Reproduced from Ordnance Survey map data by permission of the Ordnance Survey © Crown copyright 2010.

Having a personal one-on-one session with a company representative has many benefits:

1. Gives you the chance to see veils, tiaras, jewellery and hats in all their glory, to try them on and to see their real-life size – something that buying from brochures cannot provide.
2. Your staff can make the best choices to match your wedding dress stock, as you will have the dresses to hand throughout the appointment. Our company representatives have knowledge of all the latest wedding dress styles and can pick out accessories which are made to match!
3. With a great knowledge of the latest trends, company reps can provide short ‘workshops’ on what is hot this season and how to sell to brides – great if your shop has recently hired new staff!
4. The company representative will get a feel for your shop and show you the products that are relevant to you – saving you valuable time.
5. Our company reps love to get to know you personally! The relationships that are built up between company representative and customer are invaluable, enabling us to do our job better, and enabling you the customer to get a real feel for us as a company, our values and our dedication to making your shop a success.
6. Our company reps are not there just to sell to you – we like to see how you are getting on with our products, find out if there is anything else you would like from us and have a catch up on what is new in your regional marketplace.

For those of you who already know your local company representative, this is an opportunity to learn more about them. If you have never seen a Richard Designs representative and would like to then please call or email Vicki on 01353 661600, and she will be happy to help you. All of the appointments carry no obligation to buy, and there is no minimum order.

Name: Vicki Hansford
Job Role: Sales Co-ordinator. I manage the representatives’ activity, which includes booking appointments with the customers as well as planning their travel – so we have probably spoken on the phone a few times!
How long have you worked for Richard Designs? For just over 6 years.
What do you find to be the most rewarding part of the job? Building a relationship with old and new customers alike.
What is your background? After leaving college, I was a nursery nurse for 4 years. I then worked in retail for 18 months before starting at RD. I worked in the tiara department for a year and in the hat department for a year before joining the sales team.
Tell us a fun fact about you! I am getting married on 7^th August, the church will be filled with Richard Designs accessories! In my spare time I make sock creatures. I also co-organise a monthly craft fair with Charlotte who works in the customer service department.
Contact: vicki@richarddesigns.co.uk

Name: Shaun Walker
How long have you worked at Richard Designs? Oh, it must be four years now.
What do you find to be the most rewarding part of the job? I love providing innovative designs and quality products to brides.
What is your background? I used to manage a designs and cutting department for a leading bridal dress manufacturer for 13 years.
Tell us a fun fact about you! I love cooking for my wife and three daughters. I also like travelling to and exploring different countries.

Name: Ben Allen
How long have you worked at Richard Designs? As a member of the family I have attended both BBEH shows at Harrogate every year for the past five years. I enjoyed it so much that I joined Richard Designs full-time this year.
What is the most rewarding part of the job for you? I love meeting new customers every day. I am proud to be able to provide the right product for each customer, in order to meet the requirements of each bride. I also love working with my family every day!
What is your background? I worked for 11 years in a pharmaceutical contract lab after studying chemistry at University in Cambridge.
Tell us a fun fact about you! I love sport and play squash every week. I do the London to Cambridge bike ride every year (that’s 60 miles!).

We would also like brides to know that they are more than welcome to call us and ask advice when searching for the perfect accessories to match that wedding gown. Our team is always very happy to help, no matter how big or small the query.

This week, we caught up with them to find out more about what makes them so fantastic.

Name: Charlotte Bennett
Speciality: Veils
How long have you worked at Richard Designs?
I’ve been working at RD for just over six years.
What do you find to be the most rewarding part of the job?
Saving the day! When a customer rings up and has a bride who needs a veil that weekend and we manage to get one to them at short notice. You know you’ve made their day!
What is your background?
Before working in the customer service team, I used to work in the sales office making appointments for the sales reps, it was useful knowing all of the shop names and likes and dislikes before I started in this role.
Tell us a fun fact about you!
In my spare time I love to make jewellery and polymer clay charms. I also co-organise a local monthly craft fair with Vicki (who took over my job working in the sales office!)
Contact: charlotte@richarddesigns.co.uk

Name: Cath Rickwood
Speciality: Tiaras and Jewellery
How long have you worked at Richard Designs?
Five years
What do you find to be the most rewarding part of the job?
The satisfaction of knowing that the bride has all the accessories for her perfect wedding day.
What is your background?
Before working in the customer service team, I worked in the tiara department for three years, before working for RD I was a chef/manager of a local hotel.
Tell us a fun fact about you!
I have lots of chickens in my garden and I make wedding cakes/celebration cakes for a hobby in my spare time.
Contact: cathy@richarddesigns.co.uk

