The Rohners: Boutique

I'm finally playing some catch-up with some posts. I think that after the boutique I was a little burned out. It took a LOT of planning and preparation to get 40+ vendors to have a good experience and to make the boutique a success. I am so grateful that my wonderful friend/business-partner Michelle takes on 50% of the work because it wouldn't have happened otherwise.
I'm not sure why I think that our boutique is the funnest one, but I always have a good time and the products are always phenomenal. We have some VERY talented ladies... and a few talented men as well.

It was a very early morning to get everything set up, from the parking lot to the 6 foot fly-over balloons and pennant flags, not to mention our own booths, tables and merchandise. Bishop was a huge help, as always, and he insisted on helping in every way possible. We're so lucky to have a bishop who wants to assist us in more ways than spiritually. Our husbands, Brandon and Heath, were also ready to do anything we needed them to. Brandon even put out the signs on the streets despite that being his least favorite job. The guys were so supportive of all the time and work that Michelle and I put into this one day. Even if they had to eat peanut butter and chicken wraps... a lot : ).

I worried a lot about how the weather would turn out for the day, since 80% of our vendors were outdoors. Fortunately, the weather was beautiful. I don't know why I stressed-- this is Arizona-- it doesn't rain here, and it never snows. The worst thing that could happen was wind and cold. We did have a little more wind than I would have liked, but perfection is over-rated. It actually got quite warm by the end of the day-- to the point where we were all looking for shade.

As far as shoppers go, I wish that we had double what we did, but that doesn't mean I feel like we failed. We probably had about 500 shoppers, and that's no small thing. It's difficult to be in charge of something like this because you want it to be a smashing success and have all your vendors make a ton of money. Unfortunately, that's just not how the economy is working these days. People aren't shoveling out the dough that they used to, especially for unnecessary things. That being said, Michelle and I feel like it was as successful as it could have been. We did all that we could as far as advertising and providing good products. The feedback we got from our vendors was all very positive. We'll keep learning from each boutique we do and hopefully as the economy turns, we will have a loyal following of people ready to buy.

For the ladies, and man, who read this blog and sold at our boutique, I want to say thank you for trusting Michelle and I. Thank you for allowing us to learn on your dollar. We hope you'll come back for the Spring boutique.

Here's a few pictures: