Two friends who started a wedding business in lockdown have opened a bridal stop in the premises of a former Sudbury bookshop.
Tegan Patmore and Roberta Lambert met when they both worked as wedding managers at Gosfield Hall.
They have now have opened Silk & Maple bridal store in the former Kestrel Bookshop in Friars Street, Sudbury.
"We became pretty good friends quite quickly," Miss Patmore said.
"We'd already started talking about starting a business [before the pandemic started] but we had put it on a backburner, because we were so busy at Gosfield.
"Obviously, weddings completely halted last year so I was furloughed and unfortunately Roberta was made redundant, so it's just sort of kick-started it really.
"We spent all our spare time brainstorming and coming up with plans, what we envisioned and how the shop would run."
The business's name, Miss Patmore said, pays homage to her Canadian roots, as well as hinting at the shop's wares.
The pair said they think they have found a gap in the market for a bridal shop in Sudbury - and stumbled across the former Kestrel Bookshop premises.
"We just wandered up the street for whatever reason, and found this shop that look like it was closing down.
"We knocked on the neighbour's door and said 'is it being sold?' they said yes and here we are," Miss Lambert explained.
"It came together so organically."
The Kestrel Bookshop closed early in 2020, having been run by Jo and Ian Berry since 1975. It had been in the Berry family for around 200 years.
Miss Patmore said the pair felt the responsibility of taking on the shop.
She said: "We feel that we have a huge responsibility. And we have to honour them and the shop's history in some way.
"It's just so nice to be a part of something that was so well-known in the community. We feel quite honoured to be in here.
"Each of our dressing rooms has a name and we've named the third dressing room Kestrel."
She added the pair had given Mr Berry a tour of the shop and said he "couldn't believe it".
On Thursday, the pair hosted a sold out launch event for the shop.
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