Where it all began 💕

So how did we come up with the idea of opening a boutique in our wee town of Downpatrick? Really it was from the experience of going to look for mums Mother of the Bride outfit that planted the seed. I got married in 2015 and when out searching for mums outfit we felt a little deflated at the experiences we were having. We thought it would be a bit like when the bride goes to a bridal boutique and is made to feel special (mum was literally expecting a red carpet so she wasn’t  impressed lol). We often talked about the IDEA of having our own boutique specialising in Mother of the Bride & Groom along with dresses for all special occasions but really at this time is was just us talking and dreaming. Fast forward a year and half later I was expecting my second baby and was working full time supporting people with disabilities into employment and mum had just taken the voluntary exit from the Civil Service we just thought right we are both going to be off at the same time (as I would be off on maternity leave) it’s now or never!

We started to look into support for setting up our business and before we knew it we were out in the business park completing our business plan with my wee Rosa who was just a new born in tow. Next thing we signed for our premises and were handed the keys. At this stage I think we looked at each other and thought Oh God what have we done! 

Creating the boutique the way we wanted it was a much longer process than we anticipated and was one of those it has to get worse before it gets better situations. The premises at one stage was literally like a building site and again we looked at each other like what the hell have we done!!! Thankfully we got there with a lot of help from a lot of people and were able to make Rita’s into what we had visioned. 

So why did we call it Rita’s? Rita was my wee Granny (mums mummy) who always said she wanted to have her own wee shop one day so we were only ever going to name it after her. She was a stylish lady who loved an occasion to get dressed up so what we do at Rita’s she would just love. I often imagine her being there with a cuppa in hand having the craic and enjoying hearing about people’s special events coming up.

So in a nutshell that’s how it all came to together and we opened our doors on 1st August 2017. Just into our 3rd year now and we were super excited for 2020 it was to be a big year for weddings and we felt we had finally found our feet with how to run everything.

What could possibly go wrong?????

Coronavirus 🙀🙀🙀

Nuala & Bernie xo