Kelly Herd is currently filling in for Nicola, who is away on maternity leave.
Name: Kelly Herd (not to be confused with Kelly Harper – our design team leader!)
Speciality: Millinery
How long have you worked at Richard Designs?
For four years
What do you find to be the most rewarding part of the job?
Making customers happy with a perfectly colour-matched hat.
What is your background?
I started working for RD in the veil embroidery department, then I moved to the hat department and after a couple of years in hats I started contributing to the design team. Before working for RD I also worked in a bridal boutique!
Tell us a fun fact about you!
My Dad is in the new Harry Potter; The Deathly Hallows film and was also in Return of the Jedi! (We have checked, this is true!)
Contact: nicola@richarddesigns.co.uk

Whatever your problem, however small, we are on hand to help, so don’t be shy if you want to give us a call on (01353) 661600. Brides who have any questions regarding their accessories or their nearest stockist can also give us a call or email: info@richarddesigns.co.uk.

We like to work with our customers to help them get the most out of our products, and we attribute a large amount of success to our close relationships with the bridal wear shops that we supply. As we wrap up our new designs, we would love you to tell us what you would like to see in the next collection. Is there anything in particular that your brides are requesting? Do you feel you have got something missing from your current stock? Is there a style particular to your region that you would love to see at show? If so, we would love to hear from you.

We welcome requests and ideas from all customers for the Boutique Collection, Nieve Couture and, of course, RD veils, tiaras and jewellery. Remember, there is no minimum order, and giving us this valuable feedback does not oblige you to buy.

If you would like to talk to us about our next collection, please call to speak to one of our customer service team on 01353 661600, email info@richarddesigns.co.uk, or leave a comment in the box below.

Look out for future blogs for sneak peaks of what will be at BBEH and Moda at the NEC. We can’t wait to show you our sparkling new veils, tiaras and jewellery!

The NIEVE Designer Collection of accessories for Spring, Summer 2011, is inspired by two enchanting stories that illustrate the mood for the approaching season: Oriental Garden and Romantic Vintage. See the inspiration here.

Don’t forget to check out the ‘shop window’ featuring current styles of veils, tiaras and jewellery while you are there!

Being such a helpful bunch, we have managed to negotiate a special room rate for our customers at the Days Inn hotel in Wetherby, which is just outside the Town. As you can see below, when you book and quote the reference ‘Richard Designs’ you will be entitled to a fantastic double-room rate of just £56.00 per night. This is based on two people sharing and includes breakfast, free internet access and unlimited movies and music. You can download a printable copy of the special offer by clicking here or on the image below.

We haven’t stayed here ourselves, but it looks new and clean and the online reviews are very good. We aren’t advertising this hotel for money, we just know how difficult it can be to find quality hotel rooms at reasonable prices around the time of the exhibition so we hope this goes some way to easing the stress!

This offer is subject to Days Inn Hotel standard terms and conditions and does not constitute endorsement or recommendation of the Days Inn Hotel, Wetherby, or any other Days Inn Hotel, by Richard Designs Limited.

Choosing bridesmaid accessories is notoriously difficult, but our made-to-order approach makes the whole process as easy as possible. All of our bridesmaid designs are available in a rainbow of colours and can be enlarged or reduced in size as necessary. You can find out more about what services we offer for bridesmaid accessories on our ‘bridesmaid accessory advice page‘. If you need any further information then please call or email our fantastic customer service team.

If you would like a glimpse of our most popular designs, then take a look at the ‘bridesmaid accessories shop window‘ where you will find a wonderful selection of images which shows how diverse our collection is; tiaras with wonderful combinations of feathers, crystal and silk and jewellery made from the finest Swarovski crystals.

If you are a bride or bridesmaid and you would like to see more of our bridesmaid accessories, then please visit your local stockist. If you are unsure who this is you can contact us and we will happily point you in their direction.

If you are a trade customer and you would like to find our more about our bridesmaid accessories then please contact Vicki our Sales Co-ordinator, to arrange a no-obligation visit by one of our charming sales representatives.

You can now view our jewellery picture gallery to catch a glimpse of these sparkling creations. Every item of jewellery is hand-made to order, meaning you can customise them to suit your needs. This P497 in silver and raspberry is a great example of how a little colour can add that personal touch.

Every necklace has a matching set of earrings too so if you see the perfect necklace the earrings should not be to far behind!

