Bluebird Bridal in Huntersville

Show Notes:

Shoutouts in this episode:

The Hope House Foundation | Huntersville, NC
From This Day Forward Florist | Mooresville, NC
Dulce Alterations | Gastonia, NC
Ivy Robinson Events | Charlotte, NC

Transcript:

Narrator
Welcome to The Best of LKN, a podcast featuring the best small businesses and the most influential professionals around Lake Norman, North Carolina. Each week, we spotlight those businesses and individuals that are making a positive impact here in the Lake Norman area. Thanks for joining us, enjoy the show.

Jeff
Hey, everyone, welcome back to The Best of LKN podcast. Lake Norman’s number one small business podcast. We have just about wrapped up our content series for the local wedding industry. Last week, we sent out the link to the article featuring the best bridal boutiques in the Lake Norman area, exclusively to our email newsletter subscribers. In this episode, we’re featuring an interview with the owner of one of those bridal shops. But first, as usual, I want to give a big thanks to our brand partners, the local small businesses that make the work we do here at The Best of LKN possible. They are Sodoma Law North, Lake Norman’s premier family law firm located in Cornelius, Blumengärten Florist, also located in Cornelius, Clean Eatz Cafes in Cornelius and Mooresville, and Juelerye Fine Gifts and Art, located in downtown Mooresville. You can find links to these exceptional local businesses in the show notes for this episode, and on our homepage at thebestoflkn.com. Speaking of brand partners, we still have openings for additional brand partners to help us grow The Best of LKN platform. We’re building Lake Norman’s biggest platform for elevating our local small business community and creating the most extensive guide to the best places to go and things to do in the Lake Norman area. For more information on how we serve our brand partners with premium, scalable advertising activations through thoughtfully created content, go to thebestoflkn.com/advertise. Okay, as promised, in this episode, I sit down with the owner of Bluebird Bridal in Huntersville, Erin Connair. Erin shares with me the inspiration behind her bridal shop, which she opened back in 2016, and how she was able to bring her love for fashion and the wedding industry together to create a beautiful local brand. We talk a bit about the challenges of doing business during the COVID-19 pandemic, and how she and her team rebounded in 2021, and now in 2022. Speaking of her team, Erin shares the love she has for her team at Bluebird Bridal and talks about how important it is to have a talented team of employees that you can rely on in order to be successful as a small business. At the end of our conversation, Erin shares some valuable advice for future brides when it comes to selecting a wedding dress. It’s Valentine’s week and love is in the air here at The Best of LKN. Enjoy getting to know Erin Connair, owner of Bluebird Bridal in Huntersville.

Jeff
Erin, welcome to the podcast.

Erin
Thank you so much for having me.

Jeff
Oh, thank you very much, I appreciate it. We recently completed an article, one of my copywriters, Abigail, wrote an article featuring the 10 best bridal boutiques in the Lake Norman area. Totally our opinion, I’m sure there are probably others that we left out, so we apologize, if we left anyone out. But we always try to obtain our own original photography for these blog articles, and I reached out to you for a photo, and you kindly responded quickly. And I thought well, let’s go ahead and let’s feature Bluebird Bridal on the podcast if we can, so Erin, thank you again for taking the time.

Erin
No, thank you so much for the feature. I appreciate it. There are a lot of really wonderful boutique shops here in the area. So, I appreciate it, I’m honored to be the one selected.

Jeff
Sure. Yeah. And have you heard of Ivy Robinson?

Erin
I have. Yes, she’s a sweet wedding planner. I was a wedding planner for 13 years, so kind of knew her through that circuit as well.

Jeff
Okay, yeah. Ivy’s been a guest on the podcast. And she’s been a real good friend to The Best of LKN. And she’s joined us for this podcast and another podcast we produce for the Charlotte area. And yeah, she’s awesome. She’s super cool. And so, we’ve been on kind of a little bit of a bridal kick as far as content goes the last month or two, so I guess gearing up for spring. But Erin, before we get into details about Bluebird Bridal, do me a favor, share a little bit of your background for the listeners. You have 10 minutes to give me your life story.

