White Dresses Boutique owner, Ella, shared with us the story of how her couture bridal gown store popped up in the south. She gives all the credit to her aunt, and we loved the story so much, you’ve got to dive in with us:
In the 1930s, a petite woman named Madie Ella Leonard opened a fine dress store in a tiny Alabama town. Convinced that mixing the fashions of the Big Apple with service drenched in Southern charm would create a shopping destination people would have to revisit, Madie purchased her first few lines of inventory and stocked the shelves with finery that would make any Southern lady swoon. Though met with a lot of people who told her tiny Alabama couldn’t handle couture, Madie went on to operate one of the most influential dress shops in Alabama – dressing Southern women for over 40 years.
Madie, who is now 108, passed her love of fashion down to her nieces – who she treated like the daughters she never had. With the same love of couture and desire to bring something new and innovative to the bridal market in Huntsville, Madie’s nieces, along with their mom, opened White Dresses.
I’m not sure there’s anyone who wouldn’t love the combination of couture and southern charm. So much so that it would be worth the trip to make it to Alabama. Not only that, but White Dresses carries brands that often times, are not offered anywhere else in the Southeast! If you are indeed a southeastern bride, you can head here to schedule an appointment!
The most important thing to White Dresses is the bride. They develop relationships with their brides and that relationship lasts well past the day a bride makes her deposit. All of our brides are sent a small surprise on their wedding day. It makes seeing their photos in our gowns or viewing their wedding video even more special because they know them! And it isn’t odd for them to get an invitation to a wedding after getting to know their brides!
White dresses is hosting several trunk shows of some of our FAVORITE dress brands. You can check out their most upcoming shows below, or head to their events page to stay posted. If you don’t know much about trunk shows, it’s the opportunity for you to get to try on and see all the dresses from just one designer. Because there are so few samples of each design, this is your moment to make sure you get a chance to try on your fave dress!!!
Hayley Paige Trunk Show – June 28-30
Blush Trunk Show – July 19-21
Francesca Miranda Trunk Show – August 2-3 (Dresses will remain until August 10th) *Designer Representative
Cocoe Voci Trunk Show – August 9-10 (Dresses will arrive August 2nd) *Designer Representative
Have you found your dress, darlings, or are you still on the hunt?