Strut Bridal

Happy Holidays! Strut Is Closed for a Long Weekend

To celebrate the holidays and allow our staff time to spend with their family and friends, Strut will be closed December 24-27th. We'll be back open on Wednesday, December 28th. We wish all of you a Merry Christmas!

Curvy Prom and Portrait Models Wanted!

In case you missed Strut's big news, we're carrying plus size prom dresses for 2012! We're so excited to bring a great shopping experience to Arizona high school girls. We've heard that buying a prom gown can be as difficult--and traumatic--as buying a plus size wedding dress was before we came along.

But we need some help spreading the news, so we're launching a Prom and Portrait Model Program, where you can model Strut's great prom gowns and earn credit toward your own prom dress and senior portrait session with Olivia Womack Photography (yep--you've seen her work; she does our curvy girl boudoir sessions)!

Here's how it works:

1. Enter the contest on our Facebook page before end of day January 15th, 2012
2. We'll pick winners, who are invited to the Mix and Mingle on Tuesday, January 24th
3. Photo sessions are Tuesday, January 31st
4. You'll receive free referral cards with your prom model photo on them to pass out to friends
5. When your friends buy a dress at Strut, you'll get $20 towards your dress (up to the retail price of your dress) and they'll get a free accessory, like a necklace or pair of sparkly earrings (up to $29 value!).

Your photo session with Olivia will be scheduled for a later date, but you get a free portrait session ($195 value), and a $50 credit toward your senior portrait order for each student you refer who books a session with Olivia.

Who's eligible:

• Junior and senior girls are eligible, one each per Arizona high school
• Models must agree to model for any in-school prom shows (and may be asked to model for other local events such as a television news segment)
• Models cannot represent another store or photographer.

How to enter:

• Submit a clear, recent photo on our Facebook wall before end of day, January 15th, plus
• A 200 word (or less) essay describing your dream prom (dress, theme, date, dinner...we want to hear about it all!)
• Your high school and grade.

That's it! And you could be on your way to earning a totally free prom dress AND a free senior portrait session!

 

Strut and Olivia Womack Photography reserve the right to modify this program at any time.

 

New Plus Size Panty Line--Meet the Designer!

Every girl has a few splurge items--the pricey boots or jeans, the really nice little black dress, the quality bathing suit that makes you feel like a super star... Well, meet your panty splurge. Introducing beatrix privé, a new line of top-quality thong underwear made just for your curves.

 

beatrix privé makes its national debut with a two-day trunk show at Strut Bridal Salon in Phoenix on Friday, Nov. 4 and Saturday, Nov. 5.

The line features luxury thong underwear created exclusively for women sized 16-20.

“Plus-size women no longer have to choose between ‘Granny Panties’ and ‘Trashy Panties’ ” says beatrix privé design director Jenny Davis, a fashion stylist and lifestyle magazine editor. For two years, Davis worked with real plus-size women to develop a comfortable, flattering and fabulous signature thong underwear design using colorful, luxury materials like silk charmeuse and imported lace.  

The seven colorways in the beatrix privé debut collection, all made in the USA, are limited editions and will not be produced again once they’re sold out.

Davis will personally present the line on Nov. 4 and Nov. 5 during an in-store event from 10 am – 6 pm at Strut Bridal Salon (542 W. McDowell Road, Phoenix, 602- 252-4414). Prices range from $38-$42 with discounts for multiple purchases. The event will also include samples from My Goodness Cakes and custom jewelry from the J. Bond Wedding Collection.

For more information on beatrix privé, visit  www.beatrixprive.com or  www.facebook/beatrixprive

Save Up to $25 on Bridesmaid and Party Dresses!

We're so excited for our October promotion because not only can you get great savings on bridesmaid and social occasion gowns, but you're helping the community with your donation of gently used dresses. Here's the deal:

• For every dress you donate in October, we'll give you $5 off the purchase of a bridesmaid or party dress
• Donate 2 dresses and save $10 on a dress up to $99
• Donate 3 dresses and save $15 on a dress $100-$149
• Donate 5 dresses and save $25 on a dress $150+.

 

You can bring in any kind of dress, from homecoming and prom gowns to work attire. Social occasion gowns will be donated to The Cinderella Affair, which last year provided 950 prom gowns to low-income Arizona highschoolers. Work appropriate dresses will be donated to Arizona Women's Education and Employment Inc., which has a clothing closet. Women transitioning back into the workforce can pick out free work-appropriate outfits to get them through their first few weeks on the job.

