The Abigail’s Collection Story
Customers are the heartbeat of our business! Our passion is our Customers and we LOVE weddings! Our wonderful family owned bridal and menswear business is quite special! It was launched in 2005 by Abigail Neill following her own very disappointing wedding dress shopping experience after planning of her own wedding! Knowing that brides should be made to feel ultra special and welcome whilst wedding shopping; Abigail set about building her own wedding dress shop where brides could shop in private and enjoy a really memorable and stress free shopping experience. Later in 2007 Husband Rob joined forces to build the menswear division ‘The Grooms Room’. Business has gone from strength to strength with 28 incredible business awards under their belts including a bunch of national awards titles and six for customer services!..... Want to know how it all really started, well hr goes;
Once upon a time a much younger Abi Joyce (27yrs old and a bit of a party girl) met Rob Neill (a 37 yr old once married, handsome finance pro) in St Albans. They’d both left bars and were ready to hit the local Bachwood Hall nightclub for more drinks with friends they were with. The four of them flagged the same taxi down, and then the Boys were real Gents by suggesting Abi and her friend Lucy take the Cab. The Girls hopped in and as the door almost shut they realised they were all going to the same place and agreed to share. Rob and his mate Brian were chuffed whilst cheekily bantering in agreement that the Girls weren’t bad companions for the taxi ride to the club!
Fast forward a few hours and at the end of the night Abi and Rob ‘got together’, Rob bought Abi a few drinks, threw down his best lines, hit the charm and wit offensive big time and boom! Abi was smitten. Literally!
What followed then was a six week whirlwind romance but there was a problem. Rob was relocating to Hong Kong for a new financial job. The airport goodbye between Abi and Rob was awful and the two of them realized that things were really serious. It was like a scene from a film! Rob said he had to go ‘or he wasn’t going to get on the plane at all’ difficult when you consider his whole life depended on this job and relocation, he had to go. Eventually after a nightmare goodbye between them he went; Abi fell apart in bits. Really tough to realise you’re in love in that moment. It was emotional. Rob and Abi didn’t really know what the future held and Rob was soon to be 6000 miles away!
They say ‘love knows no bounds’ and ‘absence makes the heart grow fonder’ and the next few months were a real test for the couple, they called, they emailed, they wrote and together they decided (although a big risk) that Abi would jack in her job (and rented flat) and move out to Hong Kong to be with Rob! Yup it had only been 3 months but they both felt strongly and both decided that it was worth the risk.
This romantic story got more romantic when Abi arrived at Hong Kong airport. Inevitably she was nervous, wondering if this was the right thing to have done and not really knowing if it would all still feel the same when they actually saw each other ... But there he was - Rob Neill, standing in arrivals, waiting amongst the sign holding taxi people. He stood there beaming and holding a handmade card sign upon which he’d written ‘Abi I love ya’. Yup - ‘right decision’ thought Abi as she burst into tears and into hos arms - they were still smitten and together finally, again!!
The rest really is history and in 2005 they became Husband and Wife at Layer Marney Tower. Their wedding business was born out of a genuine desire to ensure that couples had a really special shopping experience and together they drive a team who really care about weddings, love and love stories......