Erin
Oh, bless. Okay, so I’m actually originally from Charlotte. I was born in Charlotte and raised in Concord, went to school at UNC Charlotte. So total native, which I think there’s few of us left around here. But a native, so I actually got into the wedding industry while I was in college. I was a server at a country club, just making the money when I was in high school and kind of worked my way up to planning events at a country club while I was in college. And once I got out of college, I dabbled in some other marketing ideas that came back around to the weddings. There’s something really amazing about the industry. It’s kind of like once you get into it, you don’t want to get out of it. And you’re on a kick right now because it’s wedding season, so that makes sense why you’re on this. But so, I started my own wedding planning business in 2008. So, in 2008, I did my own wedding planning, did that for a long time, I really enjoyed it. Finishing out this year, have a couple weddings left I’m finishing out. And then kind of moving into the next stage of life. I recently got married, and I have a little baby. So, it was time to move into something different. So, Bluebird Bridal actually came five years ago, in 2016 it came out, and it was brought to the market because I feel like there was kind of a hole in the market for a small like Mom and Pop-type, family-owned bridal shop. There’s some really wonderful shops in the area with couture designs, and they’re larger in nature. But I wanted to keep something really small. And I wanted people to be able to come in the door and feel like they were at home, they could kick their feet up on the couch, they can, you know, have a glass of water or they could bring a Sprite, you know, they can enjoy themselves and really enjoy the relationship and the atmosphere. And I felt like that was missing a little bit. So, I started Bluebird Bridal in 2016, and so we just recently celebrated five years. But it was started out of a love for fashion. I’m not the most fashionable person on the planet, but I do like to think I have a little bit of style. So, we started for that area and wanted to maintain in the wedding industry. So, local here to Charlotte, couldn’t imagine kind of being anywhere else. And I live in Huntersville now and the shop is in Huntersville, so it’s very Lake Norman based.

Jeff
Yeah, absolutely. So, you kind of went from the wedding planning side of things to, which I know can, from my discussion with Ivy can be super crazy and stressful and busy and can take you out of town and so forth. And now you have a brick and mortar, you’re still in the bridal industry, though, with Bluebird Bridal Boutique. That’s really cool. And five years, so congratulations on five years.

Erin
Thank you. Yeah, we had a little anniversary party, because it was one of those things where it’s like, you don’t realize and you close your eyes and like within a blink, it’s been five years and you’re like, oh man, this is an accomplishment. Because I know a large number of small businesses don’t make that, especially during COVID, which hit all of us, for sure. So, it was just a really cool milestone to have, and you are correct. And Ivy and I we’ll see eye to eye on this, wedding planning is amazing, and it was a lot of fun. But I’m pushing in my later 30s, and there comes a point in time where it’s just time to kind of move into the next phase. It’s a very stressful job, wedding planning is.

Jeff
Yeah, I can imagine, I can totally imagine. My experience in hospitality was being a server in college and worked in the golf industry for a little while in the country club setting. So, I found that to be stressful enough, I can’t even imagine what it would be like to manage the planning of a wedding, with all the emotions and variables that go into that. You brought up a really good topic, that I was gonna cover a little later. But since you brought it up, let’s go ahead and talk about it a little bit. Share with the listeners, what it was like for Bluebird Bridal these last two years? What was the industry like? How did it affect your business? And what kind of roller coaster has it been?