And here at Strut we don't care whose dress you bring in, so raid your mom, sister and bestie's closet to get the maximum savings on the perfect holiday or bachelorette party dress.

Although we specialize in plus size bridesmaid dresses, we can order gowns in all sizes so we can fit all members of your wedding party. Remember, bridesmaid dresses can take up to 14 weeks to order, so spring brides should be ordering NOW!

Final notes: Offer good October 1-31st. Gowns must be purchased at the time of donation and paid in full. Offer cannot be combined with any other discount or offer.

Strut Will Be Closed September 12-14

My how times flies. Our twice-yearly tradition of traveling to the bridal market returns. We'll be headed to Dallas to check out red cowboy boots, um, er, the spring lines from our favorite wedding gown and bridesmaid dress designers as well as to scope out new lines. We'll be closed Monday, September 12th through Wednesday, September 14th. Look for a full report on wedding dress trends (and cowboy boot shopping) when we return!

Designer Day Recap and Spring 2012 Wedding Dress Trends (Sneak Preview!)

Ann recently traveled to LA to meet with the designer of Eden Bridals wedding gowns. She was thrilled to spend a day with Jason and learn about his design process. He said that he typically starts with just one hot wedding gown idea, and then he builds the rest of the line around that. He sketches out his ideas and sends them to the factory. The factory works on samples for a couple of weeks before Jason flies out and spends two and a half MONTHS tweaking the designs.

 
Ann with the designer, Jason (yes, he's totally adorable).

We were excited to learn about upgrades to the line, including a better chiffon (this offers more coverage and drapes better), a built in bra (Jason swears even plus size brides won't need to wear a bra with their top line's built in system, but we remain skeptical) and more customization options.

We also got a chance to preview the spring 2012 wedding gown collection in detail. Here are some of the trends we noticed from this line:

• New fabrics!  Designers are discovering fabrics beyond satin, silk and taffeta. We've seen (and felt) some great new fabrics.
• Colors! Take a look in the photo behind Ann's head. You'll see light pink, blue (looks almost silver in some lights), even a champagne colored wedding dress. Jason also did a couple of silver wedding gowns. We'll surely pick up at least a couple of these colored wedding dresses for our store, but do know that they are always available in the more traditional white and ivory.
• Funky skirts! While designers will always create traditional gowns, they're really embracing funky, textured skirts again for spring 2012. We saw torn tulle, petals, big swirls and even squares of fabric on the skirt. Do these textured skirts scare you a bit? Keep reading the blog because we'll show you that this trend is here to stay and how to modify this trend to fit your "funky comfort level".

 Of course Ann couldn't resist picking up a few pieces from the line. They should be shipping to us in November. In the meantime, we're headed to Dallas in September to take a look at our other lines (and potential new ones, of course!), and we'll provide a full recap when we return!

Closed Aug. 3rd (but check out the super cool reason why!)

Strut will be closed for one day only on Wednesday, August 3rd. Middle of the week? Yep! We've been invited to LA by one of our wedding gown brands to meet with their designer and preview their spring collection. Yep--spring collections are already in the works. Here's the process:

•  
  • Designer presents the spring line to key bridal accounts and gets feedback
  • They tweak the designs in production
  • They take the lines to bridal market this fall (we go to market twice a year to buy new dresses)
  • The spring wedding dress collections typically ship to us in January and February.

We're really excited to be a part of this for a few reasons. First, we haven't met their designer yet, but this is his second season with them, and already we've noticed more contemporary designs and upgraded accents (like beading and appliques) from him. We can't wait to see what he does next.

Second, they let us ask questions. So we're thrilled to be able to learn more about why certain fabrics are chosen, the design process, etc. We think we'll be able to show our brides the value in these gowns and the thought behind them better if we understand it, too.

Third, we're hoping to be able to get more plus size wedding dress-friendly designs out there. Too often we see a gown and think, "this would be the perfect plus size wedding dress if only...". We're hoping to get those "if onlys" out on the table now. Hey, it doesn't hurt to ask, right??

Fourth, we get to see these new designs months before anyone else. And that's just cool!

We'll keep you updated with a trend report when we return!

 

Vendor Review: The Clayton on the Park

Strut consultants Ann and Pam recently attended the Arizona Weddings magazine publisher party at The Clayton on the Park and were so dazzled by the two story design that we decided we had to share it with our brides!

