We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Natasha Boyle a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Natasha thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?

I’ve always been fascinated with the history of Versailles Palace and Marie Antoinette. Learning about how she made political statements with her clothing was always so interesting to me. She lived in a time where women were suppose to be seen, not heard. The Queen took that quite literally and made sure her clothing would make an impact as she ‘quietly’ walked into a room. All of that was possible with her wardrobe designer Rose Bertin. (Rose is known as the first ever fashion designer in history so of course I was immediately in awe of her.) As I continued taking Fashion classes in college I learned in France, especially in fashion couture houses, they call their design space an ‘Atelier’ and I became infatuated with that word. With all of the custom work we do for our clients in store I knew I had to incorporate that word into my stores name. So with all of the fashion history I’ve learned about and fallen in love with, I took my favorite parts and put them together to create our name ‘Versailles Atelier’.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Natasha Boyle. I’ve been in love with wedding dresses from the young age of 3. Something about those gowns were so infatuating to me. Maybe it was the romanticism of what they stood for, or the way I perceived how beautiful and confident brides were. No matter what, bridal just had some draw for me.

I grew up in a family of 3–I am the oldest with two younger brothers. I grew up doing competitive dancing and loving every minute of it. In my free time I would spend it with my friends, choreographing our own dances. Or I would be sketching dresses. Those were my two childhood loves. If you ask anyone who knew me as a kid, they would say I had an unhealthy obsession with wedding dresses.

Everything I did as a child into young adulthood was to prepare myself to become a ‘famous fashion designer’. I would daydream often about being so famous that everyone compared me to Vera Wang. But the older I got, the harder it was to believe that would ever be possible. I recognized in high school that in order to become that level of ‘famous and successful’ you would have to sacrifice so much in regards to love and family. I knew I wanted to get married one day and start a family, but I wasn’t sure how that would fit into being a bridal dress designer.

As I got older I found a way to combine everything I wanted–I became a bridal stylist at a local bridal shop. I assisted brides in trying gowns on in hopes it would lead them to finding their dream dress. It was so perfect I genuinely couldn’t believe it. From that point on I knew I would one day open my own store and do what I love. My husband has always been so supportive of me following my dreams and it means the world to me. To see his excitement anytime we talk about bridal shop stuff makes my heart melt. His love and support not only encourages me to pursue my childhood dream, but it also inspires our 3 children. All of what we do is for them. I want my children to grow up believing that any dream they have is possible to achieve. I never saw anyone in my life have a dream of some kind and actually pursue it. If I can be that change for my family and create a ripple effect of entrepreneurs in future genertations, I will feel like the richest woman in the world.

Can you talk to us about how you funded your business?

I was fortunate enough to take a class while in college that helped me prepare and write out my full business plan. It was probably the best class I could have taken in preparation of opening Versailles Atelier Bridal. Even after that class was over, my husband and I spent years refining the plan; adding updated spreadsheets as we spent more time researching all the possible costs associated with overhead or variable. I felt so confident in going to a bank and asking for SBA funding. A little nervous, but I was prepped and ready.

In summer 2018 I had my first meeting with a bank near my house. They are a national chain that I kept getting so many recommendations to because they worked so closely with the SBA. The meeting with them went so well and they were so impressed that I came with a full business plan and financial details. (Apparently not many people are that prepared before they go to a bank to discuss funds/opening a business) This bank knew I was coming early to start finding out what was needed from my husband and I to move forward with a business loan. They told me they would reach out in a year to start the business paperwork and get funding going.

With all the support I received from this one bank I felt so confident with them that I didn’t take the time to seek out other banking options. Obviously I didn’t know a global pandemic was about to hit, but I didn’t have a back up option ready. Once whispers of COVID was hitting here in the U.S., this bank I was building a relationship with backed out last minute and I was unable to attain funding to buy my inventory at Chicago Bridal Market. Market was cancelled last minute due to the nation wide quarantine we were put on, but I still had to get inventory ordered that March of 2020 if I planned to open the doors that fall. With no back up options available to us, my husband and I chose to take out a bunch of personal loans to have funds to put all the deposits down on inventory orders. It was so terrifying and overwhelming, but I would do the same thing in a heart beat if I had to.

My word of advice–take time to go to multiple banks to seek funding options. Even if everything seems perfect it’s always good to have other options available so you don’t feel lost if the first options falls through.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

Learning to love myself and undoing years of self deprecating thoughts is what led my store believing and preaching ‘Every Body is a Bridal Body’.

Growing up I heard from so many people in my life, family and friends, talk about how much they hated their bodies. I heard from so many people I loved and looked up to that if you don’t look a specific way, ideally like the unhealthy model physique, you weren’t worthy of love or happiness. It was as if the only thing worth loving about yourself was whatever ‘perfect’ number showed up on the scale. I don’t believe anyone said those things or projected those ideals to purposely mess with me mentally, it was more of a reflection of how they felt about themselves. Nevertheless, I took it to heart and worried always about my body, my weight and the size of pants I wore most of my young adult life.

Just weeks after High School Graduation I was raped. That act knocked me down so hard mentally, emotionally and physically that I absolutely hated looking at myself in the mirror. I felt like I was walking around with bugs crawling underneath my skin, I looked so unhealthy because I wasn’t sleeping or taking care of myself. I hated that I allowed a man to take my virginity, my safety and my sanity away from me. I absolutely hated myself and I felt like I would never find self love.

After the court dates were over and I was able to settle back into a normal routine I slowly started working on releasing all of the pain I was holding on to. It was easier to ‘move on’ when I didn’t have to constantly talk about what I had been through. It took a lot of years of therapy and love from my husband, then boyfriend, before I started looking at myself with kinder eyes and a loving heart. I didn’t realize how badly damaged my self esteem was. I vowed I would work on myself before kids came into the picture because I didn’t want to subconsciously pass down the same self loathing that seemed to be around me growing up. And that’s exactly what I did. It wasn’t easy and I wasn’t ‘perfect’ once my kids were born, but I had learned to keep unhealthy thoughts about my body to myself and only vent to my husband in private if I felt the need to.

All of my personal struggles allowed me to be empathetic and sympathetic towards others. Especially brides who came into the shops I worked at. I always felt so alone when it came to how I viewed myself, but I quickly realized that most women think the same way I did. And that was so devastating to me. I would wonder how they could be so harsh about how their body looked when they had a person who loved them so much they wanted to marry them as they were. Those moments were the ones that taught me how to love myself. If I believed it wholeheartedly when I talked to others, why didn’t I believe that about myself?

Unlearning years of self deprecating thoughts was one of the hardest things I’ve done in my life. But it allowed me to learn how to fall in love with the woman I see in the mirror and pass down those same loving thoughts to my kids and my brides. I fully believe in our phrase ‘Every Body is a Bridal Body’ because it stands for not only self love, but promoting all of the different types of body sizes, skin tones and persons who want to wear a wedding dress for one of the biggest moments of their lives. None of this would have been possible if I didn’t put in the work and allow myself to heal.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.va-bridal.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/versailles_atelier_bridal/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vabridal
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natasha-boyle-434548162/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBJqW5cox4z0GqgE9vwRAZA
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/versailles-atelier-bridal-south-jordan?osq=Versailles+Atelier+Bridal
• Other: Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/VA_Bridal/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@versaillesatelierbridal?

Image Credits
Images are by BC Artistry and Love,Brittny Photography