Erin
It’s been a roller coaster I want to get off of, if you want me to be honest, like I’m ready for it to end. I can’t speak for every industry because obviously I’m partial to the wedding industry, but we got hit really, really hard with COVID. Because of the mass gatherings, you know, events in and of themselves, whether it’s 10 people or 200 people, I mean, everything was kind of shut down at that point. And so we had to shut down. In 2020, when this all kind of got started, we had to close the shop for eight weeks, just like most businesses ended up having to close that were brick and mortar. And so not only was it challenging in the sense that no new business could come in and so from a financial perspective in a small business, that’s really challenging. But we also had brides’ dresses that they had ordered and were coming to us, and brides wanted to pick up their dresses or they had decided to elope and so we had to somehow maintain that we’re close but we’re still available to help those that, you know, we promised, we made promises to what we could get them. And so, we were closed for those eight weeks. We did some virtual appointments, which thank God for Zoom and FaceTime and all that kind of stuff, because we were able to do some things virtually. But it was a challenge, 2020 was not a great year, but I think it’s that way for most people. But I will tell you 2021 and now right here in the beginning of 2022 has been insanely good for us in the wedding industry. Restrictions got lifted, people started gathering again, whether it was smaller, or you know, to be honest, a lot of them went across the border because South Carolina is a little more lenient. Yeah, you know, whatever it was that we’ve been really busy. It was kind of like, when people realized they could get married again, and things could happen again, they came out of the woodworks. So, 2020 was miserable, not gonna lie, really rough. Last year was the best year we’ve ever had in business in the five years, we’ve been open. And so, I credit that not only to COVID kind of easing in those getting better, but I have the best staff and team that I’ve ever had in five years. And so that really is worth its weight in gold, the people that work for you. So, it’s been rough, it’s been a roller coaster, but I like to think we’re coming to the end of it. I don’t know whether or not that’s true. But I like to feel like we’re like pulling into the home, you know, on the roller coaster. We’re coming to a stop. So that’s my hope.

Jeff
Absolutely. Yeah, thank you for sharing that. I always like to bring that up in these conversations to kind of get the small business owners’ perspective on the roller coaster that’s been 2020 and 2021. And I’m glad you brought up the team too. I look forward to, I want to talk some more about the team here in just a second. But for now, share for the listeners a little bit about the services and the products, obviously Bridal Boutique, but kind of dive into a little bit more detail about the process that you take a bride through when selecting a gown.

Erin
Absolutely. So, in our boutique, we really focus on brides, but we also do tuxedos and mother’s dresses, that’s all that we offer where we’re at. Each of our brides gets a personal appointment. And that’s something that’s really important to me, the number one thing that I tell anybody that works for me and anybody that comes into the store is that we just want you to have a really good experience. Whether you find your perfect dress or not, we hope you do. But even if you don’t, I want you to walk away saying, that was fun, I enjoyed it, had a great experience. Because it can be stressful as well trying to find the one dress, the perfect dress for your, one of the most important days of your life. And so, we don’t take for granted that we get to be a part of that. So, each bride comes in, they get a personal consultant. And so, there’ll be assigned a consultant who will walk them through the entire process. We get to know them, we give them a tour of our showroom, they get to pick and choose whatever dresses they want, we like to see what they gravitate towards. And then we’ll pull and discuss and talk to them as well as they’re trying on. But we really try to make it a nice, personal experience for them and whatever their guest is that they bring, whether it’s their family, their friends, we have a lot of people that do people on FaceTime, we’re happy to help you with that, whatever it may be. So, they come in, once they purchase the dress, or we order. Believe it or not, it takes five or six months for a dress to come in, which is much longer than it used to because of COVID. And then they come, and they pick it up and we help them with all the finishing details. So, if they need veils, if they need belts, if they need jewelry, whatever they need, we help them with that. And we’re with them through the whole process. And it’s really, really fun. It’s so exciting to watch a bride’s face, their personality, their demeanor when they’re trying on dresses. Whether they’re an emotional person in terms of tears, whether they jump up and down, we have some that prance through the store, they don’t want to take the dress off, you know, it’s whatever they want to do. We’re there for you. It’s kind of like, we’re just another member of your crew. We’re like a bestie friend who’s going to help you find, you know, the perfect dress for your day. So, it’s been really, really good. The tuxedos are nice, the guys we have this own private space, so the guys can come in, get measured, pick out what it is that they’re looking for. And it doesn’t hurt that we’re just a couple of doors down from Primal Brewery. So, the guys come in, then they take a little walk down, have a little beer when they’re done. And then we also help mamas, whether it’s a mother of a bride, mother of a groom, grandmother, stepmother, whatever it is, we offer some really unique mother’s dresses and so we help a lot of the moms, they get a private appointment with a consultant as well. And they get to come in and really feel their best as well for their child’s day.