Located on the Scottsdale Mall (by the art museums and AZ 88), The Clayton on the Park is a super hip wedding reception venue, plus office party locale.

 
It's brand new, two story, and features a modern glass and metal design. Here's Pam outside the side facing the mall:

 
They have a great outdoor patio, complete with fireplace. It was such a nice night to be outside!

Here's a view of the inside:

 
They have super cool white furniture and tables, and if you squint just a bit, you can see their back wall, which features tiny lights. Here's another photo, from their website:

 

Here's a better photo, from The Clayton website, of the view from the top of the stairs:

 
We were especially impressed with the ice sculptures by Armitage Ice. Both ice sculptures served as floral arrangements:

 
This next one was huge--like 10 feet tall!

 
Our event featured a candy buffet. Now, Ann has always secretly thought these might be a bit cheesy for an upscale wedding or event. But after seeing it in person, she declared candy buffets "super cool" when done this tastefully, and, she has to admit, the guests really seemed to love it.

The yellow and white candy buffet was by Candy Tables by Sandy B.:

 
Upstairs there was a band playing, plus the Three International Tenors from Skye Lounge in Peoria. We've heard their romantic ballads before and think they're terrific! Our one small criticism of The Clayton would be the volume--with sparse walls and hardwood floors and big windows, the sound just bounced around upstairs and made conversation difficult.

But that's ok... we were content to enjoy this cupcake from Let Them Eat Cake:

 
And we enjoyed seeing our friends, especially Noelle from Fresh From the Kitchen:

 
Noelle and Theresa had a booth featured at the event. As always, their food is particularly fantastic because they make EVERYTHING from scratch. Our favorite goody was a lemon tart with shortbread crust. Amazing. It was so good, it was the last thing Ann grabbed as they left...

We chatted with the girls from Uptown Bridal as well as Community Florist. But we ended our visit with laughs with wedding planner Jo Ann Grant of Apropos Creations and the sales manager from the Cottonwood Suites and Resorts in Scottsdale  (they have a stunning little wedding ceremony location--check it out!).

 

Big thanks to the ladies at Arizona Weddings magazine for a wonderful night out!

 

Plus Size Wedding Dress Trunk Show at Strut!

We just have to brag--we have the only plus size Allure Bridals trunk show in the country. Seriously. Although they have a women's line, they don't do plus size wedding dress trunk shows (stupid, right?) for any of their lines. But Ann has some wiley ways and found a way to bring in ten amazing plus size wedding gowns for an exclusive trunk show.

Here are the details:

• June 18-26th
• By appointment only
• Collection includes ball gowns, a lines, and some lace trumpet/mermaid styles (something for everyone, we bet!)
• All of our regular collection will also be available for try on
• You can find the photos on Facebook!

Stop by our booth at the bridal show on June 12th for a $50 gift certificate when you visit the store during the trunk show!

 

 

Plus Size Boudoir Photo Shoot--Here's Pam!

Strut consultant and bride Pam M. took part in our first ever Curvy Girl's Night Out--A Boudoir Photo Shoot here in our Phoenix wedding dress store. With five other area brides, Pam picked out some sexy outfits and had her hair and makeup done (by hair and makeup expert Wade Lee) for her photo shoot by Olivia Womack.

 
Wow, right?! So when you purchase a photobook by Olivia, she retouches your images just a bit, so you get flawless looking skin, just like Pam.

 
During the boudoir photo shoot, each bride gets two outfits. In the photo above, Pam is wearing a little tulle petticoat over special panties. These "fancy pants" featured music notes, which were a theme in her recent wedding to Jason.

For the boudoir photo shoot, we brought in lots of fun jewelry and accessories for the girls to borrow. In these next two shots, Pam shows off some bling:

 

 
We encouraged our brides to bring in articles of clothing that might be meaningful to their significant others (hey, bras and panties are fine, too, but dress shirts and other attire can be even sexier!), so Pam snuck out Jason's prized Cardinal's jersey (we love how this shot shows off her e-ring, too!).

 
Getting creative, we added a garter and veil to complete the look:

 
We love the softness that the veil adds!

So, ladies, our next plus size photo shoot is scheduled for Friday, July 22nd. If you're looking for a great groom's gift, anniversary or Christmas present, or just want to do it for yourself, consider booking a session! Call us at 602.252.4414 for more information.