I want to do this and I think I like this . And

15:59

then I feel like sometimes you get in

16:01

the shop and you're trying on the dresses

16:03

and you're like I don't know if it happens

16:05

often , but I always feel like I go in with

16:07

a vision of , hey , I really think I want to find this

16:10

, and then I try something else not wedding dresses

16:12

and type out dresses in general , just saying

16:14

. But there's

16:16

many times where it's like okay

16:18

, this is not what I thought I was going

16:20

to wear . And now I need help figuring

16:23

out what the heck I'm going to do with all of

16:25

this . Like , how do you help people

16:27

pick out what kind

16:29

of earring or what kind of veil

16:32

? Or like , what is the process

16:34

?

16:35

So that's a good point , because a lot of brides they

16:37

come in with Pinterest boards full of gowns

16:40

, full of accessories that they have envisioned

16:42

in their mind for their day . I

16:44

would say eight out of 10 times a bride does

16:47

go with something like really different

16:49

and then they run into that roadblock

16:51

and it's like wait a second , this is completely

16:54

different from what I envisioned and I'm like that's okay

16:56

. Like you feel amazing in this . You

16:59

see yourself getting married in a different look . But sometimes

17:01

you get stuck there . But really

17:03

we try all different things . I

17:06

have some brides that come in there like I am

17:09

never wearing a veil , I will not wear a veil

17:11

on my wedding day . Somebody

17:13

, or myself I'm like do you want to try a veil ? Let's just see . You're

17:16

either going to like it or you don't . And

17:18

sometimes they look at themselves and it just completes the look

17:20

and they're like oh gosh , I can really

17:23

envision myself in this . Some brides

17:25

put a veil or an accessory on there Like absolutely

17:28

not , this is not it . But

17:30

that's what I'm always like keep an open mind

17:32

. I pull gowns that I call

17:34

like wild cards . I'm like I know this

17:36

doesn't look like your Pinterest board , but

17:38

trust my stylist intuition

17:41

. I call it and I'm going to put

17:43

you in something that , like I know , like

17:45

from your feedback of what you're saying . You may

17:48

not know that this is what you're

17:50

asking for , but I want you to try this and

17:52

they try a wild card and a lot of times

17:54

that ends up being their dress , which is pretty cool and they're

17:56

like what this is . So

18:01

that's kind of cool . Just to and

18:03

that's the biggest thing keeping that open mind

18:05

.

18:07

So sorry , mom , no , go ahead , yours

18:09

is probably better . Well , I feel

18:12

like with you too it well

18:14

, the mirrors all help , but it you help

18:16

people find their body shape

18:18

, what fits for them , what makes them feel more comfortable

18:21

. Like I , like Disney princesses

18:23

always have like the sweetheart and like it's the

18:25

the deep V

18:27

or whatever . And I'm a

18:29

very like square neck person and

18:31

I I don't know if it's just because I have like

18:34

shoulders or whatever , but I , but

18:36

like I learned that with you Like

18:38

, and then you take that like the

18:40

rest of your life because you're like oh , I'm not going to like that T-shirt

18:43

or that tank top or something . Like you

18:45

, you're putting people up on

18:47

a pedestal , but in a good way . Yes , yeah

18:49

.

18:50

Everyone should feel confident and

18:52

yeah , that's like really the most important thing is like

18:54

building that confidence , cause coming

18:57

into a bridal appointments like all

19:00

you really know is that you want to feel your best , but

19:03

until you start trying things on

19:05

, it's going to surprise you . But

19:08

yeah , that's really . I hear all kinds of insecurities

19:10

that's so hard to hear , like

19:12

us as women . Like I hear

19:14

people I'm like why are you being so mean to

19:16

yourself ? Like you're here , someone loves

19:18

you , this is going to be the best day , but we're so

19:20

hard . I mean I do it too and

19:23

I can build people up all day and I do it to myself . But

19:26

I hear it all the time like , oh , my arms , I'm going

19:28

to cover my arms , I want to cover this , I want to cover that . So

19:31

I kind of just lean into that with brides

19:33

and just make suggestions

19:36

and have yeah .

19:39

Have some try , ok . So the day

19:41

comes , you've got your dress

19:43

, you've done all of the things I

19:45

can't tell you how many weddings I've been to

19:47

and I look at the venue if it's tinted

19:50

or depending on the weather , or something like that

19:52

and I think about the dress the day after

19:54

. Yes , like how

19:57

do you clean it ? And then how do you store

19:59

it ? And then what do you do

20:01

with it ?

