Pat Morgan Pullam opened Modern Brides, a Huntsville bridal boutique, in 1986 at age 30. It was the ninth bridal shop in Huntsville and is still located on Regal Drive, once known as “Bridal Row” for its many bridal shops.

Originally studying to be a nurse, Pullam got the idea for her bridal shop from her father, Robert Young, a part-time wedding photographer. Her brother, Greg, also in the wedding photography business, wanted a larger studio. Their father suggested combining the photo studio with a bridal shop, resulting in “the complete wedding center,” offering everything from tuxedos and floral arrangements to catering and honeymoon travel.

Over time, they focused on profitable services and streamlined the business. Today, Modern Brides specializes in bridal gowns, bridal party attire, suits, tuxedos, and formals for special events, and hosts North Alabama’s largest bridal show, the Celebrations Bridal Event.

Pullam recently sat down with the Huntsville Business Journal to discuss changes in the wedding industry over nearly four decades and how she has stayed successful.

How did you keep your business relevant in the ever-changing wedding industry?

Brides would come to us to get their bridal portraits made because we were photographers – bridal portraits are not really something that they do a lot of anymore – and they would be talking about their bridal shop. They would just be talking, but we were listening. My dad would say, you need to learn from that. Whatever they’re saying, you need to not be that way. If they’re talking about their service, you need to give better service. If they’re talking about the hours of the store, they don’t stay open long enough, you need to increase your hours.

He would take that criticism that other people would share and say that’s what you don’t need to do. Be better than that. Change your hours, change your style, change your services. Upgrade things to accommodate what the customers are asking for.

I listened to his advice and would try to correct things like that. Make sure that we were open a little bit longer to accommodate people getting off work late. A lot of stores closed on Monday, well Monday was one of our biggest days of the week. (Other stores) would close early on Saturday while we would stay open all day on Saturday. Little things like that helped shape us into being able to give good service.

What is one of your favorite things about owning your business?

I love the wedding industry. I love everything about it. Every customer is different. Every wedding you do is different, the customers are different, and their needs are different. I like meeting new people, and every day you’re meeting new people, it’s not the same bride over and over. Every year it’s a completely different set of customers.

It’s a fun thing when they walk in and the mom will say, “You did my wedding 25 years ago,” or “40 years ago, you did my wedding,” and here’s the granddaughter, the daughter, and the whole family of people, and you see how that family grew. That’s very rewarding when somebody comes in and they still remember you. Then they’ll get out their phone and they’ll show you their wedding picture, and I remember every dress. I may not remember the person’s name but when I see what they wore, I know that dress.

How has the wedding industry changed?

Besides the styles and fashion, the whole style of a wedding has changed. They come up with all their different ideas like people get married in a cave or they get married in a bamboo garden. I got a bride who got married last weekend on a glacier, and they took a helicopter to a glacier. They’re going to Scotland, to England, to Alaska to get married. They’re doing a lot of very extravagant weddings.

It used to be that everybody got married in a church. You went to the church reception hall, you had your cake, nuts, mints, and punch, and there was a big gift table. There’s nothing close to that anymore. Now you have off-site venues, and it’s going with some sort of a theme. Some people want rustic, so they’re doing the barn theme, and some people want something very elegant, so they may be doing a hotel.

What’s different about your business today than when you first started it?

Everything is by appointment, and it didn’t used to be that way. When I first started you took every single person that walked in the door. There might be one person that came, and there might be six people that came, and you had to wait on however many people you had at one time, and that was harder.

After COVID, everything changed. Then you could only have so many people in the store at a time. That changed our entire way that we did business. Now everything we do is by appointment, not because we limit people in the store, but we really enjoyed that one-on-one.

How do you balance personal and professional life?

I’m a workaholic, a type A personality, and a perfectionist. My personal life is by the time I get home I’m so tired I don’t want to talk to anybody. So I don’t have a good balance, but I have the balance I want. I want peace and quiet when I get home. I want to just sit down and have a glass of tea and watch TV. After I’ve talked all day long on the phone and in person and meetings all day, I’m ready for quiet when I get home.

What has been the secret to your success?

Customer service. Trying to just make sure that your customer gets what they’re asking for. There are so many things that we do that are included in our price that other stores don’t do at all. If somebody buys a dress, they can buy it off the rack or they can special order, their choice. We do free dry cleaning for the dress if they buy it off the rack, and all the repairs that a dress would need, that’s all complimentary. If they want to store it here until the day of their wedding, we do that free of charge. We press it before the wedding. The only thing that we charge extra for is if they want alterations. We’re full-service oriented. They don’t have to pick it up and take it and go find a seamstress and then go find somebody to press it and go find somebody to hold on to it.

What’s a challenge you’ve had in business, and how have you overcome it?

One of the biggest challenges we have is employees. It’s hard to find people that want to work and do what you request of them. I’m lucky; the girls that I have are great, but I’ve gone through so many.

The people from my father’s era, my era, and my children’s era – which they’re all in their fifties and late forties – all have great work ethic. People now don’t have a great work ethic. Number one, they don’t think that they have to work, but they think they’re worth $25 an hour. They’ve never even had a job before, but they think that because that’s how much money they want that’s how much money you should pay them. I just keep trying until I find somebody that’ll work.

Cover image: Provided by Heather Edstrom Photography