Hi all, I've shared this with my local board, but, I thought I'd share it here.
About an hour away from me is a charity bridal shop called Church Street Bridal. They sell sample gowns that are donated to them by designers and bridal salons. The salon that is most generous with them is
Kleinfeld.
I had already gotten my dress when I first visited them, but wished I had known about the place earlier. The designers I saw:
Pnina Tornai, Monique Lhuillier, Carolina Herrara, Lazarro, Asmale, Reem Acra...the list goes on. They had tons of dresses by the designers that are exclusive to Kleinfeld
(Ian Stuart, Henry Roth, Alita Graham, Edgardo Bonilla). The prices I saw were stunning:
$300-$650.
There was a $24,000 Pnina there that was selling for $500. There was a one-of-a-kind, custom Pnina that was something like $650. Monique Lhuilliers were $400.
I started snapping iphone pictures for my blog because I was so excited. I posted about the place here and on Wedding Bee and the manager told me that she started getting tons of inquiries. She has shipped gowns to Australia, Canada, and all around the US at this point.
At this point, I volunteered to take two days to work with them on photographing their dresses. You can see some of the pictures from those days on my blog:
http://www.smallchichome.com/search/label/Church%20StreetI also helped them get their own blog started. There will be a dress featured each day. The ones on the blog are usually the "higher end" dresses (the local girls that go into the shop don't always know what they are looking at!). I thought I'd share that here, too:
http://churchstreetbridal.blogspot.com/A few pictures of dresses (I matched my iphone pics to runway pics)...
All the procedes go to support programs for women at children that are run by the YWCA. They operate a Domestic Violence Prevention Program (hotline, safe house, counseling), Children's Supervised Visitation Center, transitional housing, mentoring for girls/teens, social justice programs, etc.