Charlotte's Weddings Through the Years
Charlotte’s Weddings has been helping brides say yes to the dress for over 30 years! From our humble beginnings in 1991 to now, Charlotte’s has experienced many changes and updates to bring us to where we are today. Let’s take a look back at Charlotte’s over the years.
1991
- In 1991, the founder and original owner, Charlotte Schumacher began selling wedding dresses out of her home. She had experienced that there weren’t enough wedding dress options in the Portland area and wanted to make sure that more options were available for brides searching for that perfect dress.
1994
- After several successful years serving brides from her home, Charlotte decided to move the operation to our current location on Beaverton-Hillsdale HWY allowing her to expand and help more brides. The new location allowed for 4 bridal suites, the chance to hire stylists and help more than one bride at a time.
2005
- In December of 2005, Krysta York began as a stylist at Charlotte’s Weddings and quickly moved up the ranks into a management position.
2007
- Charlotte decides that it’s time to retire. So, in June of 2007 Krysta, along with her parents, purchased the store and kept it named Charlotte’s to honor the legacy started.
2008
- Krysta begins minor improvements and renovations to the store by updating furnishings, painting the store, updating carpets and giving the store an overall refresh. Unfortunately, the 2008 recession hit and several stores in the area end up closing.
2010
- After surviving the recession, Krysta and her parents decide to take a risk and expand the store taking over the full first level of the building. This doubled showroom space as well as doubled the number of bridal suites from 4 to 8 making space to serve more brides than ever before. Krysta and her parents worked through the night transforming the space in just a few short days to avoid any long closures of the business.
- To debut the new space, Krysta hosted the first annual Open House event! An opportunity to network with area vendors, meet new couples and showcase the space.
2011
- Charlotte’s begins a partnership with the Justin Alexander family of brands, carrying several of their collections.
2018
- In 2018, Charlotte’s launches our private label, Julia Leigh! A curated selection of wedding gowns unique to our store. The name, Julia Leigh, was a tribute to our core value of family. Julia is Krysta’s niece and Leigh represents Krysta’s middle name making for a fitting combination and tribute to Charlotte’s.
2020
- The global pandemic hit and priorities shifted. Charlotte’s pivoted to a virtual appointment program because even though many life events were put on hold, Love wasn’t canceled and celebrations must go on!
2022
- Looking for ways to make an impact, Charlotte’s partnered with VOW for Girls, a global non-profit organization committed to putting an end to the child marriage crisis.
2023
- The next chapter begins!
After 30 years helping brides say yes to the dress, we’re so excited to see where the next 30 years is going to take us!