I Started My Bridal Business Because Of A Rave

It’s probably not typical in the bridal industry, but I started my business because of raves. That’s right: untz…untz…untz…untz. Glo-sticks. Gigantic pink furry pants. Go-go dancers. Raves.

By the way, I hear raves are back in fashion these days, which has the double effect of making me feel both happy and old at the same time. Anyway, I digress…

As a kid, I loved making things with my hands. I couldn’t stop fiddling, twiddling, and incessantly jumping from craft to craft. During college, I got interested in making clothes when I chanced into a sweet little club-kid boutique called FashioNation (if you know, you know) and fell head-over-heels in love with a shiny pink mini-dress that was way out of my budget.

Deciding to flex my creative muscles, I headed to my mom’s house with a few yards of bubblegum-pink satin fabric, a basic dress pattern, and a request for her to teach me how to sew. 

The result, which I wore out that weekend, caught the attention of the local rave community. It led to a handful of custom commissions, a few indy ‘zine articles, and a bunch of confidence-boosting “OMG! Where did you get that?!” comments.

Magically, that same dress also played a pivotal role in meeting my husband, but that’s a story for another post 😉 

Despite what in hindsight seems like a massive hint from the universe, pursuing a career in fashion design seemed laughable, especially to this small-town daughter of academic parents. I was going to be an economist. 😬

You also have to keep in mind that back in the mid-90s, we didn’t have…the internet. That’s right. No Canva, no Squarespace, no (gasp!) Instagram. Businesses were a lot more daunting to start back then.

Anyway, time moved on. I matured (a little), headed off to grad school, and hung the pink dress at the back of my closet. (Yes, I still have it, and no, it does not still fit 🤣)

Then, the universe came calling again. During my first year in grad school, a girl I knew from my old rave days reached out. She wanted to commission an adorable pair of matte-white satin gloves with tailored bows at the wrists for her wedding.

That was it for me. I mean IT. An all-caps kind of IT. The kind that doesn’t give you a choice. I dropped out of grad school and took out a small print ad at the back of The Knot magazine. The work started flowing in, and…

…I think I’m supposed to say “the rest is history” right here. But to keep it real and – hopefully – give some encourage to my fellow creative spirits out there, I’ll say instead: are you familiar with The Iceberg Principle? #truth

Until next time,