Confessions of A Wannabe It Girl
The podcast that delves into the raw reality of achieving your dreams. Hosted by Marley Freygang who thought she had it all figured out, the show explores the gritty details of what it really takes to "make it" in today's world. From the high-pressure demands to the relentless hustle, she shares her experiences of the less-than-instagramable side of chasing your dreams.
But it's not all doom and gloom. With refreshing honesty, she provides actionable tips and advice, aiming to empower listeners with the confidence, clarity, and direction, they need to become an “it girl”. Whether it's starting a business or breaking into a new career, each episode features unique interviews, practical advice and carefully curated insights.
So tune in to "Confessions of a Wannabe IT Girl" and join us to help filter out the BS and become the next "it girl”.
Confessions of A Wannabe It Girl
Revolutionizing Bridal Consignment: Journey to Success with Love Twice Bridal
Join Sarah, founder of Loved Twice Bridal in Beverly Hills, as she shares how she turned a pandemic challenge into a thriving luxury consignment shop. With 13 years in the bridal industry, Sarah reveals strategies for competing with big brands, the importance of sustainability, and the truth about secondhand wedding dresses. Whether you're a bride-to-be or an entrepreneur, this episode is packed with insights and inspiration for creative and sustainable success.
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Hi guys and welcome back to Confessions of a Wannabe it Girl. Today's episode is recorded in the beautiful Love Twice Bridal Store located in Beverly Hills. I'm so excited for you guys to meet Sarah, the owner and founder of Love Twice Bridal. In this episode we are diving into entrepreneurship how to balance being a mother, a wife, her journey of becoming the owner, the creator of Love Twice Bridal. And, of course, when I say creator, I mean founder. But she really did come up with this concept of having a luxury consignment bridal shop Honestly, very crazy, very innovative. Of course, sarah did have 13 years experience in the bridal industry. She's previously worked for Anthropologie Weddings, formerly known as BHLDN and Pernovius, and she, of course, is a mother, a wife, an entrepreneur and, honestly, just a boss. We're diving into some tea in the wedding industry. We talk about how you can get a second hand. I put in air quotes. Some of these dresses at Love Twice Bridal haven't even been worn and they've ended up in the very amazing, trusted hands of Love Twice Bridal. So if you are deep in your bridal era, you're looking for a dress, you cannot miss this episode and if you're looking to shake up this space and think a little outside of the box. Zara has some great insight. So let's dive in, guys. Some great insight. So let's dive in, guys.
Speaker 1:Welcome to Confessions of a Wannabe it Girl. I'm your host, marley Fregging, and I'm here to help you filter out all the bullshit and become the next it Girl. This podcast explores the reality of what it really takes to make it out there. As it turns out, it is way less Instagrammable than I thought it was going to be. I'm still very much a work in progress, but there's simply nothing else I'd rather be doing than chasing my dreams. So let's learn from my mistakes and work together to achieve our dreams with more confidence, clarity and direction. Let's get after it All right, guys. Welcome back to Confessions of a Wannabe it Girl. I am joined by the lovely Sarah from Love Twice Bridal. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you for having me. I'm very excited to talk to you about all things bridal, bridal industry, entrepreneurship, how we got there. You're also the, do you say? You're the owner, the creator of the concept.
Speaker 2:I say owner and founder.
Speaker 1:Founder yes.
Speaker 2:Someone asked me if I was CEO and I was like, I guess. Yeah, sure, I don't technically have a C-suite, but call me whatever you want, we'll take it.
Speaker 1:But for those who don't know, how do you explain what Love Twice Bridal is? It's not your traditional normal per se bridal shop.
Speaker 2:No so easy. Elevator pitch Love Twice Bridal is a luxury consignment store that bridges the gaps between sellers and buyers looking to resell or buy a secondhand wedding dress.
Speaker 1:Yeah Right, so yet something that sounds like so essential to a very expensive industry. Yet there wasn't really like a space for this free, so let's get into that. What inspired you to focus on the luxury bridal consignment? Kind of a mouthful and also like I don't know. It's just not like I don't think. I mean, obviously I'm deep in my bridal era, so like I think about this thing, but I don't know, the day-to-day person might not think about luxury consignment, bridal no.
Speaker 2:So I think let's kind of take it back to 2020. I was store director at a major flagship here in Beverly Hills and, thick of the pandemic, shut down canceled weddings. I had to stick people with their contracts. They would ask like, hey, you know, my wedding got canceled, we're not getting married in Italy, what do I do with my dress? And sorry, you have to take it.