20:04

So this is so . We offer

20:06

wedding gown cleaning and preservation

20:09

. We sell kits and you ship

20:11

your gown out . They ship it back to you preserved

20:13

. But lately the

20:15

trends like some brides absolutely want to

20:17

do that , but

20:20

a lot of brides are in the same they don't know what

20:22

to do with it . I've had some brides

20:24

that transform their gown into little short gowns

20:27

and they're going to wear it on

20:29

their first anniversary , things like that . But

20:32

it's really preference . It's hard

20:34

to say . I have

20:36

some brides that come in . I have my gown in my

20:38

closet . It's been three years Now . I want to get it preserved

20:41

, but there's no right

20:43

or wrong way to go about it . Most

20:47

likely your daughter or your granddaughter are

20:49

not going to wear that dress .

20:51

Oh my god , I

20:53

would never forget when my mom was so excited

20:55

. She showed me her wedding dress and I was like I

20:58

don't think so .

21:00

I have my dress at home , but she doesn't want to wear it and

21:04

I can make suggestions like oh , make it into a robe

21:06

or make it into a reception dress or

21:08

make it into a shower dress which I think

21:10

is really cool that brides are doing that now . But

21:15

, yeah , that's really preference whether you're going to preserve

21:17

it and keep it as a

21:19

memory or repurpose it

21:21

.

21:23

And , honestly , mine went back in the bag into

21:25

the closet and I'm fairly certain that it still

21:27

has red velvet cake in it .

21:28

Yeah , and most likely that's red

21:31

wine , red velvet cake . Yeah , yep , yep .

21:34

Oh my gosh . Yeah , that

21:36

was a good day , that was

22:50

great .

22:51

And then you can look at the memories and remember that .

22:53

Yes , oh

22:56

my gosh . So

22:59

let's look . Ok , the fourth question what

23:02

is something about the dress industry that sets

23:04

you apart from others ? Because

23:06

a comment that I wanted to tell

23:09

you , but I haven't seen you in person or a podcast

23:12

your

23:14

Instagram and when you

23:16

go and travel to these bridal

23:19

shows are like I would just

23:21

want to sit in the back and watch . Oh gosh

23:23

, so it's amazing . When

23:25

you went out to Chicago and

23:27

you did the videos and it

23:29

was just incredible , it

23:31

was so cool and I was like I'm just going

23:33

to rewatch the story over and over and over again

23:36

.

23:36

It's amazing . Yeah , we go to Chicago once

23:39

or twice a year when the

23:41

designers kind of release their new collections

23:43

and we could review them before anybody

23:45

else and we kind of get to see them on the runways

23:48

, we get to touch and feel before , months

23:50

and months ahead of time , before they actually get

23:52

to the store . But

23:55

yeah , when I'm there I'm like , is this real life ? Like

23:57

I look around , like wow , it's

23:59

like everywhere you look there's models

24:01

and these gowns and

24:04

it literally feels like a dream to me .

24:09

Yeah and I'm going to make this comment and nothing towards

24:11

you or anybody else but when you posted

24:13

that I was like wow , she's like the real deal . I

24:16

was like she's from Chicago . It

24:18

was just so cool . But I got so excited to

24:21

just come back in and see stuff Because , compared

24:23

to last year and even

24:25

when Kenley came in , yeah

24:27

, that was last year so

24:30

different than what you had before

24:32

. It's just incredible .

24:34

Yeah , like the evolving each year kind

24:36

of evolves a little bit differently

24:38

, but still keeping the same , like you're

24:41

going to come in and just be comfortable here . That's

24:43

kind of what the goal is and

24:46

that's kind of , I feel , what still sets

24:48

me apart a little bit , that I feel

24:50

like I'm so calm in the outside

24:52

world because I just enjoy what I do , that

24:55

brides can come in and immediately and I do get

24:57

that feedback a lot like god . I

25:00

just feel super comfortable At

25:02

first I may come in and I'm like , oh , you know this

25:04

, I don't know what to expect and this is nerve wracking

25:07

. I don't know what I'm going to look good in . But

25:09

being able to see that kind of ease

25:11

after a few gowns and getting

25:13

to know the bride and starting that rapport

25:15

, it makes a big

25:18

difference when you can just feel comfortable

25:20

shopping for your dress .

