Lisa Groce (Bridal Consultant) ... From Yadkin Valley Living magazine


Surrounded by satin and silk bridal gowns - all a girl's senses are alerted to the look, the feel, the fantasy of the wedding scenario. But it's a real world for Lisa Groce, owner of Southern Bride, it is a "dream" that took years of work and accumulation of experience to materialize.

A fashion design graduate of the University of North Carolina in Greensboro, Lisa jumped right into the apparel market. After seven years of retail management and seven years of traveling overseas, largely in the Orient as an import manager, her thoughts turned to retail, her own retail market.

Not being reckless but a very methodical person, Lisa thoroughly researched her idea of a bridal and prom shop. Central on the showroom floor is a display cabinet filled with Lisa's bridal doll collection. Pampering a longtime love of formal wear and dressing people up, her idea seemed perfect to her and in 1992 she opened Southern Bride.

What sets Lisa apart in the business is her service attitude. "I stress being as accommodating as you can possibly be," she says at training sessions. "I hire folks who love this business, have fashion sense and want to make the customer feel important when they're in the store." If a rough day starts to get under her skin she strolls over to a wall board by the dressing rooms that are simply covered over with thank you notes and wedding pictures from happy brides and their families. After reading those words of appreciation, she can put the smile back on her face and know it's gratifying that these folks will remember her for years. "It's interesting that corporate decisions never hear results but after a wedding - it's pictures and appreciation notes!"

Lisa is a member and volunteer of the Business Leadership council. In 1993 she started working with the marketing teachers at both of her county's high schools. She established a fashion show that has become such a popular tradition that tryouts are now a necessity. The students learn marketing skills specifically about working with customers - helping to fit customers properly. They work with music - choral students fill in during costume changes. Buffing up on manners and grooming is part of the program - they are basically taught to escort. And then there's choreography - dancing students are encouraged to help and they actually learn some ballroom dancing in the process! Parents are eager to volunteer with hair dressing for both guys and gals. The whole event takes hours of preparation and practice but the end product brings together a positive result - a group the feels good about how they look and what they have accomplished. For the parents, through the prideful smiles and tears, well, it's priceless! For the kids? "It's a 98% show-up for practices," says Lisa. For Lisa, the very next day begins the idea inventory, especially while going to trade shows, for the next year's fashion show.

Being a wife, mother of two, (one Jr. high and one high school), boys active scholastically and athletically, and an entrepreneur, keeps Lisa busy. For relaxation she uses her talent from a fine arts minor to create individual sketches used in conjunction with photography on the same canvas to make an unusual and appealing portrait.

Would she do it all again? "Most definitely," Lisa readily says. She is still fascinated to learn how her clients met, appreciative of being a part of one of the most important days of a couple's life and gratified that couples and their families stay in touch for years to come.

© 2003 Yadkin Valley Living
©2008 Southern Bride, Inc.
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