A Day in the Life

Brides often comment on how awesome my job is, and how much fun I must have. This is true! But if brides think that all we do is stand around and wait for a bride to arrive so that we can play dress up, they are sorely mistaken. Here is a little insight into the daily life of a consultant:

1. Arrive at store. Check schedule. When are my scheduled appointments? Plan my day.
2. Return phone calls while I wait for first appointment. One bride I've never met is looking for a particular dress, another bride of mine wants a swatch of the bridesmaid dress color, and another just wants reassurance that her dress will be arriving soon.
3. First appointment arrives and we look at wedding gowns.
4. After this apointment I write some personal notes to a couple of brides who bought dresses from me and one who is considering it, thanking them for their patronage.
5. Call a bride of mine that has one bridesmaid in her party that has not been sized yet to let her know.
6. Package up and ship a bridesmaid dress to an out-of-town bridesmaid that will be doing her alterations closer to home.
7. Grab a quick lunch.
8. A bride without an appointment arrives to look at wedding gowns. We do.
9. I have an hour before my next appointment, so I head to the dress prep area to press and steam the special order dresses that have arrived. I finish one and start a second before I am needed at the front of the store to answer a customer's questions.
10. Customer asks questions about how long do dresses take, how much do they cost, what is procedure for ordering and other questions. I answer them all, and when she is satisfied I help her make an appointment to come back with her Mom to look at dresses.
11. A returning bride of mine arrives for her scheduled appointment to look at bridesmaid dresses.
12. New merchandise has arrived in the store. I spend a few minutes familiarizing myself with the styles, prices, color options and sizing, since I need to be up-to-date on every dress in the store!
13. Return two calls that came in while I was with other customers: a bride of mine looking for a particular flower girl dress that matches her gown, and a bride that has been referred to me by a bride of mine who has been to a number of stores and hasn't found anything she likes yet. We discuss her likes, figure and budget and make an appointment for the following day.
14. Bridesmaid arrives to be sized for her dress. Good news! She'll be 6 months pregnant at the wedding! We discuss options.
15. Time to clean up the store - straighten the dresses, veils, crowns, jewelry, vacuum and clean the mirrors.
16. Home for the night. We'll do it all again tomorrow...!