Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Nicole (Richie) Madden in a Modest Wedding Dress

I recently saw pictures of Nicole Richie's wedding dress.  She wore three and it appears that two of the dresses had LONG SLEEVES! 

Kudo's to Mrs. Madden for choosing a more modest and amazing wedding dress.  Bravo for not selecting another (snooze) strapless wedding gown.

I personally love lace wedding dresses and vintage-inspired gowns are timeless.

Famous brides tend to set the trends - I hope that designers will take notice and at least offer something besides strapless bridal gowns.

Are Strapless Wedding Dresses Going Away?

Friday, December 3, 2010

A Royal Wedding

I am so excited about Prince William and Kate Middleton's wedding.  Of course as a bridal store owner, I'm most interested in the dress she will wear.  When Princess Diana was married, her dress was the number one copied bridal gown of all time.

I hope that Kate will choose a more modest design for her wedding. Her decision will most likely set the trend for the year 2011 - and encourage more girls to think conservatively in their wedding dress choices.

No matter what she chooses, she is a beautiful girl - and will be a beautiful bride.

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Plus Size Wedding Dresses in St. Louis!

As I've posted, I really don't care for the words - Plus Size, I prefer Alternative Sizes, but that's just me.  Of the last 3 years of business the number one sized bride we have most often sold is a size 22.  We've sold more size 22 bridal dresses than any other size. 

Most of the alternative sized brides we see prefer not to show their arms and are searching for the additional coverage that a strapless dress cannot provide. 

That's why I'm so excited that bridal gowns in sizes 22, 24, 26, 28 and 30 size wedding dresses have arrived at the shop.  We already had a significant inventory and now we have more!

I am just thrilled to have even more options for brides to try on.  You have to try on a wedding dress. I'm so discouraged when I hear of other brides didn't have the opportunity to try on a sample, and must guess what the dress will look like. A wedding dress is such an important purchase, you have to try on the dress so you can see what you'll look like on your wedding day.

At Chatfields Bridal Boutique we carry sizes 0-30 sample gowns so everyone has a chance to try on a modest bridal gown.

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

New Line - Sophia and Camilla

As previously posted, I attended the Chicago Bridal Market to find new Modest Wedding gown designers.  I am so happy to announce that the Sophia and Camilla gowns have started to arrive at the shop.

More are on the way due in January 2011.

Here is the link to our site that shows some of these amazing designs:
www.chatfieldsboutique.com/gallery2.htm

What I specifically love about this designer is that we can make adjustments to the gowns, raise necklines, make sleeves longer etc.

Let me know what you think. 

Saturday, October 30, 2010

Katy Perry - Wedding Dress with Sleeves?

The pics haven't been released just yet for Mrs. Brand's wedding dress.  But I was slightly giddy when I read that she chose a wedding dress with sleeves - YES a wedding dress with sleeves!!!!  Not enough material to be considered modest enough for the brides we typically see - but I'm so excited that it wasn't strapless. 

I'm so glad that Mrs. Brand doesn't look like so many other brides that wear strapless gowns. 

Did Katy set a new trend?

Saturday, October 16, 2010

St. Louis Riverfront Times - Best Bridal Shop 2010

The St. Louis Riverfront Times is a fairly progressive publication, which makes this award even nicer.  I am so excited that our little bridal shop won Best Bridal Shop for 2010.  Here is the link:

RiverFront Times 2010 Best Bridal Shop Award


The editor was spot-on.  Vera Wang's new collection is strapless and until there is a major designer such as Ms. Wang, creating new designs that are not strapless, the trend will continue. 

I am very grateful that we won Best Bridal Shop as a Modest-only committment store. There is a need for modest wedding gowns - and we are so happy to help serve this need.

Thank you Riverfront Times!

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Sophia and Camilla - New Bridal Line

At Market this past weekend, I spent several hours going booth to booth in search for modesty.  Out of the thousands of new wedding dresses on display, there was one designer that qualified for our shop - with being consistent with our modesty standards.
In the modest bridal industry there are only a handful of designers that choose to offer modest wedding gowns, so I was already familiar with this line.  This was the first opportunity, I had to see the dresses and meet the owner.
I'm really happy to announce that sample gowns from this lovely designers will be here by the end of the year.  The designs we chose are lovely and think our brides will also love the fashionable bridal gowns.

Personally, I was terribly disappointed that there were only 2 designers that even remotely had options that were not strapless.

Contact us if you have any questions about our new fun designer.

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Chicago Bridal Market

There are several bridal markets throughout the United States. A market is where designers bring their new lines for the next year.  It allows bridal stores to view many different vendors and dresses at one time, one place.  As our bridal shops has become more successful, that has allowed us to take on new lines and designers.