Speaker 2:But these are the resale platforms that you can use to resell your dress. And it kind of sucked because, like, they came to us to buy their dress, so in theory they should be able to resell their dress with us, but contract says all sales are final. I would give them these resale platforms and, sadly, a lot of them yeah, exactly right, like a lot of them just never see another life. And so that's really when I was like there needs to be a place where a bride can just drop her dress off sight unseen, leave the work off to professionals and then hopefully, if and when it sells, you make back some money. So that's really where the idea was born out. It was really the pandemic 2020.
Speaker 1:Right, but we didn't just end up here in Beverly Hills in a gorgeous consignment shop. There were steps along the way, I'm sure, yes, so pandemic hits you shop. There was steps along the way, I'm sure, so pandemic hits you're still there. When did you decide to leave? And start.
Speaker 2:So I started with the company end of 2019. Pandemic started March 2020. I built the business model over the summer, so June, july and then formed an LLC in August, quit my job in October and then had our pop-up location in January of 2021.
Speaker 1:And what did that look like? It was just so glamorous and perfect, right.
Speaker 2:It was a 600-square-foot corner spot at the platform in Culver City. Cute, it was four walls. We had a makeshift iron bar fitting room and it wasn't until we built the space in literally 24 hours that I realized the curtains were sheer. Good, very good. I sent my sister out to Target to go buy curtains and we, like safety, pin them quickly so that they were doubled up and people couldn't see through the windows. Right, that was a seven-week space and then moved into an office space. Believe it or not, that was home for about two years and then we moved into this bigger space October of 2023.
Speaker 1:So not too long ago, almost a year and how was those bumps along the way, like, how did you even find? I mean, I feel like at some level, as I look around at all the beautiful dresses, like it's easy to find brides. But then again it's like how did you find brides to sell your dresses? Totally.
Speaker 2:And it's still something I do for fun, but really it comes down to like, how do you get your name in front of these people who don't otherwise know that you're an option for them? And so a lot of my pastime hobby building the brand was going onto Facebook marketplace and finding these listings and telling the girl like hey, I started a brand, this is what we do. Can we help you sell your dress? Girl like hey, I started a brand, this is what we do. Can we help you sell your dress? And it's so gratifying to get those messages of girls who are like, oh my gosh, yes, I need help. I've been trying to sell it for months. Yeah, let's partner together. And then we sell their dress and they're just so grateful and we still do that. It's just something fun we get to do.
Speaker 1:No, yeah, I mean, it sounds fun to look around for wedding dresses all day. It's a very easy thing to fall into this scroll. Yes, I want to dive into a little bit about your journey in the bridal space. It didn't start here. You'd been in the business for a while. You were married quite young, tell us the journey.
Speaker 2:Yes, so I have been in the industry now for 13 years. It did start when I got married. I was a senior in college when my husband and I decided to get married. It was 22. Would I let my kids get married at 22? No, but it led me here. So whatever good things happen, um, I decided to hold off on graduate school. I was supposed to be an optometrist.
Speaker 1:I got my. You're clearly doing that.
Speaker 2:I got my undergraduate degree in biology. Um, and I was like you know what, if it's meant to be, I'll go to grad school. It'll be there when we're done. I should have mentioned he's in the military at this time. So we decided okay, let's get married. We knew we were going to be moving around. We had just planned our wedding and I said you know what, that was really fun, I'm going to do wedding planning. Hated that. Why did you hate it? It wasn't that instant gratification. Like you spend two weeks putting together this plan for a bride or a couple and you present it to them and they hate your ideas. That's literally me, yeah. And I was like this is hard. No, I don't want to spend my two weeks at a computer for you to shut down my ideas. So at the same time, I had my hand in an internship at a bridal boutique. Loved that. I had always loved fashion.
Speaker 2:At one point I remember looking back and thinking fourth grade, I was drawing wedding dresses on the playground. So it was there. Yeah, you know, it was always there. I just didn't really hone in on that, sure. So, yeah, did an internship 2011.
Speaker 1:And as we moved around.
Speaker 2:I worked my way up at different boutiques around the country. So part-time stylist, full-time stylist. At one point I was a practicing manager, because a manager at a boutique was not full-time. So I intercepted a lot of customer issues and really kind of dug deep into the customer service element. Moved back to San Diego, which is where I started my career and got a position as an assistant manager an alterations manager and a bridal stylist at the same boutique.
Speaker 2:Okay, so a lot of hats, a lot of hats at one store. And then I was given an extra job. I was told that I can start the bridesmaids collection at the boutique, and I was so excited. I asked for compensation and got fired excited.
Speaker 1:I asked for compensation and got fired oh cute. So, uh, that's terrifying, yeah, and that probably I mean, let's just dive into that for a second. That doesn't seem right to me. No, like, I mean, I feel like, especially as women, yeah, and I'm hoping, for the most part, that the bridal industry is women. However, I'm scared maybe there was not some of that in there that you would think that that would be more supported, more understanding of the conversation, but asking and that is still not a modern idea that when you should ask, you should get completely slammed out the door, correct?
