Because of COVID-19 and social distancing requirements, Darianna Bridal & Tuxedo began offering video appointments for our brides and grooms even before the general shutdown in Pennsylvania. It turns out, our brides and grooms loved the service and began booking video appointments with us pretty immediately.
While we continue to monitor the Center for Disease Control’s recommendations for safe practices during the pandemic, we feel that a video appointment can be both convenient and appealing to those who want to further reduce the risk of the Coronavirus. We did re-open to serve you in our store on June 5, 2020 but created many new procedures to keep you safe.
In fact, the Intelligencer newspaper learned of our video appointments and sent a photographer to catch some of our appointments in action. On March 30, 2020, they published those photos describing several video appointments!
Even though we are a small, family business, we really enjoy using technology to keep in touch with our customers. There are so many methods to communicate with us and now video appointments are here to stay, even after we are past the coronavirus!
Most of our customers have done their video appointments with us by FaceTime or Google Duo. Google Duo is a free Google app that will allow an iPhone and Android phone to do a free video call together.
On a few occasions, we’ve done video appointments by Skype, Google Meet, WhatsApp and Zoom. Most of our customers enjoy the convenience of using their mobile phones for a video appointment, so FaceTime and Google Duo have been the most popular apps that we have used. However, we can accommodate other platforms as well.
Tuxedo Appointments
During your tuxedo and suit appointment, we will introduce ourselves and in the comfort of your own home, you will get to learn who we are and meet us by video connection! We will explain to you the entire rental or purchase process and provide you with timelines and advice on getting all of your groomsmen and fathers measured and fitted.
Just like our in-person appointments, we will provide you with some ideas on what the fathers can wear, how to distinguish the groom from the groomsmen, and answer any of your questions about the process. We also explain the the difference between a tuxedo and suit and show you actual suits and tuxedos in the video.
We will also provide you with detailed instructions on how to get your out-of-town groomsmen to get measured and how they can easily submit their measurements and payments on our website.
After the video appointment, you will have several things to think about and the next time we see each other, you will have a better idea of what your groom will want to try on. We are just a text away if you forgot to ask a question, or think of one afterwards!
Bridal Video Appointment
So yes, we’ve done bridal video appointments too! These have worked in many different ways. During the shutdown ordered by Pennsylvania’s governor, we would have brides choose dresses that they like. We would also choose dresses for her based on what she likes in a wedding dress. Our daughter, Daria, would model the dresses and we would provide a live video feed to the bride so that she could see what the wedding dresses looked like on a person, as it moved, twirled, and sparkled. This is better than seeing it on the mannequin.
This video appointment allows the bride to choose her favorite bridal gowns and rule out any that she is not interested in. This way, when she visits us in person to try her favorites on, she is ready to hit the ground running. We keep detailed notes of the dresses that will be tried on when the bride visits our bridal store. What a great way to research dresses and make the best use of time, all while staying safe at home!
During this appointment, as with our in-person appointments, we are able to explain dress fabrics, dress silhouettes, bustling options, customizations, and timing for arrival of your beautiful dress from the designer once ordered. And of course, we can answer any questions that you may have. We can even try on belts, veils and hair pieces in the video call if you’d like to see those as well.
Because of COVID-19, we are currently limiting the number of guests that are permitted to attend your bridal appointment. You are allowed to have 3 guests plus the bride, 4 people in all. To compensate for this, we can add other guests who would like to share in our bridal appointment by video.
Many of our brides have added Grandmom to her video appointment so that she can safely participate in the moment, or maybe it’s your friend in another state who could not travel to the area due to COVID. We recently had a bride FaceTime her maid of honor who was located in Colorado. The maid of honor anticipated coming to our store to share in her friend’s wedding dress shopping experience but due to COVID, chose not to fly during the holidays.
Our bridal stylists can take the phone and camera and show the video participants a 360 degree view of dresses, accessories and of course your reaction! Brides can also use our ring light to capture the dress it in lighting that will show off all of its amazing features!
By Far Our Most Unusual Video Appointment
Our favorite video appointment was with a bride 7,000 miles away. We currently have a bride who lives in Seoul Korea. Because of the pandemic, she is unable to come home to try on wedding dresses with her family. The bride’s sister, who lives in Philadelphia, was kind enough to model dresses for her in our store during a video appointment. Through Instagram messenger, we communicated with the bride in Korea and helped her choose bridal gowns to her liking. When mom, sister and a friend came for the appointment, they also chose dresses for her.
The bride was able to see her favorite dresses on her sister and say yes to the dress from Seoul, Korea!
Making a Video Appointment
So how do you make a video appointment? This is very easy. You can make an online appointment and in the notes to your request, ask for a video appointment. You can also request a video appointment by texting our store’s telephone number: 215-491-8500. Video appointment requests can be made by sending us a message via Facebook Messenger, Instagram Messenger or message on Google from your mobile phone by Googling Darianna Bridal & Tuxedo. Of course, you can always call us too!
So what are you waiting for? Make your video appointment today! We can’t wait to meet you!
About the author: Franco Salerno is co-founder and co-owner of Darianna Bridal & Tuxedo, now in their eighth year in business. In that time, he built the tuxedo department into a force rivaling big box stores by providing expertise, caring service, and beautiful, quality formal wear. Personally invested in every transaction, Mr. Salerno provides customers with the utmost trust and confidence, assuring their wedding or formal event attire will be perfect. A native of Philadelphia, he currently resides in Warrington, Bucks County with his wife and store co-founder/co-owner Wendy, and their two daughters for whom the store was named, Daria and Deanna.