“I worked at Sempliner's Bridal for my very first job. I had just got my license, and being 16, they were like, ‘Let's put you in Prom,’ because those were girls my age. I picked out all the dresses, styles and colors. I had such a blast because I was working with girls my age and it felt like I was shopping with friends.
When the prom season was over, they said, ‘Do you want to work in bridal now?’ Being 16 years old, I didn’t think any bride-to-be was going to listen to what I had to say.
My first bride’s name was Jenna. She had a blonde bob, and I remember her coming in with a printed photo of what she wanted, and that she had gone to two other places and found nothing. I found a similar dress for her, her family went and picked out two other dresses they liked, and I picked one out, too.
My dress was the one that won! It was just an emotional moment. I love making women feel beautiful on their big day, picking out the right accessories and the perfect dress. You’re picturing their wedding day along with them. I just loved that moment, and I was hooked.
Eventually, I went off to college, got my teaching degree and taught for six years. I taught high school special ed and loved it.
Then Sempliner’s closed. It was a staple in our community for 150 plus years. I had no business background, so the idea of opening my own store was scary, but my husband said, ‘Let's put together a plan.’ He’s very hard to impress, as well as being an engineer and a numbers guy. So he goes, ‘If you can prove the numbers work, then the business will work.’ I played out the numbers, took it to banks and got my business loan. Things all fell into place at the right time. I didn't think that before I turned 30 this would happen, but the building fell into my lap and then it was like, ‘Okay, let's roll.’
I opened September 10, 2022 and it's been phenomenal. It's very well received in the community and I have the community to thank for that. They have really helped me build such a positive business and word of mouth is huge. People sharing that we're down here and what we have has helped. I had an exclusive designer for a while, so that brought a lot of people in from Detroit, Grand Rapids, Traverse City and even Sault Ste. Marie, Canada.
I like learning about their fiancé. I love getting an idea of what they're looking for, and who they brought with them. They paint me a picture of their perfect day, and I love trying to fit a dress into that picture.
At First Look Bridal Boutique & Tuxedo, we have three bridal lines, one being Maggie Sottero. They're out of Salt Lake City, Utah. I feel like because I wore the brand for my wedding, I can rep the brand well because they were so phenomenal. I also have Evelyn Bridal and they're out of San Diego, California. They're very reasonably priced budget wise, starting at $800 and going up to $1,400. Then we have Jenny Yoo, which is a sophisticated and simple brand of dresses out of New Yorkk. Also, I have two sides of the store, one being lace, glitter and glam, and then the simplistic side. We also carry suits and tuxedos for rental and for purchase. We usually beat Men's Warehouse pricing by $30 to $40 a rental.
Then we have three mother of the bride and groom lines, and those are Cameron Blake, Montage and La Femme.
I don’t carry bridesmaid dresses because there are so many options available online with custom sizing, and because they can carry a huge amount of inventory, they’ve got a price structure I can’t beat.
When you walk into First Look, I’ll introduce myself and whoever I have working with me. My mom, my mother-in-law, our best buddy Beth, and my sister all help me out here in the shop when we get really busy. It's usually a private appointment and you have the whole store to yourself, minus if there's tuxedos and suites going on, because they're in the tux room.
I’ll ask about your budget, because I'm very conscious of that. We have a line that goes down to $800 for a made-to-order dress. Then our most expensive dress is $3,400, which is made 100% Italian silk.
Then I give you rundown on what we have. Maggie Sottero comes in a lot of different colors, so if you don’t want an all-ivory dress, we can do that. Then you kind of have free reign. I let people pick out a couple of dresses that they think would look best, as long as the brides are okay with it. You have a two-hour block, which is more than usually what people are given other places and we try them on.
The method to my madness, I always tell brides, is that we're not trying on veils with every single dress. You'll get a muddied picture of what you're looking for. So, we have ‘keepers’, and we take the ones out that we don't like. Then we revisit the keepers and at the max, it's usually five dresses. Then we put on veils and headpieces and we’ll give you flowers, so you can see the full look.
Usually, what brides will do is go on my website and look at what we have. Then sometimes they'll send me a list of like, ‘Hey, these are the dresses I'm looking at.’ Most of the time, I have options that are similar, or the exact ones that they're looking for.
It’s funny because people pick the first dress more than you would think. Historically in my two years here, it's either the first or the last dress they try on. I know mine was my last one I tried on, and it was the one I didn’t think I would pick. Then recently, I just had a couple brides in on a weekend, and it was the first or the last dress for them.”
– Tara Knipp, First Look Bridal Boutique and Tuxedo
