SHOWROOM SPOTLIGHT: SAMIRA & KYLE, OWNERS OF FREEHOLD, NEW JERSEY

We are so proud to introduce one of the newest Bella Bridesmaids showrooms…Freehold! #BellaFreehold owners, Samira & Kyle Bocchino, are surely quite the pair. We seriously can't get enough of these best friends turned sisters-in-law!

We sat down with these Garden State natives to learn all about this amazing new showroom.

Tell us about yourselves! (Career background, personal life, your own weddings...etc!)

We are lucky enough to not just be great friends, but also sisters-in-law—and while we definitely love our husbands, when we were introduced to each other it was truly love at first sight! We feel so blessed to have been a part of each other’s wedding days and to share the same family. Samira married Mario in the fall of 2015, and Kyle married his younger brother Paul a few years earlier in 2013.

Before partnering to open Bella Freehold, Samira was a store manager at Anthropologie and DSW. Kyle was managing a research lab at a teaching hospital in NYC. While those career paths couldn’t seem more different, our combined management experience and ability to focus on every little detail has us really excited to start this new business venture together.

What made you decide to open Bella Freehold together?

First and foremost, the gowns! We share a love of fashion, so the opportunity to help other women feel beautiful and confident in their wedding attire is such a dream come true.

Planning a wedding is such a special time in a woman’s life, and every moment of it should be full of joy. It’s really important to us to be a highlight of that planning process – we want our customers to make great memories at Bella Freehold while they try on amazing designer gowns in a fun and inviting atmosphere.

Both of our wedding parties were styled at a Bella Bridesmaids and we loved everything about our experience. We can’t wait to share that with soon-to-be bridesmaids and flower girls.

How is it working as a team?

In many ways, we’ve been a team for years! Whether it was sharing a bottle of wine at Sunday family dinner or teaming up to help throw our father-in-law a birthday party in NYC, we’ve been partners for a long time.

We are so excited to start this new venture together with a similar vision and passion but with differing points of view and experiences. We really balance each other out and bring out each other’s strengths.

What do you love most about the city of Freehold?

This is hard, we love EVERYTHING!  We like to say Freehold is in the middle of everywhere—just an hour from New York City, 20 minutes from the Shore, and 60 miles from Philly.

Even though it’s so close to major cities and vacation destinations, it still has a great hometown feel, which we really love. It really is the best of both worlds.

What's been the most rewarding part about being small business owners?

The ability to truly be in control of our own success and destiny is really exciting to us, but also the opportunity to contribute to the commerce of Freehold is really fulfilling as well.

Our husbands’ both grew up in Freehold and our in-laws still live there, so in many ways we consider it home; we are so proud to be opening up Bella Freehold in such an amazing community.

What's been the most challenging?

For the first time in our careers we have had to rely 100% on one other person. This process of starting Bella Freehold has really forced us to trust each other implicitly, and it definitely came with some growing pains.

We have very different professional backgrounds and look at things very differently. It’s been a learning process to remind ourselves that there are many ways to look at things and get things done, not just one right way.

In the end, our different outlooks have really helped us challenge and elevate each other to make Bella Freehold the best it can possibly be.

What is the best advice you have for brides to be? Give us your best advice as married women! :)

Enjoy, Enjoy, Enjoy!!!  Savor every moment you are planning your wedding, even when times get stressful (and they will!). Remind yourself to take a step back and just enjoy the process.

But our most important piece of advice is to let all of that stress go on the day of the wedding. You’ve worked for months or maybe even years to create the day of your dreams, so you owe it to yourself to fully experience your day. You did it!

What color and style trends are you loving for 2016 weddings? We love the feel of 2016! This year is really about taking bridal party glamour and elegance to a whole new level. Incredible beading, full-lace gowns, soft romantic tulle, and muted neutral color palates are just a few of our obsessions.

But we think the most important trend in 2016 or any year, is feeling amazing and confident in whatever you’re wearing. Bella Freehold is proud to carry a diverse inventory of gowns to compliment any style or figure, including a large selection of plus-sized gowns.

We look forward to the opportunity to share in the happiness of your wedding day, and we can’t wait to help glam up your special day!

Showroom photo credit: Paul Francis Photography