I recently caught up with Erin McKenna, the owner of Curve Bridal Boutique an incredible bridal boutique based in Brisbane, focusing on giving a choice to curvy girls and making them feel absolutely beautiful for their wedding day.
Being the first one on the chopping block to be involved in my Badass in Business segment, I'm so happy with how this turned out and really stoked that I can not only showcase Erin's insane talent but also her awesome personality. We connected so well that we have started our very own podcast together called the At Last Podcast, something worth checking out after you watch this legend.
So I want you to tell me about yourself and how did you get the idea to start Curve Bridal?
I'm Erin McKenna and I came from Townsville, so I'm not a Bribanite but I definitely had these aspirations of doing something in Brisbane. something amazing and I was in sales for years I sold anything and everything. I met my beautiful partner Jason and about two years into our relationship I was bored and just bashing my head against walls over bad job relationships. I would I would go into these jobs wanting to commit for ever and I would find for some reason or another it wasn't a good mesh towards the end of it. I was working for a really, really great bridal stockists here in Brisbane you know they're fantastic and they taught me everything that I needed to know, they sort of gave me this stepping stone and the knowledge that I needed to then really commit. I was then getting really good at styling and getting really good at sort of you know, helping girls find their dream dress but I was finding that there was this gap in the market. That was more or less, if you were over a size 12 if you sat between 14 and 20+ it was really tough I don't to say that but there was nothing because there would have been the odd couple of dresses, but nothing like to an extent of a wide selection I wouldn't say so no. There are beautiful size 8 girls and there are beautiful size 18 girls and they are beautifully sized, my role I think in the industry was never to come and combat anyone, no, it was actually just too create choice and so you could come into a shop if you're a curvy girl or a plus-size girl and you'd know that I'm never gonna judge you on your size or body or your budget and then you could come in here and I could at least have five or six dresses that you could try in your size, that would make you feel beautiful. So that was that was it the curve ethos and then it was September last year that we wrote the business plan and we're now in January 2019. I got the idea at like midnight and Jason was like Curve Bridal and I was like oh my god and I literally registered the business that night and then we just sort of started making emails and then I started contacting designers and then that one designer came on and then another one and then another one...
What mind sets have made you successful so far ?
Stubbornness. Yeah complete unrelenting stubbornness and a unwillingness to change who I am. I think one of the biggest hurdles that I have in business is "what do you want me to be?" in order for me to be successful and that was my first thing is like I need to be me. I'm stubborn for what I want, I'm impatient I want it now and I don't believe in anything not being possible. I don't think I think you are the only person that can decide whether things
are possible or not because you know, if you get up in the morning and you go I'm going to send that email to that person and even if they say no I don't care or you go, I'm not going to send it because they're gonna say no then you'll never have a business to show.
What's the best way to start your day?
I have the three C's first of all it's my cat's yeah I have three cats that waking up at five o'clock every morning to go through them then I come back for a cuddle so I come back and ever cuddle with my partner so after I fed the cat or he's fed the cats we would come and cuddle because I think it's important to connect and start the day with love the third one is coffee.
Wedding trends one that you love and one that you hate?
Okay so what I do love is, I love unique ceremony spaces circular arbors with the geometric shapes you know like not just flowers in an arbor, like something different. Different florals, personal, unique yeah I like boho kind of dream and then hates a strong word but I but I hate it, I hate taffeta it's a material and it's like this scratchy eighties formal dress material.
Favorite binge worthy TV series?
Game of Thrones and also Vikings.
Travel plans was what's next on the bucket list?
I'll be heading off to New York in the next year to take my first trip to go and dive in to New York then the other thing is my partner and I really want to buy a beat-up old van and I want to go travelling around Australia and kind of just see way more my country because I haven't seen any of it.
How do you feel about doing pineapple on pizza?
I'm not mad about it
Speaking of food if you could, only eat one food for the rest of your life what would it be?
As a curvy girl people assume that I eat a lot.... and they'd be right. I love fried rice.
Who would you most like to sit next to on a 10-hour flight?
I actually would sit next to Rebel Wilson, Rebel Wilson if you can see this you are one of my idols I just love how unapologetically her, she is. I want to know how she did it how did she make it through the industry for such a long time and crack into the American market? How did she persevered through body-shaming and everything, you know? I would want to be a sponge and then her best friend.
If everything in your house has to be one colour what would it be?
Emerald green
If you could be reincarnated into anything what would it be?
A man., and I would buy you dinner ladies
If you could live in any television or movie reality what would it be?
I would be in Doctor Strange so that I could then go into any alternate universe because I wanna be in all of them you know? I wanna be in every Disney movie, I wanted to be in Game of Thrones cuz I would Cersi (without the brother stuff) I would Cersi everyone, I would I be like you dead, you dead! Or Ned Stark without the beheading.
Finally where can we find you online?
Facebook: Curve Bridal Boutique
Instagram: @curvebridalboutique
Website: www.curvebridalboutique.com
I'm by appointment on the girls and I do that because I want to dedicate all of this to all of you in all seriousness we're not the biggest boutique we are a smaller boutique and so what I want to do is basically give you the whole shop, the whole run of all of the dresses and all of my attention and so we do that by online appointments.