Jeff
I love that, that’s really cool. It sounds like it must be such a really rewarding experience to take a bride through the process of selecting a gown and watching all the different emotions that occur during that process.

Erin
It’s super fun and it’s so sweet. We’re like, don’t make eye contact when you cry because we’ll cry. Like, we’ve become really good friends. We sit down and we get to know them, we want to know what your wedding is like, your style, your fiancé, and I want to know more about it so I can help lead you to the dress that is your dress. You know, that perfect one that you can feel good in. But it’s so sweet, we kind of feel like we’ve become friends and family with people. We’re always like, please send us pictures, please call us. We get invited to weddings all the time. It’s really fun. Everyone is, typically 99 out of 100 are happy and ecstatic and really what a fun experience to come to. And they usually have family in town and it’s just something that I want to do. I started doing appointments again, I didn’t do them for a while when I was pregnant and all this. And I started doing them again and I’m like, I love these. I want to do these some more. So, it’s a lot of fun.

Jeff
I love it. Yeah, and Primal Brewery, that’s right, you are just a couple doors down from Primal Brewery.

Erin
Oh, yeah.

Jeff
Yeah, that’s someone else that I need to get on the podcast sometime. I need to connect with Primal Brewery some time.

Erin
Why not? Well, it’s just fun because we’ll see a bunch of groomsmen, they’ll come in and get measured, they’re all like, alright, we’re walking down to Primal. We’re like, see you later. So, they just park in our lot and walk down to Primal and I’m like, fine by me.

Jeff
Yeah, we love to cover craft brew here on the podcast.

Erin
Cool.

Jeff
So, yeah, we’ll definitely reach out for sure. Excellent. Well, thank you for sharing that. That’s really cool. I just can imagine what, I can tell too by your expression, and the way you describe it, that it must be just a real joy to meet these brides and take them through the process and, you know, hold their hand during the process. That’s really cool.

Erin
It is. It’s really cool.

Jeff
You brought up the team, I want to talk a little bit about the team at Bluebird Bridal. Share some details about the team.

Erin
Yeah, absolutely. So, there are six of us who work there. We’re all women, and sometimes women who work with women can go great or cannot go so great, so it depends. But we are all really good friends. And there’s a lot of mutual respect. And we range in age, from 25 to 50. And so, it’s really cool because you get to see somebody who just got married, is you know, somebody who works for me just got married, somebody else is married with children, somebody else is a grandmother and a mother. So, they get to see the moms that come in. So, there’s really all walks of life. And I have a handful of full-time and a handful of part-time girls, so we have a combination of the two. And knock on wood, I’m fortunate to say that all of them have been with me for a very long time. I try really hard to create a nice atmosphere and allow them to love their job just as much as I love having them. But I really can’t say enough. My full-time employee Lexi is my right-hand woman, and I really can’t say enough about her. She’s been with me a little over a year and has really, okay, I’ll give it to you straight. She’s a lot younger than I am. And so social media she’s really good at. I am not tech savvy. I don’t understand the reels and the TikToks and all that that people do, that’s fine. But I don’t know how to do that. So, Lexi is like my Godsend of that. And so, anything, people tell me all the time, your Instagram, your TikToks, I’m like, that’s not me. I’m not taking the credit. I did not do that. I’m just very fortunate to have the girls that work for me. We’re open six days a week, sometimes seven, just depending. Because we do right now have a lot, it’s engagement season, so we’re very busy right now. And everybody puts their best foot forward. So, I’m blessed beyond belief with the team I have.

Jeff
I love it. Yeah, it can’t be done without a team, can it?

Erin
No, there’s no way.

Jeff
Yeah, it’s a sentiment that’s kind of echoed throughout all of these conversations with small business owners and entrepreneurs. And I can certainly relate to that, too. I’ve tried to do a business in the past on my own, and it’s just, it can’t be done. I don’t recommend it.

