Shops help brides pick perfect dress
Filled with extravagant prom dresses and beautiful wedding gowns of every bride’s dreams, Belle’s Bridal Shop is a place where people know and care about what they do.
“You really have to know your business,” said Rita Yeates, owner of the store. “You have to know the styles of the dresses, the brides’ body shapes and you have to care about what you’re doing. You can’t just hire little kids to do this work; people have to have experience.”
The Yeates have been in business for nine years. The store was located in Hyrum in their home for eight years before moving to a larger location in Logan, Rita said.
“We have a large home,” Rita said. “But it’s not so big with all of these dresses in there.”
The business, which is family-owned, was started by another family member who made the wedding dresses.
“My mom’s sister owns a factory in China,” Camille Yeates, Rita’s daughter, said. “She wanted a U.S. branch outlet, so we started one. The first year we had, like, six dresses. My aunt is retired now, so we have dresses from other factories.”
There are more rewards to the bridal business than just the money. Rita said 99.5 percent of the people that come into her shop are happy.
“This is their happy time,” Camille said. “Everyone is in a good mood. The brides cry, their mother’s cry and we even get fathers in here that cry. Some fathers just lie down on the couch and sleep, though.”
Not everything goes exactly as brides plan, though.
“One time, we had two brides come in. One bride was the other bride’s sister-in-law-to-be, and they decided that they would not get anything close to the same dresses since they were getting married only a week apart,” Camille said. “One bride bought a dress from us, and the other one went somewhere else. She didn’t like the dress she bought so she sold it, and then bought a dress from us. The two brides ended up getting the exact same dress on accident.”
Rita said the shop receives several thank you cards and even some wedding invitations.
“Everyone really appreciates what we do,” Rita said. “We treat them well. This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience for them, so we give every bride 110 percent. Most brides know what they want, but sometimes they’ll try on a dress that they wouldn’t normally try and know that it’s the one for them.”
Belle’s Bridal Shop is located at 23 Center Street in Logan.
–jill.bowers@aggiemail.usu.edu