Posts Tagged ‘Company Information’

Guest Blog: Introducing our Design Assistant Anna

Tuesday, April 12th, 2011

This guest blog comes from our Design Assistant Anna. Many of you will have met Anna at the BBEH and Moda shows and will have seen her great enthusiasm for her role at Richard Designs! With great knowledge of all things bridal she will share with us her view on the latest trends and the best way to coordinate your wedding accessories with your gown every month.

Anna at Moda

Anna, on the left, with our Head Designer Kelly at Moda

Hi everyone!

I would just like to take this opportunity to introduce myself to you all and talk briefly about my role here at Richard designs. I have always had a keen eye for feminine details and love designing bridal accessories as my design work is soft and delicate in colour and in form. I adore all things beautiful!

Within my role as Design Assistant I support Kelly our Head Designer in all aspects of the design process. I assist with trend and inspirational research, sourcing information and developing mood boards. I contribute to the main Richard Designs collections, Boutique and Nieve, designing for all brands. Alongside my design role I also assist with sourcing new components, and attend both Moda and BBEH shows.

I enjoy the run up to both shows, in particular BBEH. In the last March show we worked hard to create two themes ‘Wedding in Wonderland’ and  ‘Fishtail fantasies and pearly persuasions’. Both themes influenced our design development process. Within the Boutique Collection I love experimenting with fabric manipulation and using our wide range of colourful silks. I adore the intricate detailing within the RD collection, and enjoy using crystal and vintage style filigrees to create unique and fashionable designs.

I am constantly being inspired and love nothing more then curling up with Vogue and looking at designers’ latest creations! My favourite designers have to be Monique L’huillier, Jenny Packham, Amanda Wakely and Elie Saab to name a few. Defiantly a girly girl, I enjoy shopping and I am always inspired by high street as well as couture fashions. Nature, interior design and fashion photography interest me greatly. I enjoy the process of exploring how elements taken from other areas of design can be used within bridal wear.

This is just a small insight into my interests and role at Richard Designs. I really enjoy chatting to you all at our shows, finding out about your shops and which styles you love.  I look forward to seeing you all again in the near future!

Anna
Assistant to Head of Design

Thanks Anna for taking the time to write for us! Look out for Anna’s blogs on wedding trends coming soon!

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Come and visit us in 2011

Saturday, January 22nd, 2011

Many of you will have seen us before at exhibitions such as the British Bridal Exhibition in Harrogate. This year we will be attending four different exhibitions so that you have the opportunity to see every one of our collections. Exhibitions are the only opportunity to see all of the new collection as well as best selling items in one place. We love to meet all of our customers old and new at these events and to catch up and see how things are going for you. We are known for putting on fantastic displays and after over 50 shows, this year we will have the biggest and best yet.

Where we will be in 2011:

February 20-22 Moda UK at the NEC Birmingham, showing The Boutique Collection.

Moda fascinator

Come and see us in Moda on stand G14 in Hall 19 if you are a stockist of the Boutique Collectionor are interested in seeing our hats and fascinators. We welcome all of you onto our stand as we reveal our brand new styles. Over the coming weeks we will have sneak peaks of the new hats, fascinators and colours on offer this season. You can read about our inspirations for the new collection by following this link.

March 13-15 British Bridal Exhibitionin Harrogate, showing the Richard Designs collection, The Classics, The Boutique Collection, Blue Ribbon Petticoats and NIEVE Designer Couture.

BBEH Nieve

The March show is a good time to top up your stock for the new season. You will have received your gowns by March so can clearly see what accessories you need to add to complete your collection. We will continue to celebrate our 25th Anniversaryat this show, with fantastic veil displays, beautiful tiaras and jewellery on stand M33, Blue Ribbon Petticoats (we have a new, sleeker net for our petticoats – more on that nearer the time!) on stand M29,  Nieve Couture and the Reflections range on stand M28 and the Boutique Collection (perfect for mother of the bride) on stand M30. Not only this but we are finalists in the Bridal Buyer Awards, with winners due to be announced at the show and we are featuring our accessories in the Fashion Shows. Phew! All in all it will be a packed and exciting show for us and we hope you will join us in Harrogate.

August 14-16 Moda UK showing the Boutique Collection.

Moda August 2010

Our second Moda show of the year and a chance for you to see the brand new collection of hats and fascinators.

September 11-13 BBEH showing all collections.

RD BBEH 2010

Plans are already under way for the second British Bridal Exhibition of the year, and we are sure that this will be our biggest show of the year as September tends to be a larger affair than March. September is a good time to re-stock for the new year and coming to the show allows you to see everything in one place and make the best decisions.

Although the shows are the only place to see everything we do in one place, our company representative Ben carries a huge selection of our best-selling veils, tiaras, jewellery and petticoats on the road all-year-round. This can be useful if you like to see the items in your shop and try them with your range of bridal gowns. If you would like an appointment please call Vicki on 01353 661600 or email vicki@richarddesigns.co.uk. We also carry product brochures for all of our labels, just contact us for a copy.

If you are a bride then unfortunately you will not be able to attend these events as they are for trade only. But do call or email usfor details of your nearest stockist, many of whom show our tiaras, veils, jewellery, hats, fascinators and petticoats at their own or local wedding fairs and shows.