Erin
It’s pretty much misery. Well, and I had a baby in September. And so, I was pregnant, and so I was in and out some, and then I took maternity leave for a while. And I knew that I could walk away from that store for a couple of months, and be with my baby, and everything went smoothly. And it did and it’s because of the girls that work for me. It’s not me. It’s very much them and what they do. They have such a passion for it. Like, I don’t know if it’s just because they love it as much or I’m feeling that passion through them, but it’s so cool to see. And when other brides will stop me or write us reviews about how great Laura is or how wonderful Danielle did or Kim or whatever it may be, I’m like, oh, my heart just feel so good because I just adore them and I’m so thankful for them. And I definitely could not do it, not even by myself, I couldn’t do it with just four people. Like I need all six of us to make this, this boat goes with all six people.

Jeff
I hear ya. Yeah. I love it. That’s super cool. Shout out to Lexi and the team, he whole team at Bluebird Bridal. I’m with you on social media, I struggle with it. You know, full disclosure, I do handle the social for The Best of LKN Facebook and Instagram and I don’t know how to do a reel, we’re not on TikTok, and we’re not going to TikTok either. So, just if that’s, unfortunately, I’m just, I’m done.

Erin
You and me both. I would like to be better. I mean, I probably should be more knowledgeable because it is, you know, it’s my target market. I mean brides are typically in their 20s and early 30s, and that’s the market that’s really heavy on that, but I just got smart enough to hire people that were in that age range. I’m like, I will pay you to help. But, you know, there’s another girl named Laura who works for me who is like killer on reels and everything. I’m like, y’all just go, like, I love you, thank you for that. And I will not even take the credit. I will give all credit where credit is due because I have nothing to do with it whatsoever.

Jeff
Yeah, yep, I hear ya, and I can relate for sure. You know, if it weren’t for the photos that my guests send us and the guests that we have on the podcast and our long form written blog articles, we take original photography, or we source original photography from guests like yourself. If it wasn’t for all that, I wouldn’t know what to post on Instagram. And yeah, a bridal boutique it’s a visual business. Right? So yeah, being out there on Insta and TikTok is super important.

Erin
Yep. Yeah, they started, we started with a previous employee who moved on from me, and she started Try-On Tuesdays. And on Tuesdays every day on Instagram, one of our employees gets on and tries on a few wedding dresses. And it is amazing the amount of brides who say, I saw you on Try-On Tuesdays that dress… So, it’s super important. I just, you know, I never jumped on that bandwagon heavily. But it’s really important, I know.

Jeff
It is, yeah, that’s a super cool idea. I love that, Try-On Tuesdays, create a theme and grow a following. Right?

Erin
Exactly.

Jeff
All right, cool. So, the next topic is something that I love to bring up with local small business owners and that’s when we have an opportunity to give other small businesses in the area shout out. And I don’t limit it to just businesses that are good partners for your business. It could also be small businesses in the area that you and your team or you and your family just love. Do you have a few for me?

Erin
I do. The first one I would give you, it’s a nonprofit, but I’d still heavily considered that, is called The Hope House. And it’s in Huntersville, and I have been working with them for almost four years now. And I plan their annual galas and help them with their events. And it is probably one of the most, I’m trying to think of the right words to use, it is the most heartwarming experience ever. The Hope House is a transitional living facility for women. They stay there for six months or so as they’re trying to get back on their feet. From some have, you know, homelessness, some have lost homes in a fire, some of them have moved, have been in trouble, whatever it may be. And they’re able to live in this home all together as a community. And they work and they pay, you know, rent and bills and things but then they help build them up to get them back on their feet. And every year we do this fundraising gala, and I have been so honored to be a part of that and watch the money run. And we’ve been able to build three cottages on the property to have women move into for another year. So, that I think would be business, nonprofit, whatever you want to call it. My heart goes to that every year. And that’s probably one of my top ones for sure here in the area. Another small business that I really love here is a local florist. Her name is Barbara and her company’s called, From This Day Forward. And she’s not only a wedding florist, I’ve worked with her many times, but she does, you know, daily flower deliveries, whether it be for sympathy, funerals, happy birthdays, whatever it may be, and she just has the sweetest heart of anyone I’ve ever met. She runs her business out of love and passion, not financials. And I think that that means a lot, because when you’re doing something kind of like dresses, flowers are the same way. There’s something really personal about those, people remember flowers, the smell, the color, the look of them. And Barbara really takes that into account into everything that she does. And so, she’s out of Mooresville, and so she’s definitely another location that I would say, this business is really cool. And I appreciate everything that she does for not only for the community, but also for the wedding industry, of course, which I work within. Yeah, I have one more, they’re not Lake Norman, am I allowed to go outside of Lake Norman?

