courtesy: Pure Brides

Over the past few months I’ve had the privilege of working with Anna and Gemma from Pure Brides in Norwich, Norfolk UK. Pure Brides carries fabulous Wedding Dresses, Bridal Gowns in Norwich, Norfolk. Anna and Gemma have been instrumental in providing feedback and suggestions for BridalLive enhancements; especially for the UK. Many of the features you see in BridalLive are a direct result of their insightful feedback. So if you happen to be looking for wedding dresses in Norwich, Norfolk, Pure Brides is THE place to go.

I caught up with Anna and asked her a few questions about BridalLive. The interview follows:

Tom: Tell us a little about your shop? How did you get into bridal, your location, how long in business, sq footage, etc.

Anna: I’m based in Norwich in the UK and got into bridal simply as the opportunity presented itself, the numbers looked good and I was looking for a different direction from the corporate background I had come from. We have been trading for 5 years now and have around 1300 sq ft.

Tom: What made you choose BridalLive over the other bridal-specific software vendors?

Anna: There was nothing else in the UK that was even close to doing what BridalLive does. I have looked at a variety of different options, only one of which was Bridal specific and none of these even came close to what I was looking for. I was at the point where my web designer and I were looking to try and develop our own software when I found BL and so it was a great find for me as all the hard work had already been done!

Tom: How long did it take to learn to use BridalLive? How long to train your staff?

Anna: My manageress and I found it very intuitive and got to grips with it very quickly, and we are pretty used to working with Windows and regularly use a computer, the other members of my team have definitely found it harder, as they are less comfortable working on a computer and are very used to writing everything down, so the transition has been painful in places, but they do all love it now and despite the many ‘how do I’ type of questions that we get throughout the day, they can see the benefit and are beginning to feel more professional as a result of BridalLive. It’s take a few months, but we are rather unique in that we were the 1st UK shop and have had to change several bits and pieces to make the system ‘feel right’ in the UK and we deliberately took it slowly as we weren’t able to fully switch over until all the UK specific updates were in place.

Tom: Has BridalLive improved your bridal shops operations? How?

Anna: YES! It’s very easy to immediately locate brides info, and there are no excuses for mislaid paperwork or incorrect balances or payments being taken. The reports features are fab and actually made it very clear to me where we are making good money and where we need to re-evaluate stock etc.

Tom: What is your favorite feature of BridalLive?

Anna: There are so many, the reports are excellent, but so are the tasks, you’ll never again forget to do something, just set yourself a task and it will stay in the list until you mark it as completed! Yay, a few less sleepless nights worrying about the thing I’m sure forgotten, but can’t actually remember what it is!

Tom: Would you recommend BridalLive to other bridal shops? Why?

Anna: Absolutely, although the fact that I don’t want my immediate competitors to have it tells a story!

I want to thank Anna for taking time out of her busy schedule to share his thoughts and insights with everyone. Pure Brides has an excellent selection of Mother of the Bride dresses. Check them out!