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Posted in Boutique Collection, Bridal Shops, Fascinators, Hats, Jewellery, Petticoats, Tiaras, Veils | No Comments »

Innovative new customer service system

Tuesday, January 18th, 2011

Have you noticed more emails from us over the past month or so? That’s because in December we launched a brand new order management service for our customers.

This new system e-mails customers a confirmation of their order, including information on price, colour, style and estimated delivery time. Customers who order over the telephone, email, fax or even post will all receive this notification direct to their inboxes.

Richard Designs order management system

The new system will also inform a bridal shop if there is a problem delaying their order, whether this is in accounts or production (such as a shortage of a raw material). Finally, shops will be e-mailed when their order is completed and shipped, including information on the shipping method. If an order is sent via courier, the shop will receive notification of the time of delivery in an email the following day.

As well as all of this, the system tracks every single item as it makes its way through the production process, so you can contact us at any time to check the progress of your order – receiving an answer in just a few moments!

All of our stockists receive this service completely free of charge; all you have to do is supply your email address. If you would like to submit your email address, or if you aren’t sure if we have it – send a message to us at info@richarddesigns.co.uk and we will make sure you don’t miss out!

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Bridal Buyer Award Finalists

Tuesday, January 11th, 2011

We are very happy to announce this morning that we have been confirmed as a finalist in the Bridal Buyer Awards in the category of Best Bridal Headdress Designer!

Bridal Buyer Awards

We are so pleased that we have been recognised for the hard work we have put in to making our collections the best they can be. We hope that you will celebrate with us at the British Bridal Exhibition (Stands M28, M29, M30 and M33) in Harrogate, March 13-15th 2011.

BBEH March 2011

We can also exclusively reveal that we will be showing our beautiful wedding veils and bridal tiaras at the Bridal Preview Show in Harrogate in March.

After the news of winning the RBA award for Best Accessories Supplier in September we think this really tops off the year of our 25th Anniversary and we are very grateful to all of our customers who continue to support us.

Look out for more news on the BBEH over the next couple of months. Including latest trends, exclusive preview pictures and news on our stand displays.

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Posted in Bridal Shops, Company Information, Latest News | 1 Comment »

A Look Back at 2010

Tuesday, January 4th, 2011

Happy New Year from all of us at Richard Designs!

We hope you have enjoyed your Christmas and New Year celebrations. We are really excited about the upcoming year 2011. We have some great things in store including a website facelift, a new look Classics Collection, a continuation of our 25th anniversary and much much more. But enough about that, first we need to take a look back at the great year we had in 2010!

January February
richard designs bridal wear Moda fascinator
Richard-designs.com was completed and the advice centre, galleries and blog became more popular than we ever could have imagined! We had our best ever Moda Show to date at the NEC where we showed Boutique Collection hats and fascinators.
March April
BBEH March 2010 bridal wear retail brochure 2010
Our first BBEH of the year and you could really see the hard work our team of designers had put into the new collection of veils, tiaras, jewellery and petticoats. The stand looked stunning as usual, too! Our free Retail brochure became available for download for you to give to your brides. If you would like flyers to give out at fairs then please contact us and we will happily send you some free of charge.
May June
Ben Allen Southern UK

 

 25th anniversary

 
Ben Allen joined us as a company representative for southern UK. We are pleased that Ben has settled in so well and that so many of you are enjoying his visits to your shops. If you would like to meet Ben then please call Vicki on 01353 661600 or email vicki@richarddesigns.co.uk

We started celebrating our 25th Anniversary. Find out more about that here, here and here and in the Bridal Buyer issue here.
July August
Working on sewing machine Moda August 2010
We manufactured and delivered a record number of veils, tiaras, hats, fascinators, petticoats and jewellery to meet wedding dates across the world. The second Moda show of the year was even better than February with sales up 35%! The stand looked great with Mother of the Bride and occasionwear outfits loaned to us by some of our generous stockists to match our hats and fascinators.
September October
Richard Designs Best Accessories Supplier 2010 rhonline
We had our biggest and best BBEH yet, having taken on even more space at the UK’s largest bridal exhibition. A few surprises were added to the stand for our 25th Anniversary and we had a fantastic time showing old and new customers our stunning tiaras, veils, jewellery, petticoats, hats, fascinators and more! To top it all off we won the RBA award for best bridal wear accessories supplier for the third time in four years! A new division of Richard Designs, Rockliffe House, was launched, supplying the trade with component pieces such as crystals, feathers and sinamay.
November December
RD Improvements Cath Jul2010
More changes and updates were made to the Richard Designs headquarters as we got ready for another jam-packed year. Our new order management system was launched, meaning that customers can easily keep on top of what they have ordered and when, what stage it is at, and how long it will take to arrive. Contact us with your email address to take advantage of this free service.

Phew! We can’t quite believe that we fitted all that into just one year. Of course on top of all of the major events listed above we continued to support our stockists, and make brides happy for our 25th wedding season. A huge thank you goes out to all of our lovely stockists that have supported us in 2010 and for years before. Without you we wouldn’t be able to do anything we do. We enjoy talking to and helping each and every one of you on the phones, by email and at the shows. We hope that you agree with us that 2010 was a successful year. If you have any feedback on any part of Richard Designs then please let us know either here in the comments section or by contacting us – we love to hear what you are thinking!

Here’s to a great 2011 and beyond!

More changes and updates were made to the Richard Designs headquarters as we got ready for another jam-packed year.
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