Meet Keneshia Raymond of Curvy Unicorn Bridal

Today we’d like to introduce you to Keneshia Raymond.

Keneshia, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I started in the wedding industry a little over ten years ago as a wedding planner. I quickly realized planning was not my passion, but the design and education were, I focused on growing my wedding design business and trying to figure out how I could make my mark on the wedding industry through education.

Five years in I became the VP of Wed Tech Summit and it changed my life. I was able to not only make an impact on the wedding industry but also able to grow the education side of my business. With Wed Tech Summit we hosted two groundbreaking and phenomenal conferences one in San Francisco & one in Maui, HI.

This is where my passion for the wedding industry really grew. I was able to really sit back and see the holes in a $300billion dollar industry. I knew I wanted to fill in gaps through education and helping wed-tech companies get funding. I dove in head first, and it really was amazing to help a business grow and see them really start to stand out in a market that can be very crowded.

In 2017 after launching a new Bridal Brand for a client, I was approached by someone to see if I had ever thought of creating a plus size wedding dress line myself. With no fashion experience, I said yes, but I think it will be five years down the line. Well after doing some research and listening to stories from plus size brides who had awful experiences trying to find a wedding dress. I knew I had to do something about it.

Your wedding dress shopping experience is supposed to be one of the best times of your life, but these brides were running into shops that did not carry their size, or the dresses were upsized from straight sizes. That simply does not work! Curvy Unicorn Bridal was born in 2017 and launched in January 2018, we worked with an amazing company to help us design our dresses for plus-sized brides.

Each dress is designed for a plus-sized bride by a plus size women. I understand the plus size body because I am plus size myself. This year in 2019 we have gone completely custom giving our curvy brides a chance to design their dress side by side with our designer and stylist. Not only do they finally get to have the dress of their dreams but they get to design it themselves.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
This has in no way been a smooth ride, but it is so worth it. When I started, I had a business partner, and we parted a month before launch. With no fashion experience or being able to sketch I had to find people that could help me along the way who understood the vision.

Designing wedding dresses has been like learning a whole new language, but between research and the support of an amazing team, we have been able to get it done. Not to say that it’s smooth now, we still hit bumps in the road but we love our brides, and if we can make them happy we will continue to push.

Please tell us about Curvy Unicorn Bridal.
We specialize in Wedding Dresses for Plus Size Brides. We design and make custom wedding gowns at an affordable rate for brides. We are a new company but have made a name for our self-in the plus size industry. It helps that I have been in the wedding industry for 10+ years, helping business to launch, grow and market their company.

We are most proud of being able to connect with brides and not only understand and translate their vision but being able to relate to them and put a smile on their face. We are a start up, and that alone is added stress, but we focus on the vision and the mission.

Our mission is: REDEFINING WHAT CURVY + BRIDE MEANS. We set our selves apart as there are not many companies that focus specifically on plus size bridal, we are giving women what they want no matter the size we will make them beautiful on their wedding day.

Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and the least?
I am new to Arizona, moving here from the bay a year and 1/2 ago and I love that as you go through AZ, it is so different. I love that the people are so nice and welcoming and willing to help you get to know more about AZ.

I myself live in Tuscon, and I have to say I love the slower pace of life, my favorite thing to do is to grocery shop on Fridays at Fry’s. If you are not shopping the Fry’s sale on Fridays, you are totally missing out.

Least has to be the heat, I don’t know that I will ever get used to summers in AZ.

Pricing:

• Our pricing starts as low as $ 1,000

Contact Info:

• Website: http://curvy-unicorn.com/
• Phone: (520) 333-7602
• Email: Hello@curvy-unicorn.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/curvyunicornbridal/

Image Credit:
Photo’s By Regina Kay Popova http://www.reginakpopova.com/
Models: Neyah Necole & Aly Casas

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