25:22

Well , sometimes too late . It can be incredibly

25:24

intimidating , like you know . When you see

25:26

a zin , you have to walk out from all these people that are shopping

25:28

. You go into , not that you get a wedding dress at Macy's

25:30

Nothing against that , but um but

25:33

like David Sprite , all you're still with the stylist

25:36

, but it's still just David Sprite , all . Like

25:38

you have your , your suite

25:40

, like you have your own space

25:42

that you've created . And the last time we

25:44

came in and saw you because I got my sleeves

25:46

, you were trying to

25:48

work with the um it was the old owner

25:50

to figure out where things should go and how

25:54

.

25:54

Yeah , that was actually um Nicole Jay

25:57

boutiques . She had a boutique for years

25:59

and years in Middletown and she was , yeah , spacing

26:01

things out and kind of seeing things differently . For

26:04

me , um , yeah , that was

26:06

yeah that way everyone still

26:08

has their own space and you can feel comfortable

26:10

.

26:11

Well , it's a completely different vibe

26:14

and aesthetic than watching . David

26:16

Sprite all . So yeah , we good job on

26:18

that .

26:19

Yes , yes . Well , david Sprite , all

26:21

is so overwhelming , yeah

26:24

that's a lot .

26:24

I hear that a lot . Um , of course they're

26:26

gonna have tons and tons and tons of styles

26:28

and gowns to look through , but they

26:31

don't experience that like

26:33

makes the bridal gown shopping

26:35

memory . I think , yeah

26:37

, I'm working like I know what every single

26:39

gown like . If , after seeing a bride

26:42

, a few gowns , I can tell

26:44

her what basically every gown is gonna look like

26:46

in my store because I know them like the back of my

26:48

hand . I think that's what sets it apart from

26:50

somewhere you know , like David Sprite or it's just

26:52

I can pull all these gowns and put you in

26:54

them , but I'm not really gonna like guide

26:57

you're . There's a little

26:59

less guidance , I think , when you shop small

27:01

.

27:02

Yes , there's , there's less pressure

27:05

yeah , yeah , there's just 100%

27:07

less pressure . There's , there's

27:10

, there's just a feel

27:12

that's so different . It's

27:14

just so different that way . I don't

27:16

know , I don't know how .

27:18

I'm going to explain it . So

27:20

I another question for you that I didn't actually write down , but I just

27:22

thought about it . Um , how

27:24

big is the bridal dress

27:26

industry ? Because I've seen things from David's

27:29

bridal to like Gally-A-Lav , which is

27:31

I hope I'm saying that correctly , but but

27:34

it it always pops up on my TikTok

27:36

and Pinterest and especially on , like our wildly

27:39

native Instagram , like it's all wedding

27:41

dresses and flowers , because that's just what we

27:43

do , like we work really close

27:45

within each other's world , I feel like , because

27:47

style suit flowers , right

27:49

, yeah , like it's just , it's hand

27:51

in hand . But seeing some

27:54

of the designs and designers

27:56

like even just on Instagram , is smaller

28:00

than what I had expected

28:02

and not like a bad way , but you

28:05

, your designer , is so specific

28:08

to what they design , like the . What

28:10

is it ? Maggie , maggie Soretta

28:12

, maggie Sotero , sotero ? okay but

28:16

her stuff is super specific . And then

28:18

I know Gally-A-Lav is like super expensive , but but

28:20

they've got their own stuff . Like I know , when I'm scrolling

28:23

on Instagram and it's in my like , my explore

28:25

page , I know that that's like

28:27

posted on a different Instagram , but

28:29

it's still Gally-A-Lav , like it's just

28:31

. It's incredible . So I didn't realize

28:33

how small and

28:35

net your industry

28:37

is like . Yeah .

28:39

I mean there's , there are hundreds and hundreds

28:41

of designers , but really and

28:44

that's what makes it hard , as a boutique owner , like

28:46

who do you partner with you ? Know , um

28:48

, and that goes back to like working

28:50

one on one . I love working with the people at

28:52

Maggie Sotero and Justin Alexander

28:55

and your website's incredible

28:57

.

28:57

Yeah , but like , bustin Alexander is another one . Like

28:59

their website's amazing , like and

29:02

it's and like how do you pick

29:04

the right people to represent you ?

