Unveiled: The TMB Story Part Two - Our Forever Home
Unveiled: The TMB Story Part Two - Our Forever Home
By: Tanja Helmer
Here’s where we left off last time in telling the TMB story:
Jess & Donna didn’t realize the potential their little boutique could have until they stumbled upon the Petrie Building by total coincidence. It was love at first sight and though they hit many hurdles on the way through the transformation, both of them will tell you it was SO worth it.
So here’s the story of our beloved Petrie Building, how Jess & Donna found it and how they knew it was going to be The Modern Bride’s new forever home.
Rewind to 2016, Beyonce made Lemonade, Leo finally won his Oscar, the radio won’t stop playing Closer by The Chainsmokers, and basically everyone was wearing off-the-shoulder tops and chokers.
The little boutique on 54 Carden St. was bursting at the seams with dresses, Something Green is about to rebrand as The Modern Bride and Jess and Donna were eager to find a forever home for The Modern Bride.
Jess and Donna found a big lovely space on Douglas St. in Guelph (right across from the Red Brick Cafe). It was everything they were looking for, high ceilings, large windows and empty enough to have full creative freedom on what the final product would look like. But, as you know, TMB is not on Douglas St. across from Red Brick Cafe.
As J&D were walking back from what they thought was going to be the boutique's new home, they saw people outside the boarded up, run-down, Petrie Building, shaking hands and congratulating each other.
“We looked up at the building and of course it looked like nothing, it was all boarded up and had been for decades. I said to Jess, why don’t you just give them a call and see what's going on in there. And that's what we did, there was just a tiny little sign with a phone number and Jess called.” - Donna
They made an appointment to see the space. Over 100 years of no occupancy and maintenance and here they go to see if they can help brides find their dream wedding dress out of it. Shall we say visionaries?
“As soon as we walked into what is now our pearl and jade rooms, even though the condition of the rooms was absolutely horrific, holes in the walls, ceiling and everything, I could tell that with the 15 foot ceilings and 10 inch high baseboards, 10 ft windows - Wow, I loved it right away” - Donna
The space was way bigger than they had ever imagined they needed, and this was before they knew the fourth floor (the now dress loft) had to be included if they wanted to occupy the third. The fourth floor, at the time, was just the attic and to see it Jess and Donna climbed up a scaffold, and then climbed up a ladder, through a giant hole in the ceiling.
“There was a little tiny hole in one of the boards that we got to peek through and when I saw the church, I was like are you kidding me, I knew this had to be the dress loft” - Donna on seeing the attic (fourth floor) for the first time.
“What I really wanted was when girls come off the elevator and they start to walk towards the loft, they see the church. Especially at night when it's all lit up.”
The Modern Bride very quickly went from a 500 square foot space to a large, 3600 square feet.
“Like all really good ideas we have, we had no idea whether we can or we can’t” but they did it anyways, can we get a ‘hell ya’ for another giant modern woman leap!
The renovations began, and like all of the best things in life, it was not smooth sailing. The project was delayed 11 months and The Modern Bride had to move into a temporary location on Dublin St. - the home before our forever home. The story continues in our next Unveiled: The TMB Story Part Three.