Speaker 2:And at that time I mean four years into the industry. I had invested enough time in there where and I proved myself I wasn't making that much money. Granted, this was 2015. I was making $35,000. This was before the additional work. So for asking for more money, it wasn't unwarranted. And did you have kids at this point too? No, thank.
Speaker 1:God, thank God that helps. But your military wife, military wife, yes, so got fired. Yes, did you move then? Just?
Speaker 2:because why not no? No, but we were coming towards the end of his military career so thankfully another brand was opening up a store close by. Got hired there, worked my way up with that company, got pregnant while at that company so I did leave on mat leave as their service manager.
Speaker 2:Our maternity leave was six months and so during that six months I really I kind of had to ask myself, like, is it worth going back? Because childcare is so expensive, right, and I wasn't making that much money. So there was definitely a turning point where, if I'm going back, like it needs to be worthwhile for me. The exact same time I happened to get a promotion, we'll take it. Yeah. Time I happened to get a promotion, We'll take it. Yeah. So that's what brought us back up to LA, which is where I'm originally from.
Speaker 2:But in getting a promotion with a six-month-old, we moved in with my parents. Yeah, because the reality is having a six-month-old in a full-time job in LA is not cheap, right, things had to get done. So we moved in with my parents for nine months and it was just fine, it was great. Yeah, I mean you could ask my husband, he might tell you a different story. We all got points of view. It was helpful Between my parents' schedule, my schedule, my husband's schedule, we had the nanny five or six hours in a day versus 10 hours in a day, you know, between the commutes considered Like it really worked out. So I was with that company for a year and a half, and then my position got eliminated. Of course, god, you're really just doing so good with the luck on this journey. I mean, looking back, I didn't realize how much, like all the-.
Speaker 1:But what kept you in bridal? Then you were like you kind of get handed all the bad cards, but what made you want to stick with it?
Speaker 2:It's truly so much fun. Yeah, you are helping someone with the happiest moments in their life, and it's such a niche market where, like this isn't just a pair of jeans Right, you know, this is not just a t-shirt that she can throw away. Like this is hopefully forever. Her photos are forever. You are a part of that journey, whether or not she remembers your name, but she'll definitely remember the store she bought her dress at and her dress she wore.
Speaker 2:So it's just, it's such a memorable experience so, yeah, so left that job, took my hand at wholesale for a couple months and hated that, and then ended up at this international flagship, which was right before the pandemic. And that brings us and that brings us here Right back to Love Twice.
Speaker 1:So you know, making a luxury bridal consignment shop is very unique, very bold, very different. What was like the like feelings around what you were doing? Like, how did you face those challenges that were presented in starting this?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So I think, looking back and we still feel this today we're up against what we consider the titans of the resale market as far as bridal is concerned, these online resale platforms. They're backed by media companies, they're faceless names and that's all people know. That's how you resell a dress. And so when you compare bootstrapped small company like us up against these conglomerates almost where that's the expectation Marketing really is a big challenge for us.
Speaker 2:I remember early on in the business I paid $6 for a click on Google ads. I was like, oh my God, $6 for one click. In hindsight, that's probably average, right, but when you're bootstrapped and you've taken the money out of your bank to start your company, those really start to add up and you I'm sure, yeah, so we've gotten better at it. I have recognized my strong points, and marketing is not one of them. So there. So then, did you hire someone? Yeah, so passing that off to someone who understands the analytics and where you're actually getting that conversion, where to put in your money at this point in the business, has really been helpful for us to kind of take my hands out of the pot and let someone else do their job. Did you get any free time?
Speaker 1:back or no?
Speaker 2:No, no, yeah, I wish it's a nice thought and then I think, just misconceptions, like with secondhand. You're always up against this notion that the dresses are dirty, or old, yeah, what is? That. Yeah, I think just up until recently, secondhand hasn't had a big push behind it right.
Speaker 2:And so now that younger girls are into it and getting into the sustainability factor to it, it's like you can have everything there's no quality that's sacrificed, there's no condition that's sacrificed, there's no style and, for us, there's no experience that comes with buying a secondhand dress. That's really the biggest thing. So there will always be challenges, for sure, but I think knowing what we were up against early on would have been really helpful in building the brand.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's so interesting, that cause, like when I hear you talk about it, I'm you know we're thinking about the resale sites and whatnot, but, like in my mind, maybe because, like I feel like we're broken, living in LA, we're so confused I think more of the bigger brands are the competitor, not just those websites, and it's so interesting to think that it's just such a different person. I guess we're looking for different view. You're trying to get the people from the sites to have an experience. Come to a bridal shop, which this really is, and that's why I keep, every time I ask a question, I make sure to say luxury consignment shop, because I think there's a very big difference between like oh, this is just like, oh, I bought it used and versus like I went to a bridal shop and I had an experience, totally.