29:08

and that's hard , and I think it does stem back

29:10

to like , how , like , do I trust

29:12

the vendors ? Like that's super important . Like am I getting

29:15

these dresses in on time ? Um , and

29:17

I've never had an issue with production

29:19

or timelines or anything . Quality

29:21

and quality or correct

29:23

, um , so that that's

29:26

why I don't work with . I could bring in , like

29:28

going back to Chicago , god , I'm like

29:30

, oh , I would love this dress , like these

29:32

dresses , I would love to bring these in and I

29:34

could partner with so many different designers

29:36

, but keeping it's just with

29:39

the , basically the two designers that I

29:41

trust . I know that I can go to them . Um

29:43

, I know that brides are gonna trust them

29:46

. They see the names . Um , yeah

29:48

, that's kind of how I just narrowed

29:50

it down just to the two . Plus

29:52

, I wore Justin Alexander dress for

29:54

my wedding . So it's kind of like , oh , you

29:56

know , that's kind of cool to have you know

29:58

, and I've met him in person and things like that

30:01

, so it's it's cool just to have

30:03

that in the back of my mind too yeah

30:05

, but but you , you

30:07

build those personal connections and like that trust

30:09

within each other mm-hmm

30:12

yeah yeah , it all

30:14

goes hand in hand . If I trust the designers

30:16

and the team um , I

30:18

can be confident with the

30:20

brides and what I'm telling them yeah

30:22

, yeah , mom .

30:24

Do you have any other questions ?

30:26

No , I just . I'm stuck in my

30:29

mind picturing that

30:31

Runway in Chicago with

30:33

all of those dresses .

30:36

That video .

30:37

Oh my gosh , it's incredible . You

30:39

can't unsee something like that . It's , it's

30:42

just .

30:43

It's unreal . So do you have

30:45

any like sorry , ever go ahead ? I've been talking

30:48

the whole time , your turn .

30:49

You do such a good job picking the dresses that you

30:52

want to showcase . I did a Style

30:54

shoot where you brought dresses in and people

30:57

specifically photographers it was fine

30:59

Could not help themselves and

31:01

wanted to be in those dresses .

31:04

So what kind of goals do

31:06

you have set for For

31:08

your business and you're like

31:10

your bride breath , I guess

31:12

you have like

31:14

an expansion Goal

31:17

that you want . Do you want to kind of stay where you're at

31:19

, like what , like what level Are

31:21

you thinking about ?

31:23

So I do absolutely love my space

31:26

. I do sometimes

31:28

feel like I could expand

31:30

out a little bit . I have

31:33

Christina from ten tenor alterations

31:35

Working with me now

31:37

, which is incredible that

31:40

one to step the last step

31:42

of picking up your gown after it's steamed and pressed

31:45

, after she Does your alterations

31:48

. So we may have

31:50

some things in in mind in the

31:52

future . I Love

31:54

my space on the corner but

31:57

again it's , everyone wants

31:59

to grow and I'm not saying

32:01

I'm going anywhere anytime soon , but I

32:04

could see I'm really loving like the

32:06

dynamic between Christina and I . So

32:08

I don't know , you may have some stuff up

32:10

our sleeves soon .

32:13

That's always .

32:15

Baby , baby chiffon

32:17

sleeves . Would they be poppy ?

32:18

What's that ?

32:30

Any other comments mama .

32:32

No , I think we have picked her brain thoroughly

32:35

.

32:35

Yeah , a lot of questions that were planned and I'm

32:37

All

32:40

right , Liz you started it .

32:42

I will close it off . Okay , thanks

32:45

for listening again , guys . You

32:47

can catch us on Spotify , apple

32:49

podcast , google podcast , audible

32:51

there's all of the podcast

32:54

places , honestly . You

32:57

can find us on Instagram , facebook , patreon

32:59

and the interwebs under either the

33:01

flower files or wildly native flower

33:03

farm Did

33:05

.

33:05

I miss anything I don't know , just flowers

33:08

.

33:09

Yeah , we do .

33:12

We find you . Say that

33:14

again . Where can we find you , mackenzie

33:16

?

33:18

You can find me on Instagram . I'm

33:20

Mia Rose bridal underscore

33:22

DE . On Facebook

33:25

and website and

33:27

.

33:29

And in downtown , downtown , the corner .

33:35

And tagged in everybody's cool wedding

33:37

pictures .

33:39

Getting those pictures .

33:41

Hmm , awesome , saw well , thank you

33:43

, thank you . Thank you , I know I grabbed you the other day

33:45

and was like I

33:48

Love seeing you guys

33:50

.

33:50

Yes , thanks for having me . Thank

33:53

you , thank you , thank you .

33:54

All right , we love you guys . We'll

33:56

catch you again next week . Bye

33:58

.