The enveloping warmth of the locations, atmospheres and even the people who settle in Spain, as we know, is by definition familiar and welcoming, to the point of being known and recognised all over the world. An atmosphere that really makes a difference when you have to choose your wedding dress, in a bridal atelier, surrounded by a team called to make a bride's big day unique, helping her choose the most beautiful dress she will ever wear in her life.

Through its #Sisposaontour on-the-road project, Sì SposaItalia Collezioni has chosen Spain as the destination for its new journey to discover the weddings of all the brides of the world and put a magnifying glass on the cultures, traditions, customs and special features of the crucial moment in every wedding, the choice of dress, for Spanish brides-to-be.

Buyers and exhibitors from the Sì SposaItalia Collezioni community are invited to talk about their experiences behind the white shop windows of their own shops, explaining what criteria they use to choose the dresses they decide to buy for their ateliers, for example. A key step for all bridal buyers is the search for and selection of distinctive and detailed gowns that are impeccable, elegant, with fine fabrics and finishes and a wide range of choices to meet the needs and requirements of every bride. An arduous task, which requires constant attention to new market trends, to the quality of each manufacturer, to the creativity and originality of the creatives who design and make the dresses, to guarantee a satisfying and diversified range of products for future brides. This was explained clearly by Marta Cordón, head of the Spanish boutique Confecciones Jm Cordon: "The large collection in our shop offers a wide variety of styles and designs, from the most classic to the most contemporary. That's why we sell all styles, catering for the most diverse tastes and personalities of brides and grooms. Our team is highly qualified to make all customers who come to us feel comfortable, in the right garment and our customers are always satisfied with their choices. In our shop you can find complete bridal and groom's outfits: shirts, ties, cufflinks, braces, bow ties, shoes, etc., often from Italian brands".

Farah Barghi's atelier Farah Novias, on the other hand, focuses on the concept of uniqueness. Here you can find a selection of gowns that are hard to find in any other Spanish bridal shop, and are therefore full of unique garments, the result of constant research and exploration in terms of style, creativity and even audacity. "We want our brides not only to feel special in the bridal gowns we offer, but to really enjoy the experience of finding the right dress and we help them with this by offering exclusive collections that cannot be found in other boutiques in Spain. We are looking for designers who are incredibly innovative and who create bespoke couture clothes. There are a number of very talented Italian designers that we are thinking of adding to our collection because of this very special feature".

Alia Khiyami, owner of the Grace Barcelona boutique, is leaning towards the new demands of the post covid market, which instead of the purity of simple lines seems to prefer pomp and opulence. "Since we reopened in the middle of last year, local brides also like rhinestones and glitter. So it is important to connect with new brands that offer new and different styles. We already work with a great Italian brand, Demetrios, and at Sì SposaItalia Collezioni last year, we discovered others to work with, such as Mónica Loretti". New media, social media, web tools to approach the new reality are also essential: "Every day we deliver to brides who contact us via the website or Instagram and buy dresses from us, and a high percentage (over 40%) are not from Spain. We already had a website and Instagram that worked very well, but what we changed was the handling of appointment requests in a 'multi-channel' way," explains Khiyami.

Lastly, Estela Perez from the Borgia Novias atelier also spoke about her modus operandi: "We are constantly looking for new products and have international brands in our shop, innovation is always our strong point. Regrettably, the pandemic has brought about a change in the way the shop is run and brides are now more careful about managing their dress budget, but despite this challenge, we always try to meet their needs with care and dedication”.