‘Just the start’ - Meet the South Shields bridal studio owner ‘living her dream’

Jade Richardson-Gage, the owner of Engaged Bridal Studio, on Horsley Hill Square in South Shields, has revealed how the first seven months of running her business has gone.

The shop officially opened in November 2023 after Jade accomplished her dream of establishing her own bridal studio following her own struggles to find the perfect dress for her wedding in 2017.

Engaged Bridal Studio specialises in ex-sample, discontinued and “off-the-peg” designer wedding dresses and accessories - along with offering brides-to-be the chance to have a premium dress-fitting experience.

Having now been in business for seven months, Jade sat down with the Shields Gazette to give an insight into how it has gone so far.

She said: “The opening day was incredible, you could barely get moved around the studio with how full it was.

“From then on, I’ve pretty much had most weekends fully booked and there is still a massive interest for appointments.

“It has been absolutely amazing and I am literally living the dream.

“Some of the brides who have bought dresses are now starting to recommend the studio to their friends and family members so I feel like that is a huge win.

“It is great to know that I’ve given someone such a good experience that they are now wanting to pass it on to someone else.

“That is what I live for and that is what I want to continue with going forward.”

Since opening last year, Jade has also had the opportunity to showcase other local wedding vendors who are based both in South Tyneside and the wider North East.

She has revealed that this is something that she wants to continue going forward as her business grows from strength to strength.

Jade added: “Before I opened, I contacted quite a few local vendors in the wedding industry and asked for advice and now I want to pay that back.

“With the success that I’ve had so far, I thought it would be great to hold events and make the studio a space to celebrate each other.

“I started with a small event with lots of local supplies and because it was a success, we repeated that a few weeks ago and I am definitely planning on doing more.

“This is just the start of Engaged Bridal and from here I want to be the destination where people want to come as soon as they find out they are getting married.

“If we can expand further down the line then that would be amazing and possibly look into things like franchising but for now, I’m happy with having exclusive wedding dresses.

“It has been amazing so far, I can’t thank everyone enough for the support and if you need a wedding dress, you know where to come.”

You can find out more about Engaged Bridal Studio at: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100092979593568 or: https://www.instagram.com/engaged_bridal_studio.