Speaker 2:And when you say secondhand, right Like, and luxury like. We're very particular about the dresses we take in. We have a secondhand dress that's $15,000. So it's not to say that these dresses aren't your dress is not beautiful. It's that it's not relevant to the market. It's that we're going to curate the collection so that the girls who are shopping with us know that we really do take pride in what we're building and what we're offering you as a secondhand shopper.
Speaker 1:No, that's so true. And like who do you think is your ideal client? Like who is your target person? How did you come up with who this person is?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so lots of testing for sure, but most recently she is generally 25 to 35 years old, I would say fully employed. Average budgets $35,000 to $5,000.
Speaker 1:Average budget for California average budget for the nation feel very different to me, though Very much.
Speaker 2:I think the knot states that an average wedding dress is like $1,800. I mean, you're factoring in, like the Midwest right and like sure, budgets are bigger in bigger cities Makes total sense. But, like, the biggest driver for us is, our customer wants a savings and so knowing ahead of time that you can save 20 to 70% off of a designer dress, like why wouldn't you buy second hand, why wouldn't you? Yeah, and you're sustainable doing it, you know, yeah, we're going to dive so much into that sustainability conversation.
Speaker 1:You know you said you've realized what you know you're not good at. What do you know you're good at as being a boss? How did you figure it out? What was your natural skills? How do you let go of the control of, maybe, what you're not good at and hone in on your skills? Because I think that's a very important entrepreneurial lesson.
Speaker 2:For sure. It's interesting now looking back at my career and being able to take the bits and pieces of that journey all the way up until now. People skills I think it is a skill set that you have to use consistently in order to one manage people, to work with contractors, to work with CMOs and finance and the city, because your taxes and all of the things, all the facets, it's not just a customer element, I think customer skill sets are really important.
Speaker 2:I think thinking outside the box is really important. When you're an entrepreneur, often as an employee of a company, you're given, you know, parameters of how to work and how to run efficiently, and that's not the same thing as an entrepreneur, you know. You kind of have to wear multiple hats and kind of think outside the box and be ready to pivot because shit hits the fan you know yeah yeah. Am I allowed to say that? Yeah, absolutely, you're allowed to say that for sure.
Speaker 2:You kind of have to be quick on your feet, yeah, and I'd like to think that I'm good at that for sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah, take them and run. That being said, I feel like you are really quick on your feet because you saw this whole thought, oh, how I can fix it. But you know, maybe from the outset, looking in, they think someone could make think sustainability is why you just started this. Can you tell us about, like, the importance of the you know industry and sustainability? There really isn't a lot of sustainability, and how does Love Twice Bridal contribute more towards a sustainable future?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so up until now I think, with the market really pushing sustainability, there hasn't been a lot of transparency from designers on other production models, right, and so we really do try our best to curate our collection based off of how the designer makes their dresses. So we don't take everything under the sun, unfortunately, and with that comes how their dresses are made. We know what designers are making dresses in bulk, sitting in warehouses, and those are the ones we don't take. So it's unfortunately part of the game where we kind of have to break it to the seller that these are the reasons why we can't sell your dress. But that is one big way that we are pushing sustainability. We advocate for those brands who are doing their part and cutting their dresses made to order, so one by one, as opposed to hundreds or thousands at a time.
Speaker 1:Let's talk about a little tea in the industry. This is a very expensive industry Totally. Yet I hear you talking about how you didn't make that much money working in it, and like there are. You know people that I think maybe the dress is the biggest deal. I was probably one of those people that the dress was the biggest deal, like I don't care, we could have had a picnic but I wanted to wear the dress. You know whatnot? How? How does, like all of this mush give us some of the tea you know you've got? You said there's dresses sitting in storage but they tell you this is going to take six to eight months. Correct, yes.
Speaker 2:Why? Why Sales pitch. I mean, they're trying to convert you quickly. I get it as a business owner. Money is money, right, any money in is money that you're going to need later, for sure. But if you're shopping $2,000 and under, it's likely your dress is not made to order. You know, let's kind of take our emotions out of it for a second. For sure, why is it priced so low? It's probably not made of natural fabrics, okay, fair, it's probably not made in the US, you know. And when you consider manufacturing practices, it's likely that that dress was cut in bulk, sitting at a warehouse for a company and that boutique is able to order it at any time and they're going to tell you it takes six months so that you're able to close the sale.
