Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Beth Chapman. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Beth, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you share a customer success story with us?

Our bride Erika was having a small wedding in upstate NY. Her aging grandparents were not well enough to make the trip. She told us of her plans to invite them to her final fitting and do a gown reveal to them. In one of her fittings, she told my store manager that she always wanted to have a dance with grandpa and would miss doing that at the wedding. So, my manager suggested we make that happen at the final fitting.
The day of her final fitting we opened early for her. We cleared all of the furniture out of the first floor of the store and created a dance floor. Erika came out and revealed her gown to her grandparents and then asked her grandpa to dance. They danced to “You Are My Sunshine” by Johnny Cash, a song he always sang to her as a little girl.

There was not a dry eye in the room. Erika invited her photographer to be part of the experience and she was able to capture this memory she always wanted to have. And we were there, tears streaming down our faces, to witness it all!

Why did we allow this to happen in our store and not charge her for it? Why did we open early for her? Why did we rearrange our furniture for her? Because this was in keeping with our CORE VALUES.
Because it shows the heart of our business. It shows that we will go above and beyond for our clients to make their dreams come true and to make memories…It showed EMPATHY. ​

Erica recently reached out and sent us this note:

“It’s with great sadness that I share that my Pepe has passed away. I wanted to reach out to you guys again to thank you for the overwhelming kindness and compassion you shared in October of 2019.

Creating that special moment for my grandparents to see me in my wedding dress will forever be with me. Especially now that he has passed, I look back at that moment and those pictures and I am so incredibly thankful for those memories. I will forever cherish that time I had with him, and dancing to our favorite song.

Please know that each and every one of you are such beautiful souls, you have made such an impact on my life and words certainly do no express how thankful I am. I continue and will always recommend The White Dress because absolutely no other shop compares. You are dedicated to love, compassion and creating memories that truly last a lifetime.

Thank you, Erica”

We love creating memories for our clients. But in this scenario, it created a memory for our team as well.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

After graduating from college, I was offered an entry level position in Ann Taylor’s corporate office in New York City. I worked my way up in the company and after 8 years was named to Vice President of Merchandising, responsible for 40% of the company’s volume. I was the youngest Vice President in the company. After 10 years with Ann Taylor, my love of bridal fashion, and sincere desire to create a memorable shopping experience for brides, compelled me to launch The White Dress by the shore, a Connecticut based luxury bridal boutique, in 2004.

After running my store for over a decade, I recognized the need for support and education for bridal store owners and I launched Beth Chapman Styling + Consulting. Through the consulting arm of the business, my passion for teaching and education and desire to empower independent bridal retailers, has led me to mentor other bridal store owners on elevating their brand and increasing their sales and business profitability. I am the founder of an organization called The White Dress Society that provides community and education for independent bridal stores. And through The Bridal Retailer Academy, an online educational platform, I guide bridal store owners to run profitable businesses and train their sales associates on product knowledge and effective selling techniques.

I am a firm believer that once you master the art of selling that you can sell anything! To that end, I train wedding pros on changing their approach to sales and increasing their closing ratio. I travel the country speaking to wedding professionals on how to become comfortable with selling and have spoken at such incredible conferences as The Engage Luxury Wedding Summit, The David Tutera Experience, NY Bridal Fashion Week, and Wedding Pro/The Knot COR.

On the fashion side of the business, I am also a sought-after stylist. Through the fashion arm of my company, Beth Chapman Styling, I assist couples in selecting fashion for their wedding and along with a team of dressers, provide wedding dressing services. Additionally, I work with publications and brands on styled editorial shoots. My fashion artistry has allowed me to style editorial shoots throughout the world.

I am the co-author of two books, The White Dress in Color, and The White Dress Destinations and have also contributed to Wedding Bible by Sarah Haywood, and Simple Stunning Bride by Karen Bussen.

My work and voice have been seen in: The Today Show, The New York Times, Vogue, People Magazine, Martha Stewart Weddings, BRIDES, Over The Moon, and style me pretty.

Have you ever had to pivot?

In 2017, the bridal industry had changed significantly. Big box retailers were joining the bridal game and there was an influx of competition for independent bridal stores. At that time, online retailing had reached new heights and even our own bridal designers started selling gowns online. The fashion aspect of the bridal industry was very isolated and there was no vehicle for communication and support among stores. In fact, as common practice, our designers threatened taking their collection out of one store and putting it in a competing store if minimum purchases were not met. As a result, stores viewed each others as only competitors and there was no collaboration or communication. Because of all of these factors, as a solopreneur, I felt like I was an on island by myself trying to navigate these changes in the industry. I found myself at a cross roads and realized that I could either throw the towel in and LEAVE the industry, or I could address the issues we were facing and LEAD the industry. I chose to lead. It was then that I created The White Dress Society as a vehicle for community, communication and education for independent bridal stores and I also launched my first educational product for bridal stores. Education IS power. My feeling was if we could learn together and stand together, we could be stronger, together! 7 years late, that is truly the case!

We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.

In doing alterations in my bridal business, I saw the needs for brides to have someone to assist them with the fashion on their wedding day. My clients were concerned about how their gown would be steamed, what happened if the gown got stained and what if their sister could not figure out the bustle. As a result, I decided to launch my Beth Chapman Styling business where I provide day of wedding dressing service for couples. I tested this out on a few brides from my boutique over the course of the year before I decided to create an LLC and give it a real go! My biggest milestone was first “real” client under The Beth Chapman styling business. It was Martha’s Stewart’s niece and the wedding was taking place at Martha’s home. I met the bride, Kristina, as she had shopped in my boutique for her gown. We developed a relationship and ultimately I encouraged her to purchase a gown she had found at Mark Ingram in New York, as I KNEW that was the perfect gown for her and her wedding. I was able to assist her in finding her bridesmaid dresses and her reception dress and I offered my dressing services to her. As I wanted to secure the business, and I knew the exposure would be career changing, I offered the services for the cost of travel. Looking back, that was probably a scared move and if I had to do it again, I would love to have charged her my rate at the time. But, providing my services for that wedding and having exposure and alignment with that caliber of luxury event professionals, not to mention being featured in Martha Stewart Weddings, helped to allow me to grow my business at a very fast rate. It also enabled me to branch outside of my bridal store’s clients and access a luxury clientele, which is the based of my BCS business to this day.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.bethchapmanstyling.com/ | https://www.bethchapmanconsulting.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bethchapmanstyling/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bethchapmanstyling
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/beth-chapman-23bb04182/

Image Credits
Kelsey Malicote Charlotte Jenks Lewis Phillip Van Nostrom John Cain Photography Melissa Stimpson Photography Gigi Demanio