Jeff
Yeah, absolutely.

Erin
I was like, does it need to stay in Lake Norman, or can I go outside of that? So, in Gastonia, I’m going to call it greater Charlotte area, it’s called Dulce Alterations. And Marissa and Doug are the owners and, again, just the most kind-hearted, genuine people and that’s how I like to do business. I like to do business with people who I know are in it for the right reasons. They have the best hearts; they have the best personalities. They’re fun, they’re vivacious, and they’re passionate about what they do, because that’s what I consider myself. And so, they’re an alteration company. They do a lot of our brides, but she also does all my personal clothes. I’m, okay, disclosure, as you said, I am five feet tall, so everything is way too long and too big, it’s just miserable. So, Marissa hooks me up with all my stuff, but she will, when I had a baby, she brought me a baby gift. She’ll swing by just to say hey, and bring us doughnuts, like could not be a more genuinely nice human being. And so, they’re in Gastonia, I know it’s a little outside of Lake Norman, but another small business and a woman-owned business at that, which is also really cool, that I would definitely say shout outs to them. They’re really good.

Jeff
Excellent. Yeah, thank you for mentioning them as well. I love that you lead with a nonprofit. And we love nonprofits here on the podcast. And The Hope House has been recognized in another episode. And I don’t recall offhand, which guest recognized The Hope House, but I’m familiar with The Hope House. And that’s actually a nonprofit that I really need to connect with and share the story about here on the podcast. So, I’ll be reaching out to the executive director at The Hope House in the near future. And hopefully, we can arrange a conversation for the podcast, I would love to share their story.

Erin
You should. Debbie and Jen are your main girls there and they’re amazing, and love to share the story of what they do. So yeah, you should reach out.

Jeff
From This Day Forward Florist, she sounds amazing. One of our sponsors is a florist. Have you worked with Blumengärten?

Erin
I am familiar with them, yes. It’s been many years. I’ve been a wedding planner for a long time. That’s certainly familiar. It’s been a while, but I do know who they are. Yes.

Jeff
Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, we’ll definitely, we’ll tag From This Day Forward as well in the show notes and on social if they’re on social as well. Dulce Alterations, we’ll have a link in the show notes as well. And it’s funny you mentioned five feet tall and being a challenge to find clothes that fit, my wife is 4’11”, so she can certainly relate, yeah.

Erin
She’s a girl after my own heart. I’m probably four eleven and like three fourths, but I just say five foot. They don’t measure you, my license says five foot, it’s fine, like, that’s how tall I am.

Jeff
Yeah, I think Lori’s license, my wife, I think her license says five feet also, but it’s a little bit of an exaggeration. I think we’re at four foot eleven.

Erin
You know what? Let her have it. Let her have that five foot on the license, let her have it.

Jeff
It’s all good. So, one last thing before I let you go. I’m sure that there’s a process involved for a bride. I mean, it’s a big deal selecting the wedding gown. Right? What advice would you have to share for newly engaged future brides when it comes to beginning that process of selecting their gown? Any advice in that space?