Speaker 1:Right, yeah, but then it could have been there. It could have been there.
Speaker 2:That's part of the scheme, that's part of the allure. I wouldn't even say it's a scheme, because there are brands that do require you to order six months. Is it likely? No, and so because there is no transparency from the designer's standpoint of what dresses are actually made to order versus warehouse, you're going to believe the stylist. So if that's something that is important to you sustainability and how the dresses are manufactured ask your stylist. You know they're going to tell you, and if you don't feel like that's the right answer, take a step back, walk away. Do your research before you commit to buying Right, because someone will tell you the truth Someone somewhere is going to tell you the truth.
Speaker 2:What do you think in your journey of getting to here was the most surprising thing you learned about the bridal industry. It still shocks me. But honestly, just the turnover in styles, you know, and I think this goes back to like again, the sustainability feature is, like every designer releases a collection every six months, so like, within six months your dress becomes obsolete. Yikes yeah, which in most, people's.
Speaker 1:In six months they won't be married.
Speaker 2:Well, that's not the case.
Speaker 1:Not always, not always, but like I mean, I think about if they told me it was going to take eight months to get there? Right, I'm going to leave. I mean, I'm crazy. I'm also very neurotic. I'm like I'm going to leave extra time to make sure it's there long before that and you should Totally.
Speaker 2:It's not worth the anxiety that can come of it. However, if you are a trends girl and you are all about the trends, just know that unless you are getting married less than six months from when the dress was made, your dress is already out of style. So just be mindful of what you're looking for, right? Like, if you are a classic gal, go with that feeling, find a dress that's going to give you that classic feeling, because there's always going to be a new version of classic, right? So be tasteful, of course, as far as like, how you want to translate that timeline, but it's kind of crazy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it is kind of crazy and it kind of goes against. I mean, I think about I don't know if you guys have seen this documentary, but there's this documentary about Brandy Mayville and it's called Brandy Hellville and you know they talked about how fast fashion. You know they release new styles every week and you would think the bridal, because of the amount of time, is going to go much slower and there's not going to be new trends every second, but six months, when you're talking about a year, usually planning is still pretty fast.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well then you think about all the boutiques that carry these brands, right, because now, as a business owner, buying inventory, that's a huge money suck right. So you're now expecting boutiques to buy new collections every six months. It takes six months for them to get the first collection and then they're gone, and then it's new, no Well then?
Speaker 2:so, like they release market in April and October, yeah, as a boutique, you could order in April. You don't get your new product until October. And then you go back. So you haven't even sold any of these items yet. And then you go back and buy more, right? And then you have to figure out oh well, heaven forbid, I don't have this space. What do I do with all this product? I would tell you, 50% of our dresses have never walked down an aisle.
Speaker 1:I was literally. That was exactly what I was going to ask. I was like do these dresses end up here? Yes, yeah, so we work.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we work with brides, of course, and boutiques who have product that's not moving or that they don't need. It's not to say they're discontinued or damaged, they just don't have room for them and they're expected to buy more stuff, Right? So secondhand doesn't mean you know your grandma's 40-year-old dress. Right For sure, sure With huge sleeves and whatever you know these are dresses that someone could still order brand new. The boutique just didn't need it anymore.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Do stores keep extra in stock. Sometimes Do stores keep extra in stock? Sometimes they have to.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, they have to. I mean just the nature of the wedding industry. If dresses take six months to come in and you have a bride who gets married in three months, you want to sell her something. Yes, every store has some off-the-rack option, right.
Speaker 1:Yes, and when those off-the-rack options don't get picked and there's new stuff that's now off the racket comes usually to here.
Speaker 2:They could send it to us, yes, but we also team up with charities who serve the underserved community. We work with a charity called Brides for a Cause, who donates their proceeds towards women-focused charities. So there are other avenues other than resale for beaches.
Speaker 1:So let's talk a little bit about the process of when a dress shows up here, what do you do?
Speaker 2:So let's talk a little bit about the process of when a dress shows up here, what do you do? So we actually have a pretty thorough process leading up to its arrival to our store. A bride decides she's done with her dress, she's gotten married. She gets it dry, cleaned. She fills out an intake form for us. We do some research to figure out one. Is it within the last four years or not?
Speaker 2:Because the last thing we want is to take in an old dress that's not relevant to the market, give the seller false hope that it's going to sell and it's just not what our brides are looking for. So we'll do market research. We'll fill out a consignment agreement and that includes her market research to figure out what we're reselling the dress for. Has her terms and agreements on it. Once she's decided she's ready to move forward, she completes her agreement. We receive the dress. We do a quality control. If the dress is not up to our standard, we will email the bride. We will send her photos. We will tell her why we can't take it in or, if we can, it's going to require her to get it cleaned. It's going to get we got to fix it and that's just going to translate to a higher selling price. What ends up happening is, if you take an address with low quality, you get negotiations.