I'm really looking forward to the Bridal Market in Chicago.  Out of the hundreds of designers, I'm hoping that I can find at least one modest bridal line that I can carry in the store.

Stay tuned.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Youtube Video of Chatfields

Our business is word-of-mouth or searching the Internet for Modest wedding dresses. This year we decided to use some of our advertising funds to create a promotional video of the store. 
So many of our brides drive more than 4 hours to find modesty, so we thought it would be helpful to see our store. Brides can feel more comfortable knowing there are many options not just one or two modest bridal gowns.

The video can be found here on youtube:  Chatfields Bridal Boutique - A Modest Bridal Store

Let us know what you think!

Friday, July 23, 2010

Grateful for Modesty - Homeschooling Community

I had a lovely bride come in this week. They are part of a homeschooling community, that apparently our shop has been on their pray list. I cannot be more thankful that our little shop is in the prayers of so many people.

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Promotional Video for Chatfields

Yesterday was an exciting day at the shop. We hired Michael Chappel of Chappel Video Service to create a promotion video for the store.

We are interviewing three very different brides that all chose modesty for different reasons. Plus I hope we can get the husband of one bride to speak. I know I always like to hear what the men say about modesty.

I'll have more details as he edits away.

Stay tuned.

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Modest Wedding Dress without a Train

In St. Louis there are private schools that require girls to wear a white wedding dress for the graduation ceremony.
I've had two board members from schools in the shop to inquire about our modest wedding dresses. I've been told that there was a wardrobe malfunction mishap at a graduation ceremony. (Yikes).

We've had many brides this year request a train removal or opting for shorter trains. There are many styles already in the store, but I wanted a wider selection.

These lovely wedding dresses will be in the shop in September.

You can find examples of the gowns here: Gallery 5 at Chatfields

Let me know what you think of the styles. Would you wear a wedding dress without a train?

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Last Minute Brides

Most bridal stores ask that brides choose a wedding dress anywhere from 9 months to a year before their wedding date. Ha, ha, ha. I laugh because I don't believe I've ever had a bride with that much time before their wedding date. Typically my brides range on average 2 to 6 months.

In April, I had a bride that came into the shop on Tuesday and her wedding was the following Friday. That was 8 days prior to her wedding date.

Last night, I had a bride that is getting married on Saturday! That is only three days. My lovely bride takes the prize! She had purchased another bridal gown which wasn't modest enough for her and was going to add a jacket. Her friend found our store and called us. Can you believe the dress almost fit her perfectly? No alterations needed.

Of course we try to accommodate our brides schedules and we often offer our sample dresses as a solution.

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Best Bridal Shop in St. Louis

I am absolutely thrilled that Chatfields Bridal Boutique won the Best Bridal Shop in St. Louis award by KTVI's CityVoter.
A great big thank you to our brides that voted for us.
My mom and I have also read the reviews that were posted. Another thank you for all the kind words.

Link to KTVI CityVoter - Best Wedding Dresses in St. Louis.

How exciting! A Modest-Only Bridal Store won!

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Harry and David at West County Shopping Mall

I am so excited to be the wedding dress provider for the display window at Harry and David's store located in West County shoppping mall. Our modest wedding dress, a lovely sheath gown with lace and beadwork is vintage-inspired.
Our wedding gown will be on display for a month until April 10th.

Here is a picture of the dress on display:
En Vogue 3983

I'm so happy when other retail stores choose to display modesty! A big thank you for the additional exposure this front window will give us.

Thursday, February 25, 2010

The Bride Makes the Final Decision

You are the bride. You make the final decision about the single most important fashion piece you will ever purchase. You can listen to your maid of honor, or mom, or sister, or the bridal consultant, but you are the one to make the decision.

I offer this advice because of several funny stories I've had recently with brides.

I served a 50+ first time bride. Typically I direct them to the section of "non-princessey" looking dresses. However, she purchased the largest, poofiest dress in the store. She looked amazing - and what a fun bride.

One bride went to Hawaii for a destination wedding. Knowing that she'll have to either mail or hand carry her wedding dress onto a plane, I directed the bride to bridal gowns made of chiffon. I've been to Hawaii it's not 60 degrees year round. But once again, I was surprised that she selected a very heavy bridal satin gown. She loved it and the pictures were amazing.

Another bride was an alternative size 22 bride (I don't care for the phrase plus-size) and was very shy. I showed her several A-line dresses that are super flattering to any shape. It wasn't until she tried on the body hugging, hiney shaping, mermaid style that she beamed. Embrace your curves - it's your day! Funny because she said absolutely no mermaid style dresses. HA She also sent me photo's and looked wonderful.

You should listen to the advice - but that doesn't always mean you have to take it!

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Finding a Wedding Dress that FITS!

In the last 2 months, I have seen 4 brides that had no intentions of purchasing a modest dress when they originally found my store. These four brides were very large breasted and a strapless wedding gown was totally out of the question for them. (that's what was expressed to me by each bride) They all found bridal gowns here that fit them. Several of the brides said they were going to remove the sleeves - but when the dress came in none of them did.

Each girl explained to me that they didn't want to be "hanging out" of their dress, they didn't want to be constantly pulling up on a strapless dress.

If you are uncomfortable or looking to minimize your bust area, consider a more modest wedding dress.

I'd love to show you options!

Friday, February 12, 2010

Pure Fashion St. Louis Show

I am so excited to be part of the Catholic Pure Fashion Show. The Fashion show is March 27, 2010 at Spazio's Salon in West Port Plaza.

Pure Fashion.com
Pure Fashion is an international faith based program designed for girls 14-18 to help young women re-discover and re-affirm their innate value and authentic femininity.

Pure Fashion is a character formation program that enhances not only a young woman's external appearance, but more importantly, her interior beauty and balanced self confidence.

Our goal is to emphasize a young woman's inherent dignity and therefore create in her a desire to dress and act in accordance with that dignity. We understand that many young women today are losing their sense of innocence at a very young age, and Pure Fashion aims to reverse this trend by offering a fun, exciting and effective virtue formation program that can impress the hearts and minds of young girls at a very critical stage in their lives.

Friday, January 15, 2010

OneWed Best Vendor of 2009

Yesterday I received a letter from OneWed, (one of my favorite bridal websites), that Chatfields Bridal Boutique won the Best of 2009 Vendor award! Yippee!
Chatfields Bridal at OneWed

A special Thank You to many of our brides that wrote a glowing review about the store.

Michelle Duggar and a Strapless Wedding Dress

I saw the video of Michelle Duggar going to Kleinfelds in New York searching for a wedding dress to renew her vows. I wonder if the Producers of the Network selected Kleinfelds as "Say Yes to the Dress" is also on the TLC Network.
However, I was still sad to see Michelle looking at strapless dresses. When the dress was finished, to me, it was still a strapless dress with material underneath.
There are some fantastic bridal stores that feature only modest wedding dresses. I've mentioned before in previous posts other all-modest bridal stores.
Of course as a modest bridal store owner, I would have loved to have shown her our fantastic styles that did not require serious alterations.
A designer creates a strapless wedding dress design, it was not meant to have a modest neckline and sleeves - it was meant to be strapless.

Kleinfelds is an amazing bridal store. Their website states that they have the most bridal gowns in the world. Out of all of those incredible gowns, they didn't have ONE dress that was considered modest enough for Michelle?

Interesting.

Couture for a Cause - In Stages Prom Event

We have been asked to participate in the Prom and Party Dress Fashion Show and Expo presented by In Stages.
On Sunday, January 31st, 2010 at the Missouri History Museum, Chatfields will have a booth presenting the latest in Modest Prom and Evening Wear. The event proceeds will be donated to the Women at Risk International (WAR).
Expo hours are 2-6:00pm and the Fashion show is at 4:00pm.
Stop by and see us.

Click here for more information:
What's Your Stage Prom Event

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Modest Prom Dresses

Modest Style Prom dresses are on their way! Please contact the store (314.965.6565) to schedule an appointment. There is a limited supply so hurry to come see the designs before they're gone.
I have stocked various sizes from size 0 to 30.
Check out the gallery for some of the designs in the store:
Chatfields Boutique Gallery 4

We track each dress to ensure no one else at your event will have the same dress.

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Kevin Jonas and a Modest Bride

I had read a while back that the Jonas brothers preferred girls that dressed modestly. I was happy that a very popular "boy band" would prefer a modest girl.
That's why I was a little dissappointed that Kevin's bride chose a strapless Vera Wang wedding gown.
What is your opinion? Can a modest bride wear a strapless wedding dress?

It is her choice to wear whatever makes her feel beautiful and glamourous on her wedding day.

Happy New Year

To all our 2009 and 2010 brides, thank you so much for purchasing your modest wedding gown from Chatfields Bridal Boutique.

Your support enables us to expand our modesty lines and take on new designs.

We pray that you also have a wonderful and prosperous 2010.

Thank you for choosing modesty on your wedding day.