My Wedding Round

The Suite

26 Drury Street, Dublin 2

Welcome to the first edition of My Wedding Round …

For those of you who don’t know, My Wedding Round is a feature I am currently launching and it’s where I will meet with wedding suppliers to learn more about them, their product/service, get lots of photos and advice and post about it to help all you brides and grooms get to know some wedding suppliers! I am a HR professional by trade so marrying my HR background and meeting wedding suppliers is the perfect combination for this feature.

I met with Tara from The Suite (www.thesuite.ie) and we talked all things wedding dresses! The bridal store is located on Drury Street which was just so apt as “Drury” is my maiden name! Being located in city centre, just off Grafton Street, means that you can make a day of your appointment in Dublin if you travel to the boutique and/or it is ideal for brides who work in town to pop in on their lunch break too.

We started off the interview (after lots of chats and me eyeballing all the wonderful dresses) by asking Tara to tell me about herself and her Irish business.

Tara grew up in a family who have a love for all things wedding related and growing up she attended many Bridal Fashion weeks and trade shows.  Whilst at first she didn’t think she would end up with her own shop, destiny brought her home to what she loves best! Tara studied Economics and Philosophy in UCD, followed by modelling and working in fashion in New York, London, Milan and Ireland before completing her postgrad in The London College of Fashion.  With a background like this, she is the perfect person to run a bridal store.

After her sister ended up going abroad to get her wedding dress having not found the ONE in Ireland it triggered something for Tara and on the back of this she established The Suite. The world renowned designers she has sourced herself are exclusively available at The Suite so it offers brides the option of something different and exclusive (and not having to go abroad like her sister to source a dress).

May’s Question: Are you wary of seasonal trends?

Tara’s Answer: “No, as it brings you back to a time and a place.  It doesn’t matter that it may have been seasonal it was you at the time and looking back on those photos will give you so many memories of that day”

I think this is a really interesting comment as I would have been conscious of trends when I was wedding dress shopping myself and hence I wanted something timeless but what Tara says makes perfect sense.

Tara has attended lots of bridal fashion fairs of late and she is seeing the halter neck becoming popular after we all fell in love with Meghan Markle’s 2^nd wedding dress.

I must have been ahead of this trend as I originally wanted a halter neck dress for my wedding but they were very limited at the time and I couldn’t find the right one so I went with a strapless one!

Me playing dress up! There will be another post with the full look to show you how amazing the layers can be!

May’s Question: How do you know what dress will suit the bride? Do you go by the shape charts that we see online all the time?

Tara’s Answer: Tara doesn’t go by the shape charts as she believes each person is different. She likes to get as much information as she can from the bride so she can pick out the right dresses for them to try on. And so for this very reason when you are booking an appointment with The Suite you complete an interview form letting Tara and her team know your preferred style, budget, venue etc.  All these details will have an impact on your dress and what you like etc! Tara talked a lot about giving a real experience and building a genuine rapport with the bride. With the retail industry tending to be fast fashion and how most of us purchase online, the experience of buying your wedding dress is something we are not familiar with.  As a result, Tara wants to make it extra special and get that connection with the bride and I have to say after our meeting, Tara is most definitely a people’s person and I connected with her straight away.

May’s Question: How do you manage expectations? Say a bride tries on a dress and it just doesn’t suit her?

Tara’s Answer: For Tara there are no rules and it is all about what YOU feel comfortable in but honesty is the best policy so if there was another dress that might suit the bride better Tara would suggest she try it on.

However, Tara made a very good point and that was whilst a bride does lots of research on the dress they may have very high expectations and not realise it themselves.  For instance, if a bride is searching for her wedding dress she will more than likely follow a lot of bridal shops on social media and as a result their feed will be filled with lots of images of dress that may be distorted or be of a couture nature costing in excess of €20K.

There is also the FOMO factor that what if I buy this dress now and then I find something else I like online! Sometimes the old fashioned ways are the best and you can’t go wrong with magazine cut-outs of dresses you like!

May’s Question: I was lucky to interview Tara when the Charlie Brear trunk show was in town so I had to ask her what is a trunk show as I had never been to one before?

Tara’s Answer: It’s a special event where a bridal store will have a set time (usually a week or weekend) where they will have a fuller range of a particular designers dresses! If you know you want a specific designer (or style) these trunk shows are for you.  As Tara says if you have visited her shop and have fallen in love with a designer or registered interest in a designer online then you will get an invite to the trunk show! As Tara exclusively stocks her designer dresses trunk show are very popular. I was very lucky to visit the shop when the Charlie Brear trunk show was in town.

In my view Charlie Brear dresses are for the bride who wants a twist of traditional, something modern, a touch of vintage (which would be my cup of tea) or to layer up (as it is a collection of separates).  The pieces are just out of this world and for this interview we just concentrated on this designer as we were so engrossed in the fabulous pieces we didn’t get time to look at any other designers or the bridesmaid dresses (but there is always next time).

Carol wore the Torum dress with Augustine Top and her bridesmaids wore Amsale

Caroline wearing the Calla Top and Canya skirt

And now for some of the finer details you may be more interested to know having read this interview with Tara

Finer Details

• Location
  • 26 Drury Street, Dublin 2
  • Website: thesuite.ie
  • Instagram: thesuitebride
  • Facebook: thesuitebride
• Designers
  • Exclusive Wedding Dress Designers Include: Charlie Brear, Monique Lhuillier Bliss, Elizabeth Fillmore, Nicole Miller, Rosa Clara
  • Exclusive Bridesmaid Dress Designers Include: Amsale, Ghost, Jenny Yoo, Katie May
  • Intimate Lingerie is located in The Suite too (and is managed by Tara’s Mum). She has been catering for all bridal needs and underwear fitting for over 25 years and offers made to order custom bridal underwear also.
• Appointments
  • Book appointment online, phone, email
  • Complete interview form prior to date of appointment
  • Last approximately 1 hour
  • Bring along a trusted friend/family
  • Wear the right underwear
  • Enjoy the experience