Spring is just around the corner in Northwest Montana, and along with the birds, flowers, and warmer days, another sure sign of winter’s end is the future brides and grooms getting ready for the wild summer wedding season.
While weddings include fun and thrilling aspects for those planning them and those involved, a hefty price tag can dampen the excitement.
Kristina Moreno understands the desire to get everything for a wedding without breaking the bank. Having spent the last 12 years in the fashion industry in Los Angeles, Moreno said she knows that what is trendy and designer-brand might also be too expensive for most people.
Moreno, who moved home to the Flathead last summer thinking she was done with LA, ended up moving back to California for a job offer she couldn’t refuse: working with a startup venture called Vow To Be Chic, which rents out designer bridesmaids’ dresses, as well as “little white dresses,” meaning designer outfits for brides for wedding-related events.
Groomsmen aren’t expected to buy a tuxedo for a wedding, she said, and bridesmaids shouldn’t be saddled with buying a dress they will likely not wear again.
“It’s expensive to be a bridesmaid,” Moreno said. “We’ve averaged it out to be about $1,600. As we all know, based on our economy, that’s insanity.”
At Vow To Be Chic, brides and bridesmaids can peruse designer duds and pick what they want. Then, months before the wedding, two dresses are sent to the client for sizing options, and when a size is chosen, the dress arrives in the mail a week before the big day. Once the wedding is over, the bridesmaid or bride pops the dress into a prepaid envelope and sends it back to the company.
“You get a designer gown at like 60 percent off. You don’t have to dry-clean it or alter it or anything,” Moreno said.
The company launched publicly in April 2014, she said, but it’s already gaining attention across the country. Vow to be Chic has been featured in Good Morning America, Nightline, Brides magazine, InStyle magazine, Forbes, the New York Daily News, Martha Stewart Living Radio, Refinery29, Yahoo!, and more media outlets.
Moreno, who works as a bridal stylist with the company, said that though she’s working with 75 brides around the country and has weddings scheduled out through 2016, being home in Montana last summer made her realize many of the small-town women getting married could find a use for the company.
“When I was at home, getting my hair done in Whitefish, my hairdresser told me she was getting married in July, and didn’t know what to do with her bridesmaids,” Moreno said. “Right after that conversation I ended up getting this job offer, so of course I thought of everyone back home. We work with brides across the country and most of them are in small towns.”
Just because someone lives outside the country’s fashion meccas doesn’t mean they don’t pay attention to what’s trendy and beautiful, she said. Vow’s designers include Jenny Yoo, ML Monique Lhuillier, Nicole Miller, Jill Jill Stuart, Tadashi Shoji, Watters, Theia, Jim Hjelm, Alvina Valenta, Joanna August, LulaKate, and Swoon.
“I wanted to offer this to girls who can’t get to the big cities,” Moreno said. “They’re on Pinterest, they know what’s fashionable and they know what they want. We want to be able to give that to them at an affordable price. That’s what it’s all about.”
Moreno hasn’t yet personally worked with anyone planning weddings in Montana, though her Boise clients are increasing. She hopes to branch out to the brides of Big Sky Country to help ease the financial burden of their weddings, to give them stylish options, and generally help them plan their perfect day.
And while living in southern California puts her smack in the middle of the fashion world, Moreno said she relates more to the country lifestyle back home in Montana.
“I miss it, but I know that girls there really care that no matter where you are or what you’re doing, you want to wear a gorgeous dress,” Moreno said.
For more information, visit www.vowtobechic.com.