Co-founders Ashley and Charles Young make it easier for you to have the wedding of your dreams.
Bridal Babes
The couple launched Bridal Babes in response to a curve-hugging dress worn by their bridesmaids going viral. They went from newlyweds to business partners overnight.
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Ashley recognized there was a need for the company, not only from the influx of attention around their wedding but from her own experience searching for appealing dresses made for Black and brown women.
“What I found when I was searching was just there’s nothing out there. So, once my girls put their dresses on, once we finally found the one, it was really difficult. But, our wedding went viral because people had never seen bridesmaids in curve-hugging dresses that actually enhanced their body type,” Ashley told AfroTech in an interview.
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Virtual Consultation
Now, more brides are turning to the company and are being met with a unique experience not found in the industry. With a stylist’s guidance, brides will be able to select stunning curve-hugging dresses according to the size, shape, and style of their bridal party.
As a bonus, brides no longer need to worry about fitting bridesmaids in person as this will be done during a virtual consultation. The company also allows customers to sample fabric by ordering a swatch or two in advance to avoid last-minute surprises.
“One of the things we really pride ourselves on was we were the first movers of virtual consultations in the industry,” Charles told AfroTech. “When we initially got in the industry, when we had taken a look, we noticed that it wasn’t a big tech component to us. So one thing that we really focused on was our virtual consultations. We would have a client meet with a stylist and that will really help trim down exactly what the bride wants ’cause we have so many different dresses and so many different styles. But you’ll really direct them through the process of picking the perfect style for all the bridesmaids of all shapes, shades, and sizes.”
Ashley added: “In the wedding industry it’s very what we call vanilla, right? You don’t see a lot of us in the advertising. You don’t see a lot of like our infusion in the fashion. When I say ‘our,’ I mean Black women [and] Latina women. We are very different. I think that’s why we have been so successful because we really have focused on designs that are different from the norm and different from [the] mainstream. When people come to our consultations, they’re not worried about someone not understanding that their bridesmaids are the full-size range.”
"Shark Tank"
Bridal Babes told AfroTech that it saw an uptick in the use of their virtual consultations after appearing on “Shark Tank” during Season 14.
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The Youngs aimed to receive $250,000 in exchange for 10 percent equity.
Emma Grede, the co-founder of Good American, accepted the offer for 20 percent equity instead.
“Having the alignment and having the interest from Emma Grede, who’s the CEO of Good American and co-founder of Skims, just really elevated us as far as our thinking and our strategy,” Ashley explained. “She’s really hands-on and digs into all the details with us. As far as exposure, of course, you get the huge uptick in sales that everybody talks about, but also we saw an influx of people coming in through that virtual consultation platform so much so that we had to like release new dates.”
What's Ahead
In addition, Bridal Babe also integrated a free live Q&A to keep up with demand. The 45-minute session will discuss restocks, the ordering process, and new styles, according to the company’s website.
Looking ahead, the founders plan to release new designs for fall brides and to integrate new features into their platform.
