HERE COMES THE BRIDE ON A BUDGET
How it all started...
Thank you for visiting my website! My name is Heather and I am the owner of Here Comes the Bride On A Budget. When I started shopping for my own wedding dress for my upcoming wedding, I thought I would never be able to get what I wanted, and be forced to settle for something I didn't love due to the crazy high prices of designer wedding dresses! I just could not justify paying almost $2k for something I will be wearing for just a few hours, but I still wanted THE perfect dress! Shopping online for knock off or dupe dresses is stressful because you never know what you are going to get! Having to scroll through reviews to make sure the dress sent will match the picture takes a lot of time. Then you have to worry that the sizing will not be correct. Even shopping for pre- owned wedding dresses was not a fun experience for me because most were very overpriced. I understand that you want to get back some of what you paid, but if I am only saving a couple hundred dollars on a used dress that may or may not fit and may or may not have flaws that the seller did not disclose, I may as well just buy new to avoid the hassle and pay full price for a brand new gown so I know exactly what I am getting. Not to mention the sellers who don't tell you that the dress has not been cleaned and then you end up with a dry cleaning bill you didn't plan for, or worse, such as stains that won't come out of the dress! I was so grateful when I came across the exact dress I wanted on a wedding dress resale page, and the asking price was well below retail and within my budget! The seller (who is now a friend of mine through this experience!) was so nice and patient with me. She answered all my questions very honestly, and understood my hesitancy to buy a pre-owned wedding dress. I want every bride shopping for a pre-owned wedding dress to have the same great experience!
The Story Behind Our Logo
I was so excited when my beautiful logo was ready to be used! It was quite the ordeal and adventure getting a customized logo and people often ask- "What's with the dog?"
Here is a little of the backstory behind the importance of "the dog" in the logo. Anyone who knows me knows that my dogs are my babies. I am a busy dog mom to 6 "fur-kids". I did not plan to have this many, but I wouldn't trade them for anything! When my fiance and I met two years ago I had my 4 Boxer dogs (Ahsoka, Archer, Loki and Fynnegan) and he had his 4 Pitties (Stella, Boss, Check and Fat Boy). We eventually had to integrate houses and dogs (this is a story for another time, and don't worry- all dogs are still alive and well- Stella and Boss just now live with "grandma") Now, back to the logo....I came across an adorable picture of a boxer dog sitting next to a bride and looking up at her bouquet. I wanted nothing more than to re-create this for my logo with my female boxer Ahsoka who is sadly getting older. Long story short.... Ahsoka is NOT model material. She is cute, but not at all photogenic, and she wouldn't stop trying to eat the flowers during the attempted photo shoot (see picture). This was lesson #1 in learning that dogs and beautiful, expensive wedding dresses probably should not mix. (Lessons #2-4 are also a story for another time, but know that zero wedding dresses or dogs were harmed in the process of any of this!)
After some back and forth with an Etsy shop I will not name, but I did NOT leave a good review for, I reached out to a local artist, who after having to deal with both my custom wedding save the dates and my small business logo I now consider a friend.
The placement of the dog in the logo was a hot topic of conversation around here! My mom was adamant to not have the dog drawn touching the dress because “Not everyone loves dogs as much as we do and they might think you let dogs all over the dresses!” So, the dog was strategically drawn away from the dress (but not too far!) And don’t worry! There are no dogs by, or ON the wedding dresses I have for sale! (recall Lesson #1 mentioned above...) This is why I have taken over my mom’s finished basement (the part my brother and sister in law haven’t taken over with THEIR small business) with my dresses. I was also very picky about the flowers the bride is holding because my own wedding is coming up and I wanted to incorporate my colors into the logo. Roses and lilacs will be a big part of my wedding because they remind me of my grandparents who are no longer with us. I am very blessed to still live in their house and have the beautiful rose bushes that my grandpa planted years ago still bloom in our garden every year (also pictured). I won’t even get into the tag line fiasco regarding the logo! Just know that there was once a tag line, and now there is not and I’m 100% ok with this. 😂
OUR TEAM
The Passion Behind the Business
Heather Shepard
OWNER
Ahsoka
Logo Inspiration /World's laziest co-worker
Pete Gonzales
PART TIME MARKETING DIRECTOR/
SOON TO BE CO-OWNER/
EXTREMELY WONDERFUL AND PATIENT FIANCE