Bud Floral + Home goes big on brides, registries

It used to be that one would have to check under the radar to find the bridal registry at Bud Floral + Home.

“We’ve always had (that) component,” store owner Susan Reynolds said in a phone interview, “but we intentionally kept it small.”

No more, though. Reynolds and Hallie Haley, her new partner in Bud Home, are going big on brides. Having already made what they called a “sizable personal investment,” they said they’re doing more shopping for fine china and related items in Atlanta.

“I’m optimistic about acquiring one or two more lines,” said Reynolds, who’s already set to offer everyday and fine china from Anna Weatherley, Juliska, Montes Doggett, Richard Ginori and Vietri in addition to glassware lines including Estelle Colored Glass and Saban Glassware.

“It’s a wide-open market,” Reynolds said. “We’ll still focus on unique gifts, home items and a really nice collection of original art, (but) we want to be the best registry in Chattanooga, and I think we can.”

The market opened wider in January when officials at Fischer Evans Jewelers announced the Chattanooga-based jeweler would discontinue its bridal registry service. In an open letter to “clients and friends,” Fischer Evans President Clarke Glover wrote “due to staffing in the gift registry department,” the business would “focus our energy and attention on our thriving fine jewelry department.”

Reynolds called Fischer Evans’ registry “the foremost in Chattanooga” and said she and Haley had just decided to ramp up at Bud Floral + Home when they saw the news from Fischer Evans.

“We didn’t react,” she said. “We cognitively wanted to expand our business. We’d seen a demand for a registry at Bud Floral + Home, and we saw it prior to Fischer Evans closing” its registry.

Reynolds and Jamie Rehm opened Bud Floral + Home in Red Bank in 2019. Rehm handles the store’s floral business, which Reynolds said has always been a draw for brides.

“We didn’t start out as a china store or bridal registry, but we’ve created that niche because it makes sense with the floral business,” Reynolds said. “We had some fun things for which brides would register — coffee-table books, pieces of art — but not necessarily tabletop (china, etc.).”

Haley said in a phone interview she moved to Chattanooga in late 2021, just a couple of weeks before her wedding. She said Bud Floral + Home had her from the moment she first hit the door.

“I was new to town and didn’t have a lot of friends,” the Knoxville native said. “Jamie and Susan were both incredibly welcoming, and everyone at the store was so friendly, they became my friends.

“I loved it in here. For someone new to the area, who didn’t know anyone, it was a breath of fresh air.”

Haley also said she’d noticed a need in the community when it came to bridal registries. She and Reynolds started talking and, eventually, planning.

“It all happened very organically with Hallie — she was a new bride, started shopping here and wanted to be part of Bud Home,” Reynolds said, adding she and Haley plan to have enough stock for clients to be able to refresh their personal china collections.

“To handle an increase in tabletop lines, it’s got to be fulltime, 100% boots-onthe-ground to do it correctly,” Reynolds added. “I didn’t feel comfortable taking that on by myself, but Hallie brings (that) expertise — she loves that and is very good at it.”