2011 Price Increases

Well bad news is never easy to report, but we hope this early warning helps all you struggling brides get your orders in before the price rises kicks in. The UK VAT rate is going up to 20% in January 2011 and because of increased material and transport costs we've no choice but to increase our prices at the same time. We will be keeping the increase to a minimum and don't expect any rises of more that 15%, and where possible we'll be adding as little 2.5% which just covers the VAT rise. Our prices have remained stable for over 3 years now mainly due to the advantageous rate of the pound to the dollar, and if the pound remains strong we might even be able to absorb some of the up coming price rises.
We guarantee no increase before 1st January and all orders placed before this will be at the current prices. The exact changes will be made over the new year holidays, and at the same time we hope to introduce several new lines, including tiaras, necklace sets and wedding accessories.

Royal Wedding

With all the doom and gloom about at the minute, isn't it great to get some happy news. Todays announcment that William and Kate are to get married in the Spring or Summer of 2011 is great news. I'm just about old enough to remember the last "real" Royal wedding, when Charles and Diana tied the knot and the buzz then was really something special. I doubt if I'll be getting a call about the royal tiara, but just in case I'll keep the phone lines clear lol, or maybe being the modern couple they are she'll be buying online, in which case I better get working on a special royal wedding discount coupon code :-)

Anyway joking aside I'd just like to offer my best wishes to the happy couple and hope they have a long and pleasant life together.

Free Postage & Packaging

It's been a few years since we offered free postage on Bridal Gems UK so we thought it was time to give it a go again. For orders of £30 or more you'll have the option of free first class postage to anywhere in the UK. We'll still be offering paid special delivery postage for those urgent orders, and most international shoppers can get free or discounted postage by visiting our sister sites Bridal Gems Europe, Bridal Gems Ireland or Bridal Gems US

2011 Tiara Collection

We've just started work on our 2011 collection, we plan to introduce about 10 new tiara styles next year. Currently we're searching around for inspiration and would love to hear ideas from 2011 brides. If you're getting married next year why not drop us a note with suggestions or comments we're always happy to hear from you. Our Bridal Gems contact form is the fastest way to get in touch or just reply here.

Confetti.co.uk Goes Bust

I was amazed and extremely saddened to hear that confetti has gone bust, I've used the confetti forums many times over the years and thought they were a great asset to brides and wedding planners. The current recession has certainly taken it's toll on our industry, just as it has throughout the economy. The collapse of confetti has come as a surprise to everyone as the business was sold to 'The Hut Group' just last week, but put into administration 24 hours later. The Hut Group appears to have been more interested in Iwantoneofthose.com which it purchased along with confetti.

With reported losses last year of 13.8m GBP it's difficult to see where the businesses will go from here but lets hope the confetti brand is saved and the website survives.
Obviously we have no connection with confetti so can't directly help their disappointed customers, but by stocking up to 100 pieces of each style of tiara we sell, we're in a position to dispatch orders rapidly if any bride is left in a spot. All we ask is you tell us your wedding date so we can be sure to get the order to you on time.

If you've been let down by confetti, we want to help, put coupon code CGB20 in the box during checkout and we'll take 20% off your order total. I know it's not much but hope it helps a little.

Bridal Gems UK Make Over

We've finally finished the new look for Bridal Gems UK. It's not the biggest make over we've ever done but it has tidied up things a bit and hopefully you'll like it.

New Side Tiara

A new side tiara comb arrived today, it's a crystal butterfly design and it looks stunning.

Twenty Thousand and Counting

Just noticed to-day that we now have over fifteen thousand website customers and about six thousand on eBay. When we started out on eBay in 2002 we certainly couldn't have dreamed we'd have helped over 20,000 people with their jewellery. It really is humbling to think of all the weddings and events our tiaras and accessories have been used in. We've posted orders all over the world, from obscure islands in the Pacific to the northern tips of Europe. Although most are used for weddings, some have been used on TV shows, pageants and even the odd fancy dress party. I guess it shouldn't really surprise us having so many customers, as every year new brides are getting married and we have to attract a whole new set of customers. Although having said that, it still amazes me how many repeat orders we get from the same people. I do hope they're ordering for other special events and not getting married over and over again :-)

I'm so slow at updating the blog these days that my next post will probably be about us reaching 40, 000 customers, but I'll try to make it sooner lol.

New Products

This week we've launched two new stunning silver tiaras, one with some small white pearls and one with rhinestone flower designs.

The picture above is the Flowering Hearts Pearl and Rhinestone Tiara, with an introductory price of just £18.99 and below is the Swirling Flowers Crystal Silver Wedding Tiara priced just £23.99
Along with these tiaras we've also launched some great new bracelets, these can be viewed in the Rhinestone Bracelet section of the website.
This year so far we've added dozens of new lines and reduced loads of prices, in these difficult times we feel it's important to give our customers, not only great value but a great choice of new and exciting products too. As always we're happy to hear your thoughts and comments so please feel free to leave a message.

Weddings and Gifts

weddingsandgifts.com is the US branch of Bridal Gems, it went live just last month and although it's now full operational it's still being developed, over the next few months it'll be officially launched, with special offers and promotions galore. With over 5 million weddings in the US each year we hope we can help everyone with their wedding jewellery, or should that be wedding jewelry since we're talking about America.

The site is a slight variation off the usual Bridal Gems theme with a new Black and yellow color scheme.We'll be offering almost our intire range in the US with the exception of a few accessories such as wedding bubbles, which are too heavy to ship. Thanks to a new deal with Royal Mail we are offering exceptionally low shipping charges, and for next few months we're actually offering free shipping on orders over $30.

Two Minute Checkout?

We're always trying to improve the customers experience on our websites and I was just taking a look at customer checkout stats on bridalgems.co.uk. I decided to do a quick average to see how long it takes to complete the checkout process from entering the name and address to completion. I just looked at one weeks worth of data as rough guide, and was surprised to find virtually every customer who completed checkout finished it in under 3 minutes and the average time was just over 2 minutes. I've no idea how this compares to other shopping sites, but it seems pretty fast to me and I don't think there's much we could do to improve it.

If you've any thoughts or suggestions why not contact us or leave a comment on any of our blog posts, we're always happy to hear suggestions.