Deborah Collins was inspired to open a bridal boutique after she started her own wedding blog several years ago.
The Delaware County native opened The Dress Matters in 2014. She opened the boutique at 1024 N. Providence Road in Media, Pennsylvania during a time when there weren’t any Black-owned bridal boutiques in the area.
The boutique sells bridal and bridesmaids attire, flower girl dresses, tuxedo rentals, and accessories. Every dress at the boutique is under $2,500.
“At the time, most of the boutiques were more upscale,” Collins said. “I wanted to create a bridal boutique that is down to earth and makes people feel relaxed when they come in the door.”
Collins, 53, often works with other African American wedding industry professionals. She provides dresses for professional wedding shoots and donates to organizations benefiting African American women and children.
She won the 2021 Best of Mainline for Bridal Boutique and Bridesmaid Boutique and was selected 2017 Entrepreneur of the Year by the Delaware County Chamber of Commerce.
She is a member of the African American Chamber of Commerce of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware, Better Bridal Group, and Delaware County Chamber of Commerce.
She is also the founding business member of the National Society of Black Wedding and Event Professionals and a board member of Big Brothers Big Sisters Independence Region.
At the boutique, she assists clients with finding dresses, provides alterations for the dresses, handles appointments, and buys for the shop.
Collins, who has four employees at the boutique, does the payroll and hiring and spends a lot of time on social media promoting the boutique.
Her employee Nadine Warder-No will be opening The Dress Matters Couture in Malvern in September, offering a high end selection of gowns ranging from $2,000 to $7,500. Collins will be a consultant at Warder-No’s couture boutique.
“My favorite part of the job is when a bride says “yes” to a dress,” Collins said. “There are so many options for brides, but I love it when they make a decision to buy a dress from my boutique.”
Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, the appointment-only boutique was thriving.
But when businesses were shuttered as part of efforts to curb the spread of the coronavirus, Collins had to shift her operations.
“We were shut down for three and a half months,” Collins said. “A lot of weddings were canceled or postponed. We did do some virtual appointments and I was able to get some grants to help out with some of the sales that we weren’t getting.”
She reopened the store on June 24, 2020. Due to the pandemic, measures have been put into place for customer safety, including guests wearing masks and implementing a five guest policy.
She also recommends guests who are not feeling well to reschedule their appointment.
“We’ve been doing well since reopening,” Collins said. “We’ve had some pretty good sales the last few months and we’ve been really busy. We’ve even had to turn some people away from appointments.”
On Aug. 19, The Dress Matters will be hosting a bridal fashion show at the Hilton Garden Inn in Fort Washington from 5 to 8 p.m.
“We’ve partnered with Bryant Sanders Photography and VEP Travel to bring brides an intimate bridal show,” Collins said. “There will be wedding resources and giveaways for brides.”
Collins said what she wants people to take away from her boutique is a memorable experience.
“When my clients leave, I want them to feel they’ve been catered to from start to finish and that the customer service was top notch,” Collins said. “I want this to be a memorable experience for them that they will never forget.”
Read the complete article at: The Philadelphia Tribune
