Today we’d like to introduce you to Margaret Webb and Sarah Carlson
Hi Margaret and Sarah, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
We were shopping for Sarah’s wedding dress in the summer of 2022, and never dreamed that we would one day own a bridal boutique. After shopping for a while and turning up empty-handed, we went to Loveliest. We are both South Knoxville natives and just happened to stumble upon Loveliest. It was practically in our backyard! We went to that appointment, and Sarah ended up finding her wedding dress! And more than that, we were so impressed by the intentionally private appointments, the care and attention the owner Anna and stylist Kim took, and the quality of the gowns. Our experience there, both as a mother of the bride and a daughter getting married, was unsurpassed. We walked away with a special experience that we knew we would always treasure.
And then a few weeks later, my husband, Bob, who is in business, came across an ad for a bridal shop for sale in East Tennessee. There wasn’t much description, no business name listed and no location other than East Tennessee. He sent it to Sarah and said she should take a look at it with all of her experience looking for a gown–he thought she and I could probably run a bridal shop. We both laughed at the thought, but when Sarah read the ad she said, “Dad, I think this is Loveliest. I just have a feeling about this.” He offered to look into it further, and sure enough it turned out to be Loveliest. We were surprised at first, but then intrigued. What would it be like if we had a bridal shop together? We have always been close, always dreamed of doing something together, but we didn’t have any experience in bridal. Not to mention, we were also in the middle of planning Sarah’s wedding! We prayed about the opportunity, and the more we kept praying for discernment the more God kept opening doors and leading us.
In October 2022, we officially bought Loveliest Bridal and became the new owners. The experience we had at Loveliest inspired us to give that same intentionality to other brides and their guests. And that’s our goal, for every bride to feel as special as Sarah did during her time as a bride at Loveliest. We’ve experienced firsthand the difference that private, relaxing appointments make combined with a stylist who truly understands the gowns and cares about each bride. We jumped into running the business while planning a wedding, and although it was a busy season we were so thankful to be able to do it together. And we are thankful for our stylist Kim, who was with the former owner Anna. She stayed on with us and her expertise and passion for bridal has been such a blessing–and our brides absolutely love her! Today, we are enjoying growing our mother/daughter owned business, expanding our collection of designers and gowns, and helping brides from many places find their dream gown! And as my husband likes to joke, we went in to buy one wedding gown and walked away buying 70!
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The biggest struggle was jumping into owning and running a business while planning a wedding. We had so much to learn about how the industry works, while also continuing to serve brides. We had about a month of training with the former owner, which was a great help to start us off with a good foundation, but there was always something new to learn or a unique situation we would encounter in the early days of ownership.
And of course, no two days are the same in bridal. Each bride is completely unique with her vision, her timeline, her budget, and her style. Sometimes we have very short timelines we’re working with and we have to be able to think quickly on our feet. Sometimes we have brides with a vision they want to create and we need to help them visualize it through our styling so we’ll pull accessories like sleeves and veils or even different fabrics to help them see what is possible with a gown—that means we need to know our gowns really well and have great relationships with our designers and seamstresses who we can turn to for advice on custom pieces. Being able to adapt quickly to what your bride is searching for and being creative are key to helping her vision come to life!
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
We are the only completely private bridal boutique in Knoxville. We specialize in offering private appointments for each bride where she has the entire boutique to herself, a dedicated stylist, and the chance to shop for her gown in an intimate, relaxing, beautiful space. We believe small touches like customizing the music to each bride’s preference also help create a personalized shopping experience that our brides value. So many of our brides say that they came to us for the private appointment and one-on-one experience with a stylist.
We are known for our gowns that are beautiful and high quality, but that also don’t break the bank. We are proud to carry designers like Justin Alexander, Eddy K, Lis Simon, Pronovias, Barbie Anne, and our own private collection, Caldona. We carry a variety of styles and sizes, and the majority of our gowns are made to order dresses between $1,500-$2,500. We also carry a small selection of off-the-rack dresses that are discontinued samples available for purchase–which are great for brides on a shorter timeline.
Because we offer private appointments, we are by appointment only. The best way to book an appointment with us is online at our website at www.loveliestbridal.com. We offer appointments Tuesday-Saturday, and our appointments are 90 minutes for you to work with a dedicated stylist to help you find your dream dress. In addition to gowns, we also have a beautiful collection of veils–we even have brides that come to us just for our veils!
Pricing:
- The majority of our made to order gowns are between $1500-$2500
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.loveliestbridal.com
- Instagram: loveliestbridal
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/loveliestbridal/
