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Celebrations Bridal and Prom held their own celebration on January 12th for the 35th anniversary.
Although originally owned by Connie Worley, the store first opened in 1988. Now, the facility is owned by Ashley Orr.
Orr grew up around fashion with her mother teaching her fashion design and marketing. Orr attributes this to her passion for fashion from a young age.
But her mother had some advice – get a real job and don’t work in retail.
Orr listened and went to Texas A&M for her computer science degree and landed what her mother said was a real job. However, her passion for fashion did not go away.
Orr opened her first boutique in 2004 in Sacramento, California.
“We didn’t have a house, but we had a business, which was amazing,” Orr said. “Most banks say, ‘No, we won’t give you a loan. You don’t have a home.’ Funding this is very difficult and just like learning anything else, but you are responsible for your own destiny…there is no such thing as a guaranteed paycheck, so to speak.”
She later sold the store and returned to her hometown of New Braunfels with her husband in 2008.
She took a break from fashion and moved to Austin to work in tech. After their son was injured at his school in New Braunfels, the couple found it impossible to commute to and from Austin for work.
Orr met Worlin through a friend, and it was around this time that Orr got the chance to talk about buying the business.
“I had a lot of friends from New Braunfels, and they got wedding dresses here or they got prom dresses here,” Orr said. “I knew it was a staple in the community, and I thought it was a great legacy to carry on. You know, it’s a cool old building. It used to be the bus station for New Braunfels with a historical marker out front.
In the year Built in the 1920s by A. Moller and owned by his brother, this building was a bus station and cafe. Now, nearly 100 years later, celebrations serve their customers in formal attire.
When you enter the boutique, you can see a selection of prom dresses; Orr said he will attend high school prom where the dresses will go. This is to ensure that the girls don’t go to prom wearing the same clothes; You don’t sell the same dress in the same color to two girls going to the same prom.
Additionally, celebratory tuxedos and suits are available for rent and purchase. In fact, Celebrations has been the preferred supplier of gym casual wear for over 10 years.
Celebrants produce their formal wear and create a collection based on what their customers want and what designers have available.
What’s more, Celebrations is one of the few full-service boutiques in South Texas. According to Orr, clients get a specialist to help with every formal wear, from the wedding gown to the groomsmen’s suits.
“The other thing is domestic changes,” Orr said. “We have our maid, Maritza; she’s upstairs from us in a studio apartment above the building. She doesn’t work for us, but we contract with her. And we’ve been working with her for 10-plus years. So she comes down to our store two days a week and meets with our customers.
The process is personal and what Orr loves most about running the business. Orr said she loves talking to brides as they pick up their dresses before their wedding, discussing their final plans and hearing how excited they are for their big day.
“I just had three, brides, come in with their moms and say, ‘Mom got her dress here, and now it’s my turn.’ That’s just the best. It is very special. Like, really? You had such a great experience the first time and now you’re back, and you’re having a great time, and you’re shopping for clothes and making wedding details,” Orr said. “That’s great.”
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