Speaker 1:Or it doesn't sell and you don't negotiate, right? No, the price is the price. The price is the price You've said it.
Speaker 2:We've said it the worst. What I should say is the most we can do is if a bride wants to negotiate, we'll tell her it's up to the seller. It's not our decision to make.
Speaker 1:Right and I think like that could be a misconception about Live Twice Bridal. It's like you walk in you think, oh, you guys own all these dresses. We do not own any of these dresses.
Speaker 2:You are the agent for these dresses I like to say we're like brokers almost yeah.
Speaker 1:That's crazy. I mean it's very crazy versus like other places.
Speaker 2:Like you're trying on the sample to get the dress, versus you could walk out the door with this dress. You can walk out with this dress and brides are open to buying a sample, if you think about how many girls have tried that sample on yeah Right. So, like, if you're open to a sample sale, you should be shopping secondhand first, you know.
Speaker 1:So true.
Speaker 2:Like how many people have tried that sample on? How many hands have touched that dress? How many repairs have been made to that gown? Probably a lot, right, because every boutique, if it's a bestseller, that dress is getting tried on four or five times in one weekend, right, right. And then now you have damage clips on there and you have handprints on there and it's stretched out significantly from the size that it was Right. So if you are open to buying an off-the-rack dress, I ask you to please shop secondhand, because these dresses are in way better condition.
Speaker 1:Right. And so, that being said, also, what's the process if it's coming from a store? Same thing, very much the same thing, absolutely.
Speaker 2:And because it's been on the floor, even more particular right, Because it can have those damages that you wouldn't otherwise see on a bride's dress that she wore for 10 hours in a very controlled setting, so to speak.
Speaker 1:And let's talk about the bridal experience. So you want to come to life, love twice bridal. What can you expect? What kind of mindset should you be coming in? Do you come? And this is the first place you should try on dresses? Absolutely not. Okay, great. So don't do that, because we are an off-the-rack store.
Speaker 2:We definitely encourage our brides to shop before coming in, and the reason we say that is because we don't do holds right. So the dress is the dress. They're one-off pieces. We cannot order them for you. They're here today, gone tomorrow.
Speaker 2:Online store is something we don't have control over. All of our inventory is listed on our website, so somebody could just buy it. Yes, and, believe it or not, it does happen. A girl will come in on a Saturday. She's ready to buy. It could have sold on Sunday, and that's because we are on Google. We do all of our SEO marketing, we do all of the things needed to convert online, and this is really where we set ourselves apart from resale platforms is yes, we do have a physical brick and mortar location, but we have a try-at-home program. So anyone who comes across this dress on our website can put a deposit towards the dress, take the dress home or have it shipped to them. Try it on for three days before you commit to buying it, right. So we're making it easier for girls to buy a secondhand dress. You don't have to be physically in Los Angeles to shop with us If you're looking at a dress online you'll be able to try it on before you commit.
Speaker 1:See, that is so smart, because this is really getting into your business smartness. Not only do you have the store, which you could have, truly the luxury bridal experience, bring the girlfriends, bring the mom, whatever try on the dress, but if you're not going to fly to Los Angeles and also, then it throws you back into competing right with those other sellers, it's you could do either or yes, or both, which we do get girls who are like hey, you know, I'm not sure, can I do the try at home program?
Speaker 2:Yes, if you need three days to mull it over, by all means put down your deposit, take it home and if you don't love it, bring it back. This is really where we kind of set ourselves apart from a resale platform. It's like, let's say, you are online, you do have questions, yes, you can call the store, but you can also chat with us on the website, you can send us an email, you can do all of these things. Versus an online resale platform. You're sending a message to someone you don't know, who, maybe or maybe not, has been on the website in the last 24 hours.
Speaker 2:You don't know who's on the other end and like doing what we've been doing for now four years. We've had people unfortunately buy $5,000 dresses and never get their dress. I had one customer who had to hire private investigators in another state to find this seller who took $5,000 for a bird address and never found it. She just never sent it.
Speaker 1:What was the she never got the dress. She just never found it. She just never sent it. What was the? She never got the dress, she just never got it. No, she's like I spent money. I spent money. It's out in the ether Maybe. Yep, we think. We don't know. So wow yes, the depths we will go.
Speaker 2:I mean at this point sadly right.
Speaker 1:Like you know, you think like, oh, I can just say it didn't come, maybe I'll get the money back. You know, I mean it's creating all these horrible habits.