As always, the gallery is just a snapshot of our jewellery collection; if you are a bride and you would like to see more we would suggest visiting your local stockist, if you are not sure who this is you can call us on 0845 456 8662 or email info@richarddesigns.co.uk and we will happily point you in the right direction. You can also ask us questions regarding jewellery if you need some guidance, unfortunately we do not sell directly to the public though so we will always point you in the direction of a stockist to purchase.

If you are a bridal shop and you would like to see a fuller collection of jewellery we would be happy to send one of our dedicated representatives. Shaun Walker covers the north of the UK (including Northern Ireland and Eire) and Ben Allen covers the south. Both have excellent knowledge of the products and industry and would be happy to show you our beautiful bridal wear accessories at no obligation. Please call our sales co-ordinator, Vicki on (01353) 661600 or email vicki@richarddesigns.co.uk if you would like to discuss an appointment.

Why did you change the focus of the business?

Brides used to bring veils in to attach to floral headdresses, which were then delivered on the wedding day to the bride’s house with the wedding flowers. We started getting lots of requests for adjustments to veils we were given. Brides couldn’t get veils they wanted because manufacturers did not generally offer shops a made-to-order service; that is when we realised there was a gap in the market.

How did you go about changing the focus of the business?

After making a few samples and showing them to shops, there was an overwhelming response; being able to offer different colours, sizes and designs made the Richard Designs veil label very popular. Because our focus was on modern designs and the service was good, demand grew and grew. Our first BBEH was at this time, in March 1991, we’ve only missed two since then – so that makes 37 so far I think! Once we had established the veil side of the business we started to get a lot of requests for silk hats, which veils were attached to in the early to mid 1990s. We spent a lot of time researching and developing unique styles and materials before launching our own range of hats.

What was your inspiration?

To be able to fulfil the need for made-to-order items which brides wanted but they couldn’t get. To make the perfect wedding accessories; weddings are so important to people and such happy occasions, so contributing in our own way to that is really wonderful.

Was there a defining moment when you knew that you had created something unique and special?

When we first made the hats, we went to Harrogate, September 1992 I think it was. We took 5 riding hats, they were totally different from what else was on offer at the show and they sold so well that when we returned home we had to immediately expand and take on our first temporary premises. It really was a cottage industry at that time – and we’ve got the picture of our first premises to prove it!

This is the cottage we rented on a temporary basis and it started things really moving for us, we stayed for just a year as we outgrew the tiny space very quickly. That’s when we first hired staff, they were Amanda Gillett, Sandra Lester and Christine Stimpson and they still work with us today.

What is your abiding memory of the 1990s for Richard Designs?

Style-wise it was big fluffy dresses, puffy sleeves and 3 tier, heavily embroidered veils. Hats were great and we pressed 100 – 150 a week in the mid 1990s. When they started to go out of fashion, that’s when tiaras started to come in. They were all gold – no one wanted silver, not like today. Gold with clear or AB crystals, white or ivory pearls was what people wanted.
On the business side it was just a phenomenal time of growth, in 1995 we moved to Lancaster Way Business Park and that was a big moment for us. To give you an idea, although we’ve expanded our floorspace by around 40%, we’re still in the same place. We were like peas rattling round in a pod for the first couple of years!

Thank you for your time Elaine.
Thank you!

With thanks to Stevies Gowns for the use of pictures.

Richard Designs was established in 1985 as specialist in bridal floristry. You can see below one of the earliest designs, a beautiful floral bouquet.

The business sold directly to brides (something we don’t do now!) and was complete with a showroom for brides to choose the perfect flowers for their wedding.

The 80s were certainly an interesting time for fashion and we have dug out this photograph from the archives of one of the first head dresses that we made.

In the early years, the business grew and established itself locally as providing great quality flora for wedding days, a history we are very proud of. In the next blog we’ll be looking at how the company diversified into the manufacture of veils, tiaras, hoop underskirts, bridal jewellery and occasion wear as well as revealing a sneak peek at what you can expect from our 25^th anniversary celebrations…

Shaun Walker continues to look after customers in all his usual areas including; Wales, Midlands, the North, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Our sales representatives are on hand to visit you in the comfort of your own shop, they will not pressure you into buying but will be able to show you an extensive selection of our collection. Especially useful is seeing the veils, tiaras and jewellery we design alongside your collection of gowns. If you would like an appointment then our sales office administrator, Vicki, is on hand to help you out, simply call (01353) 661600 or click here to email.