Before I had even decided on where the boutique was going to be located or what designers we would stock there was one thing I did have confirmed and that was the name. My friends and family told me to brain storm more ideas, but I couldn’t. For months even years before we actually opened all I could see was ‘House of Snow’ and how the brand and shop would look and feel.
The story starts in 1949 when a pretty young lady Betty Perrin went to support her local rugby team like she did every week, although this one particular week she got more than what she bargained for, in the form of a handsome funny character named Dennis Snow. That night Betty ended up giving Dennis a lift home from the Rugby club and she was instantly wooed when he continued to prop his rugby shorts out of the car window so they would dry on the way back. At that point she knew exactly what she was letting herself in for, but that was it, the beginning.
On Betty’s 21st Birthday Dennis proposed and the wedding plans began. Betty found her dream dress in a small bridal boutique with her mother paying £36. Two sisters for bridesmaids a chimney sweep present on the wedding day for good luck. The honeymoon was a couple of days in London staying at The Strand Palace before returning so Dennis could continue with his national service in the RAF.
They were married on the 18th of December 1952 and became Mr & Mrs Dennis Snow.
Eight years after marrying they had a son Michael and two years after that a daughter Sue, who happens to be my mum.
Betty and Dennis Snow are my amazing loving grandparents that spoilt me rotten when growing up. They were married for nearly 62 years, until we unfortunately lost my grandad a couple of years ago.
They are also the reason we found this area of the country, originally from a small town in the Midlands I moved here a few years ago. When my grandad did his National Service he was based in Horsham Saint Faith and that’s how we came to know the area, he bought a caravan in Essex to bring my mum and uncle to when growing up, and I too spent my childhood coming to the same seaside. My grandparents made the move to Essex and my parents quickly followed to be closer to my grandparents. Both myself and my brother have found ourselves here also, it’s such a beautiful part of the country. My other half brought me on one of our first dates to Bury St Edmunds and I instantly fell in love with the town, it was like everything clicked into place, I just knew this was where my bridal boutique House of Snow would be.
The Snow name just seemed so apt, so full of love and not only that with so many great links with its connotations of white and magic, magical snowflakes that we get so excited about every winter. A woman’s version of a snow day… a bridal dress trying on day, does it get much better than that?
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