Our Story 

 
Do you believe in fate? I do.

In October of 2013 I made an off-the-cuff remark that if the perfect shop was to become available I would gamble my life savings and set up a shop.

I had always dreamt of owning my own dress boutique but it was never actually a plan. I didn’t think I even knew enough. The very next day I went for a coffee with my Mum and we decided to take a look in the estate agents’ window to see if any flats took our fancy as my boyfriend and I had started to look for a place to settle down.

As we stood there gazing into the window a lady placed an advert for the premises ’51B High Street’ into the window. I looked straight at my Mum who then repeated what I had said the previous evening and I suddenly felt like this could be the start of my dream.We immediately went in to find out more and booked a viewing for the following day. I instantly fell in love with the shop and could picture exactly how I wanted it.

 

 
That night

I said to my Dad “I don’t know what to do? I don’t know anything about retail, I’ve never worked in a shop and I certainly don’t know how to run my own business!”. All I knew was that I had a vision, passion and this burning desire to jump right in. My Dad said “Ria its too late, the shops gone already!”. I was gutted! He then turned to me and said “Ive said yes to the shop for you, If I hadn’t I wasn’t sure you would ever take the plunge”. Four weeks later Ri Ri’s opened its doors to the public and I haven’t looked back since.

Over the course of a year I had sold dresses to quite a few pageant girls who were taking part in some of the worlds biggest pageants such as ‘Miss World’, ‘Miss Universe’ and ‘Miss Earth’. They all encouraged me to enter saying how much fun they have, so back in September 2014 I decided to give ‘Miss Earth’ a try.

 
I never thought

In a million years that I was going to be any good! From representing Essex as ‘Miss Essex’ I made the UK finals, and from the finals I was chosen to represent England in the world finals of ‘Miss Model of the World’ in China! I literally couldn’t believe how another spontaneous decision turned into such a whirlwind ride and brought me such a huge opportunity.I performed in front of 10,000 people at the finals and we were broadcast live to millions of viewers in China. It was 3 weeks that I will never forget.Ri Ri’s had now been open for 11 years and in February 2022 I opened Rivers Bridal named after my baby girl “River” in my original store that I took on all those years ago. Ri Ri’s has moved to a much bigger premises just next door and is one the the UKs most popular prom stores and now with Rivers Bridal under my belt I feel there really is no women’s dress dreams I cannot help with. I love helping my customers find their dream dress whether it be a bride, Prom or a pageant girl. I’ve also since become a resident bridal expert on E4’s One Stop Wedding Shop where I’m helping the brides-to-Be’s wildest wedding dreams come true, part of an elite team of experts that come to the rescue of brides and grooms in need, as dress designers, make-up artists and hair stylists tackle every request that comes through their doors, no matter how outlandish.