Speaker 2:Well, totally, and this is what goes back to like the personal. This is what we offer is like if there's an issue, you can call us, you can talk to someone, like there is someone who's there to help you. It's not this black hole of an online option, it really is a black hole, and communication is also limited a lot. Right.
Speaker 1:And like, yeah, I understand it, especially for the people who sustainability is super important to You're going to use these kinds of sites. Maybe You're going to use them for your regular clothes as well, or different sites for regular clothes as well. So you're more used to or accustomed to the system, Right, but it's kind of a gamble. It is a gamble and you just don't know. And also some sites with rentals. I've recently had a bad experience with rentals and things. You don't know whose side they're going to pick. Are they going to pick you, the buyer? Are they going to pick the sellers Right To favor? So it's really a shot in the dark.
Speaker 2:It really is, and maybe you're willing to take this risk for that bag that you've been eyeing For $20 or for $30.
Speaker 1:Or your shoes.
Speaker 2:Right, yeah, yeah, but not your wedding dress. This is your wedding dress and of course, every budget is subjective, for sure. But if you're spending $2,000, $10,000, you should know what you're getting. You should know if it's going to fit. You should know what condition it's in. It sounds so elementary, but up until now, there's no one advocating for secondhand dresses with a professional person behind them, right, and who's?
Speaker 2:also had experience in the industry, I mean yes, and that really comes down to like that experience part that you're talking about. It's like you are not sacrificing experience in any way. It's a new way to do it and it might take a little bit longer to get things done, but like you're going to feel so good that you saved some money. You were sustainable in doing it, you didn't have to wait six months, you don't have this anxiety of like is my dress going to fit? Am I going to love it? Like there's so many things that can come out of buying secondhand, especially with us, that like it just seems like a no brainer.
Speaker 1:It's. It's so clear and it's like I know this took a lot of thought to get there Totally. It's so clear and concise for the consumer but that's because of your entrepreneurial spirit and your mind and whatnot. What keeps your entrepreneurial spirit alive in like really tough times. I mean, you're a mom, you were a military wife.
Speaker 2:What keeps you going A lot of sarcasm.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, great, me too. Perfect, all right Next question, just kidding.
Speaker 2:I mean, there are days where I just lose sleep. I mean, if you're an entrepreneur, it is not for the faint of heart. You buckle up. It's a roller coaster. It will drag you through the trenches. But those really high, highs and those validations from the customers of like, oh my God, I wish this was around when I was getting married. I would have totally bought secondhand. Or I tried buying online and it didn't work out. Or I wish you had known about you sooner. Like that's really what keeps me going. You know, like disrupting an industry sure, Great, so exciting. But like what? Why? If your customers aren't resonating with that, then what's the point? And so getting that feedback from customers who are like I actually had the best experience with them, they're really nice and their quality is great, those are the reasons why you keep going.
Speaker 1:Right, Not because you're like I'm shaking it up.
Speaker 2:It feels unrealistic to touch. What's real is what you're going to see day to day, totally, and it's not easy. I mean to your point, yes, I'm a mom, I'm a wife, I have things outside of the business, but like, if you're not doing something for the better of humanity, like what's the point, right, you know? Like I'm not just there to sacrifice my kids and my household, you know Well and I hope that you can sleep easy at night, knowing you're doing something good. Good yeah, totally.
Speaker 1:I mean it's a very luxurious space. There's a lot I think we don't talk about this enough the bridal guilt of it all. It's very expensive. We live in the US, we're very privileged and all the things. Even if you can just add a little bit of realness to that and just be like I did something a little good. Also, I don't hardly think you're doing anything corrupt. You probably get a good night's sleep knowing you're making the world a little bit better Totally, and I think again back to like hearing the customers say that, like that's really what keeps us going, yeah, yeah, and really what sets us apart.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's very demanding, yes, so how do you maintain the balance of being a mother and wife? And I mean, how many dresses are even in here?
Speaker 2:Like we're probably like 400. Wow, yeah, something like that. So it's 400.
Speaker 1:I mean if each dress came from one bride Customer, of course, that's that many customers, yeah, yeah, that many people Like the team is how many people here?
Speaker 2:So we are three deep, including myself. Great.
Speaker 1:And her children. They're on staff too, no just kidding no child labor law.
Speaker 2:I mean like we's kind of this part of the social strategy.
Speaker 1:Oh my God, adorable.
Speaker 2:Yeah, she's so cute and my son was in here when we first started the business and I remember him holding the mannequin's hand, looking at her like he's going to marry someone special.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so they're in it in some degree. I am better at it now with the balance, now that I do have a full-time employee who handles the day-to-day operations and thank God for her because she is a gem. I don't think I could do it without her. Like I had a baby at the beginning of the year, like there's no way that I could be able to grow the business, step away, give birth and like up until recently, and with her part-time right. So like it's not easy balancing. I'm not. I don't think I have it down and anyone who tells you they do is like total BS, like they don't have it down.
