Image by Love Marie

This week on Behind the Door I’m visiting a stunning boutique bridal store, Love Marie, in Camden, NSW. Camden is less than an hour’s drive from Sydney and full of cute shops, interesting cafes and is the perfect little side trip on which to go bridal gown shopping! Love Marie is owned by Amy Oram and named after Amy’s grandmother Marie. “I was very close to my grandma and she was always interested in my work,” says Amy, “so it made sense that I named my store after her”.

Image by Love Marie

Amy started in bridal six years ago when she created her couture headpiece label Teeki. “I started making headpieces in my mum’s lounge room,” says Amy, “then it grew to a studio space, but I’d always loved the idea of getting a store”. Noticing that many brides wanted to try on dresses, headpieces and veils in the same space, and after following many overseas bridal designers, Amy decided to open Love Marie to create a full bridal styling experience.

Image by Love Marie

“I came across the perfect store almost by accident,” says Amy. “I was just walking past and saw the beautiful exposed brick, beautiful flooring and thought, this is it!”. With a fantastic base to work with, Amy says setting up the store was more like accessorizing, adding shelving and racks herself to display the beautiful dresses and headpieces. There’s also a fantastic selection of gifts perfect for bridesmaids and brides to treat themselves or someone special.

Image by Love Marie

Image by Love Marie

The store is open by appointment only, so brides have the luxury of having the whole store to themselves during an appointment. “It’s a really special time,”  says Amy, “so it’s nice to be able to give the bride my full attention and create a relaxing, calm and quiet environment to try on dresses and headpieces”.

Image by Fortunate Fellow Photography

Image by Meghan Savage Photo

Amy has also recently been hosting workshops in the space which she tells me has been great for feeling a part of the close-knit local community and meeting both brides and other women interested in learning a new skill such as macrame. Lots of new workshops such as makeup and styling are planned for the future and I bet everyone loves hanging out in such a special space whether they are getting married or not!

Image by Love Marie

I ask Amy if she has any exciting future plans for the store and she tells me she’s really excited to visit New York next month to source new designers and dresses for next season. “I really believe that Australia is catching up to the rest of the world when it comes to on-trend, quality bridal” says Amy “I love bringing beautiful worldwide designs to my little corner of the world”. What an amazing destination store Love Marie is!

Image by Love Marie

Ms Polka Dot says: There’s nothing like trying on your gown with a range of accessories all in the one place to choose the perfect pieces.

About Amelia Waddell of Make Your Day Wedding Styling: I’m a wedding stylist and proud store owner who loves to chat weddings with everyone and anyone! I love to talk shop with other business owners (particularly over some chocolate cake!) and am the first to try and have a sticky beak behind the scenes of any event. My free time is spent ‘investigating’ new cafes, stores and events.