Erin
Absolutely. I would say the very first thing that they should do is be open-minded. A lot of times, because like you were saying, bridal dresses are so visual, a lot of times brides come to us and here’s pictures and Instagram or photos of what they want. But sometimes in-person or on their body versus a model, it doesn’t always compute the way that they would like it to. And so, we always say, just be open-minded. Our store is laid out by silhouette. So, there’s ballgowns here, there’s crape here, there’s destination. And so, we recommend anyone who comes in, try something from each section. That way, if you don’t like something, you can rule it out. I’m not offended, I didn’t design it, it’s cool. If you don’t like it, we’ll just get rid of it. So, the first thing I would say is, be really open-minded. The second thing I would say is to limit your crew or your posse into what you’re bringing. When COVID happened we limited it to two guests per bride, we’ve now opened it to three guests per bride, but we’re going to maintain that. That is the great number. You start bringing, you know, six, seven, eight people, as fun as that is, and as exciting as that is, it’s way too many opinions to try and decide when the bride’s the one who should decide, you know, it’s your dress, your day, what do you feel good in? And so, we recommend limiting the number of people you have. It’s kind of like if six or seven of you can’t even agree on a restaurant, like how are you going to agree on a bridal gown. So, you know, I would say be open-minded, limit what you have, and then the last one I would say is, and we affectionately call it FOBO, which FOMO you know, fear of missing out, we call it FOBO, which is fear of better options. And what happens is a bride will go to five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten stores thinking that she’s missing something or thinking that there’s something there, and then it kind of becomes a not very fun experience. And so, we say, when you find one and you get that feeling whether you emotion, you jump up and down, you don’t want to get out of it. You feel amazing, sexy, beautiful, classy, whatever you want to feel. Just stop, like that’s it, like you feel amazing and that’s your dress, and then don’t worry about, you know, thinking you’re missing out on something. So, if I had to give three tips, to be open-minded, limit your crew/your posse so that you don’t get overwhelmed by that, I would definitely say those two things. And once you get that feeling, it is it. Don’t have FOBO, don’t have fear of better options, that’s your dress and it should be the one you pick.

Jeff
Great. Erin, before we share how listeners can learn more about Bluebird Bridal, I just want to say thank you so much for taking time out of your super-busy schedule. I know things are just crazy right now at the shop, I’m sure. So, thank you for taking time to join the podcast. And now, if you would just share with the listeners how they can learn more about Bluebird Bridal and where you’re located.

Erin
Absolutely. Well, thank you for having me. First off, I really appreciate that. We are located in Huntersville. If you’re familiar with Primal Brewery, it’s just a couple doors up, we’re right at the intersection of Old Statesville and 73. You can go to bluebirdbridal.com to get some more information. And by all means, check out the social media, it’s @bluebirdbridalnc on Instagram and you can check out what all my employees do that I do not do. Feel free to check all that out. But we would love to help anyone that we personally can hear in the area.

Jeff
Check out the cool reels @bluebirdbridalnc on Instagram. Erin Connair, owner of Bluebird Bridal. Erin, thank you again so much for joining the podcast, really appreciate it.

Erin
Thank you so much, Jeff.

Jeff
Big thanks again to Erin Connair for joining the podcast and sharing the story of her small business, Bluebird Bridal. You can learn more about Bluebird Bridal at www.bluebirdbridal.com and follow them on Instagram @bluebirdbridalnc. I’ll have that link along with links to the other local small businesses Erin mentioned during our conversation in the show notes for this episode. As always, you can find the complete show notes for all of our episodes at the home for Lake Norman’s number one small business podcast, www.thebestoflkn.com. You can find links to our sponsors and brand partners on our homepage and in the show notes. I encourage you to learn more about them and support these local small businesses that are supporting our platform. If you’re a local small business that could use some innovative advertising to grow your brand, please have a look at our Brand Partnership Program at thebestoflkn.com/advertise. And don’t forget, we send our email newsletter subscribers exclusive content each week, so consider signing up. It’s free, easy to sign up, and another great way to support our platform. Speaking of exclusive content, the latest article on the blog features a guide to the best private schools in the Lake Norman area. Can you guess which school tops the list? We have much more really cool content on the way for the blog, including more food and beverage articles, a topic that we love to research, and a YouTube channel launches in March, so stay tuned. My friends, that’s going to do it for this episode of The Best of LKN podcast. Thanks as always for joining us and following along. We’ll have another episode for you next week, same time, same place. Until then, cheers Lake Norman. Bye for now.

Narrator
We hope you’ve enjoyed this episode of The Best of LKN. For more information about this podcast, show notes, video episodes, and links to our featured businesses, please visit www.thebestoflkn.com. We publish episodes weekly, so be sure to subscribe and stay up to date. Until next time, cheers Lake Norman.