Speaker 1:There's no way, it's never a perfect 50-50.
Speaker 2:It's never. No, it never will be. And I think, like that's just the season of life, Like if you have kids, you have a household, you run a business, like there will never be a perfect day and if there is, get ready for it to not be the case. Anyone who makes it seem like it's perfect is lying to you.
Speaker 1:It's all a facade.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, totally Right, and I think that the transparency part to that is like it's not easy. Just the other day I got a phone call from the California tax board and I was like Hello, I know. She's like hello, yes, I'm calling about your tax account. And I was like I don't believe you, I think this is scam. She's like no, no, no, really, let's talk about it. I hang up and our part-time stylist is behind me and she's looking at me and she's like are you okay? Yeah, and I was like I'm about to sell the company. She's like looked at me all serious, I'm just kidding. No, you know, for me it's that 4.30 time cutoff to about 8 o'clock. I'm in mom mode. Yeah, you've bound her Pickups, groceries, dinner, bath, homework, cleaning and then, if there's still things left to be done, I'm working till 10 o'clock at night on the couch with my husband watching TV, trying to have some sense of normalcy I've gotten better at it, but yeah, it's not an easy skill, no, and I think the only.
Speaker 1:Like you know, we can sit here behind the mic. You can tell me all about it. I don't have kids, I don't own a business. And you're just not going to understand it until you do it on some level and being honest and open about it.
Speaker 2:I think it's now become more of a normal thing to talk about. But like that mental load of all of that, like that's exhausting, it's tiring, it's exhausting. It's like, no, yes, I love my kids, yes, I love to do what I do for them, but like no, I don't want to have to think about dinner five days a week. You know, like if I could hire a private chef, we all would be great.
Speaker 1:That would save me so much time. That being said, you know, if you were to go back and like, look at all the lessons you've learned from pre-Love Twice and then in Love Twice, what are the lessons along the way that have really stood out to you?
Speaker 2:There's a time and place for everything. It sounds so basic, but there were definitely days where I questioned what was my purpose. You know, like getting married at 22, I thought I solved it all, Check mark On to the next right, Next thing to accomplish. But like now in my 30s, looking back, like most 20-year-olds have no idea what they're going to do with themselves. And that's okay. You know I now tell 20-year-olds that's okay. You know I now tell 20-year-olds take your 20s, live your life. You have time to figure it out and then, when that time comes, you'll be so much happier knowing that you gave yourself that grace.
Speaker 2:You know, I think now, looking back, I realize I was tough on myself, I was hard on myself and that's just how I was brought up. You know you have to get your shit together quickly. So I think, looking back, I would. I'm proud of how I got through those humps and bumps along the road and I still feel like there's definitely those days where I question it. But it's not. It's not a purpose question, it's like let's get through it and move on.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. I love that notion of just like we'll get through it and we'll figure it out. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Things just come. There's a reason why things happen when they happen and why they happen, and I think it's not until now that I look back and I'm like if I hadn't been a military wife, I wouldn't have moved around the country, I wouldn't have tried different boutiques and business models and seen so many different designers and manufacturing processes, and what worked in one store might not have worked in another store. I saw the small business facet, I saw the corporate facet, I saw the international facet. There's so many things that worked in my favor that brought me to Love Twice, that really gave me the skills and experience I needed to start my own brand.
Speaker 1:Right. We never know, in those little tiny steps that you think are like, why is this happening to me? Like this has no use for what I want to do in my life. And then you end up someplace where you really want to be in your life, which I hope is Love, toy, sprite, all Absolutely, and you're like, wow, those were little steps I needed.
Speaker 2:No, I didn't know I needed them. No, there's job and it didn't work out. You know Like it will give you something, it will serve you in some way. Just take a step back, figure it out.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, I love it. Well, Sarah, thank you so much for joining us on the podcast. You are wonderful. We have to tell everybody where they can find you, find the store, find the website. All the good things, yes.
Speaker 2:So we are online at wwwlovetwicebridalcom and hashtag, or at username lovetwicebridal. We are in Beverly Hills, on Robertson Boulevard. You can call us, you can book an appointment, you can text us. Honestly, just shout it out from the rooftops. I think for us it's just getting our name out there, telling girls she can sell her dress with us, she can buy her dress with us, yeah, yeah. Thank you so much.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much for listening to Confessions of a Wannabe it Girl. Don't forget to rate and subscribe to the show. As always, we'll see you next Tuesday. You.
