So you're getting hitched (married, civil-unioned, domestic housecatted, etc) and those traditional labels of "bride" and "groom" just don't fit. A pair of enterprising newlyweds (Allyson in the white tie and Shelly in the maroon one) totally agree. So they came up with their own business: Broom and Gride.com We had to ask 'em to dish on the details!
How did the idea originate, and how did you go about getting shirts made?
When Allyson and I were in the process of getting married we could not relate to being called a "bride" or a "groom." We wanted to come up with names that better described us and didn't have stereotypical images or labels attached. We decided on "broom" and "gride" because we felt like a combination of bride and groom. Not too butch, not too femme, just us!
We got shirts made and wore them to our bachelorette party (or dykette party as we called it), our rehearsal dinner, and the night of our reception. We got such a great response that we decided to market them. We used a local printing company that was referred to us by a friend.
What made you decide to make the leap from "cool idea" to "online business?"
We got such a great response from our friends and family, gay and straight, that we thought that maybe we had something here. We looked into starting our own online business and did some other research and decided to go for it. We started out small, only printing a few shirts, and then as the demand increased we ordered more.
How has the response been? Any interesting, amusing stories from your customers?
The response has been great. We love talking to our customers and hearing about how they got engaged and how they meet. Some even have sent us photos of themselves in our shirts which we plan to publish on our website very soon. We were shocked to find that we had gone international when we made our first Australian sale a few months ago.
Any plans to expand the line into more items?
We do plan to expand our line into more items. We have several ideas in the works and are urging people to sign up for our newsletter at www.broomandgride.com and to check with our blog at www.broomandgride.blogspot.com as we will advertise our new products there first.
What's been the most fun about the Broom and Gride biz so far? The most challenging?
The best thing about starting this company has to be meeting so many new and interesting people. We have also become more active in the LGBT community because of our business and our passion for same-sex marriage rights. The most challenging part is keeping up on our social networking sites :)
Any advice for women thinking of starting their own businesses -- especially in these difficult economic times?
If you have an idea and you think it will be sucessful, go for it. We decided to move forward with our business because we didn't want to end up kicking ourselves down the line. Sometimes in life you have to take risks! However, we would suggest starting small and once the demand is there and business is successful branch into new products and ideas.
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