Tackling Coronavirus
Let's talk Coronavirus. Don't worry- you can't get sick from reading this blog post. We know that these are scary times, so we want to answer some questions and let you know what we are doing to help slow the spread.
First, we are getting tons of calls about this and yes, many of our gowns are manufactured in China. Doesn't exactly make you feel all warm and fuzzy, but let us assure you that we are in constant contact with our designers to stay on top of ship dates. For the most part, these designers are back up and running so delays are minimal. Others have worried that the virus may be still be alive on the dress when it comes in. According to NPR.com, "the virus can survive on hard surfaces such as plastic and stainless steel for up to 72 hours and on cardboard for up to 24 hours." It takes the dress much longer than that to get to us, so we are good.
As for what we are working on here in the store, we want to reassure you that we have plenty of hand soap (and toilet paper). We are regularly going around the store wielding our handy Clorox wipes tackling COVID-19 and any other illnesses that may walk through the door. We are also walking the floors with Lysol spray to get the surfaces that are harder to wipe down. We are working by APPOINTMENT ONLY during this time. We ask that you stay in your car and call us upon your arrival (especially on Saturdays) so that we can make sure that the store is cleaned between each customer.
Normally, we are an affectionate bunch, but don't be surprised if during this time we don't hug you or shake your hand. (Some of us may forget and try to go in for the hug, but just come at us with an elbow bump and we will get it.) Just know that despite the lack of a hug, we are really super excited for you!
We don't want to get sick (like even a little bit) and we don't want our other customers to get sick. So if you come in looking sickly, we will ask you to reschedule. This is nothing personal, so please, please, please don't go leaving negative reviews all over the place. We will also be requiring masks to enter the store. We know that a mask can't keep you from becoming sick, it can however prevent a person from spreading it if they are sick and don't know it. We will let you take it off to take pictures as long as there is a good social distance :) And we promise, if we are sick, we will not come to work.
During your appointment, we are asking that you reduce the number of people present. Two people to help you say "Yes!" to your dress is an ideal number. We know this is an exciting time and you want to have all your people with you, but our space can simply not handle more people if we want to maintain a good social distance. We have free wifi available to FaceTime or Skype those who can't make it. We are also limiting the number of appointments we take a day. We have removed half of our seating from the bridal suites to encourage social distancing.
We are keeping up with the news and the governors orders. Our actions for running the store may change accordingly. Please know that we will be communicating with you every step of the way. If you have already purchased your gown, we will not just close our doors and lock your dress inside. We will call you. We will text you. We will straight up stalk you to figure out how to get your dress to you. If you haven't bought your dress yet, y'all better get in here and get it ordered- dresses are taking 4-6 months to come in and that time could change and get longer.
Also, we did not have any readily available photos for Coronavirus (shocking I know!), so we snagged all of these from the web.