How This Anti-Bridezilla Powerhouse Figured Out WTF It Was

With a cult following of anti-bridezillas, Molly Guy, cofounder of Stone Fox Bride, joined the ranks of our Most Creative People a few years ago for her creative thinking behind her now five-year-old boutique bridal gown business.

The company has become a go-to brand for a certain sizable set of brides looking for something different, evidenced in part by its 122,000 Instagram followers. The four-person team operates out of a sun-filled showroom on the sixth floor of an old building on Broadway. Lining the walls are racks of silky, flowing gowns and vibrant flower crowns. Hues of pink and silver and gold make the room feel more like a gypsy’s living room than a functioning business. Which is exactly their goal—to make it feel like you’re in your friend’s living room, chilling, trying on wedding dresses, and flicking through the September issue of Vogue. The whole place, from the wallpaper to the inspiration wall to the tiny ring cushions sitting in display cases, exudes a poignant, bohemian chic vibe, telling you everything you want to know about the company, or at least everything it wants you to know.

Desiree Wichmann joined the company nine months ago as director of operations. Her job: translate Guy’s creative genius into a solid vision and personality. “A brand identity is something that every company needs to have and it’s something that needs to be reevaluated on a quarterly to a seasonly basis.” Wichmann landed on the most basic question that the company needed to answer: “WTF is SFB?”

To answer that question, Wichmann worked with Guy to translate her creative vision into a tangible, digestible summary of what Stone Fox Bride stands for—or doesn’t.

1. What are we not? “Even though we are a bohemian bridal line, it’s not just doilies and Moroccan rugs.” Wichmann made a point of understanding what the opposite of SFB looked like, pulling images and designs for an inspiration board of what they didn’t want to their brand to be.

2. Everyone must understand the brand “With any freelancer, intern, or employee that comes on board, it’s very important to us that they understand what our brand identity is and what we stand for.” Anyone from a shoot photographer, to florists, to writers for the blog, to interns—they all must understand the basic DNA of the company.

3. Drawing inspiration from other businesses and industries “It’s really important for us to understand the different individuals that inspire us, not only as individuals within our role, but as a full company.” Stone Fox Bride looks to the likes of Vivienne Westwood and Kurt Cobain as sources of inspiration, using people, places, and things as a constant source of inspiration. “We can even find inspiration from that construction drill outside.”
   

Read more about Stone Fox Bride and cofounder Molly Guy, a 2014 Most Creative Person.