We mentioned some time ago about our upcoming catwalk event, you can find the original post here. We were so excited about the event the boutique was practically fizzing with our nervous and excited energy for weeks. So now, over a month on (how has that flown by so quickly) the dust and my heart rate have settled it seems only right I spend some time here today to recap and relive the night’s activities. We all genuinely had such a ball that shhh… don’t tell the girls yet but we are going to make this an annual event! 😆

Take a look at our short video of the night below. 

I had wanted to showcase our collection of wedding dresses for some time, however, due to the pandemic, those plans kept getting pushed back further and further. When it seemed like there was finally some light at the end of the tunnel, it felt right to plan something that would give all our Brides hope and something to get excited about again. It felt like I was organising a great big celebration of love, hope and of course, wedding dresses!  I thought what better way than to see lots of gorgeous dresses and start planning again for weddings.

The Guild Hall was an easy decision when we looked for an amazing venue in Worcester. The Assembly room is so grand and a great space to hold the event. If I was going to put something on like this I wanted it to be big, special, spectacular even, and of course, professional. I wanted a proper catwalk, not just walking down the middle of rows of chairs. I wanted it to be bold and inspirational for our Brides and have a real impact. Music was very important to the event and having professional sound and lighting guys to ensure we achieved the right look and atmosphere was key.

We planned the event to coincide with the Harrogate Trade Show, which after all the cancellations of the past 18 months finally went ahead in the middle of September. This is the biggest bridal trade show in the UK, where everyone involved in bridal came together to show off their design, talents, and services to the bridal industry. We had a great opportunity to see many new dress collections but we were extremely excited in particular to set our eyes on Gaia Bridal’s new and much-awaited collection. We adore Gaia  Bridal here at GHB, they are one of our main collections here, and for good reasons (which sounds like another blog post in the making 🤔 ) They absolutely did not disappoint. We were so impressed with the new collection we were able to secure ALL the new dresses for our Catwalk in October and launch it to our potential Brides for the first time in the UK! We kept this sneaky surprise for the very end and built the suspense for it to be unveiled with dramatic music, which created real excitement in the room, and it seemed everyone loved the collection as much as we do. So much so, we kept the whole collection for the following 4 days so that anyone who attended the Catwalk could come into the shop and purchase any of the dresses ahead of general release into the Bridal shops around the country and had the benefit of a huge discount. Win, win all round! Seriously though, the new collection of Gaia dresses are stunning so if you are still shopping for your wedding dress you should book an appointment to see them and of course all our other amazing dresses!

I didn’t want the evening to be all about GHB, I wanted an event for our Brides to pick up inspiration for their entire day so I was very keen to work with other local recommended wedding suppliers. Who in turn helped to support the event by offering their services on the day and then enabling them to share with our guests. We also held a raffle with prizes donated by other local small businesses of which we helped promote through our social media pages.

Our models for the evening were a mixture of models previously used for photoshoots and events, along with some of our amazing Brides both who have already had their wedding and those currently planning their day. I wanted the event to be inclusive and with a real feel of togetherness so what better way than to include our own beautiful brides. I was very keen to use models who would best show off our dresses and in particular in a variety of sizes to ensure the evening was very relatable to all our attendees, not just showing dresses in a size 8 or 10.

We also had a number of GHB Ambassadors attend to support the evening. These were some of our Brides who have had their big day and bought their dresses from GHB. They were absolutely brilliant, and I can’t thank them enough for joining in with our evening. They were able to chat to brides about their experiences both with wedding planning and also their time with us when they purchased their dress.

The event was such a success I would very much like it to become an annual event and am currently in the super-secret process of searching for a larger venue for the bigger, better, and even more lavish 2022 event 😁

I couldn’t be more thrilled with how it all went on the night. I was extremely nervous as GHB had never put on an event of this size, however, the evening ran really smoothly, without a hitch or dropped seam in sight! I am truly thankful for all the time, effort, and planning of the whole GHB Team, I couldn’t have done it without them. x 

If you weren’t there on the evening or even if you were and fancy watching a little recap (I do… all the time 😉) take a quick look at the amazing video above.

Much love 

Julie 

xoxo