Our Story

from Founder & Chief Vision Officer, Courtney James 

Grayce began in 2011 when I purchased my first bridal shop in Northern Maine. It was just 3,000 square feet in a town with a population of 12,000 people. The name at the time was Pancsofar’s Bridal Shop, named after the family that had started the store over 40 years prior. The size was small but the dream was big. I was just 23 at the time and certainly had so much to learn, but my passion quickly grew as I grasped the magic of the life moments that we were celebrating with people. We were able to witness these sacred moments - a girl feeling beautiful for the first time in her life as she was zipped into a formal gown; a mother/daughter sharing laughter and tears as she realized she was wearing the dress she would walk down the aisle in; a bride finding her voice, confidence, and an extended family as she stood on the pedestal, surrounded by our team because she’d come to her appointment alone. These moments were magic. They were huge milestones in the lives of women, and they deserved every bit of excellence, dedication, and celebration we could give them.

I tend to be an abundance mentality sort of person. I believe that when you’ve been blessed or discovered something amazing, you have a responsibility to steward that well and not only give it away, but multiply your ability to give more & more of it away. Back in those early days, I remember talking with my team and telling them, “Someday we’re going to cover the state of Maine”.

We started attracting traffic from areas over 2-3 hours away & growing to points I never thought possible in Northern Maine. Then, in 2015, we started to feel the affects of the value of the Canadian dollar dropping, as Canadian customers were almost 30% of our business. We had a choice- hunker down and wait out the storm, or work through the challenge. I bet you can guess what we chose.

By summer of 2015, we had secured real estate for a second location in Bangor, ME. We were under construction as I gave birth to my first son… in a hospital just down the street from the new store. The store opened in January of 2016, and was an instant hit! The community welcomed us with open arms and we had the time of our lives creating these same experiences in a beautiful historic building (formerly a bank!) downtown.

We opened with a new name - Blush Bridal & Formal - and undertook our first rebrand of the Northern Maine store at the same time. We loved our new brand - feminine, vibrant, elevated.

Just two days after opening the Bangor store, I got a phone call from a designer suggesting that I purchase a boutique that was for sale in Portland, Maine’s Old Port district. The store carried elevated women’s ready to wear, formal gowns, and mothers’ dresses. I told her that I really just needed to focus on the store I just opened; that it was way too soon to jump into something else. However, I love a challenge, and with the Bangor store off to a good start, I agreed to tour the business a few weeks later.

Three and a half months after opening the Bangor store, I closed on that little boutique, named Tavecchia at the time. We adopted the Blush name and brand there as well, and quickly realized that we needed to align our southernmost store with the offerings we had in the rest of the state. We did away with ready to wear and decided to focus on bridal & formal.

We rapidly outgrew our 1,700 sq ft in the Old Port & in 2018 we moved to a much larger space in South Portland. I got to do one of my favorite things again - design a new store!

As we went through these years of growth from 1 location to 3, over 330% volume increase, and 3 team members to 35, it both exhilarated me and challenged me. It forced me to dig deep into myself and to grow as a leader and a person. I went through some of the hardest times of my life personally and professionally during those years. I hit my lowest lows and was even told at one point by someone I had loved that I would most definitely run my businesses into the ground without their help. I became a single mom and had to learn how to take care of myself, my baby, and my teams all at the same time. Again, I was faced with one of those big life decisions… would I hunker down and just hope for the storm to pass? Or would I work through the challenge?

The saying that will likely go on my tombstone is this: “The only way out is through”. Hunkering down is not in my DNA. I got really clear about our vision, our purpose, and what principles would guide us. I shifted my time into my true passion - building leaders.

To be super honest and transparent, I had to look at the things I didn’t enjoy - the numbers. I forced myself to learn them; to know what makes our business really tick and do well. I realized the difference it could make when I poured my life into teaching and empowering the leaders on our team. I saw the difference that it made for our teams and our customers. I had the privilege of watching so many women on our team become the kind of people they never knew they could be.

I got to see women break stigmas and negative family cycles. I saw them take responsibility for their own lives and become so strong, so aware, and so powerful. And goodness… those are the kind of people I want in our stores, facilitating the life moments I’m so passionate about.

When COVID hit in 2020, it turned our world upside down again. We were shut down for three months… an entire quarter of the year. The moment the news hit, I knew my goal was to keep our full time staff working. So rather than waiting out the storm, we innovated and within just a couple days, were the first in the country (to any of our knowledge) to launch virtual appointments. We were able to serve brides virtually, doing consults from a screen, and then shipping gowns out for in home try ons. We developed an organized framework and then were able to share all those tools and processes with stores all over the country, enabling even more of us to build hope during a time when it was scarce.

When the world re-opened, we came back strong. We continued to grow and experience our best years yet. Personally, I experienced so much healing and growth as well. I even found love again & married my now husband. We started to feel like another location was on the horizon and we began to prepare.

We decided that a new name was in order. “Blush” had served us well, but it was just far too common - used in so many other businesses both in our industry and others. The first name that came to my mind was Grace, but it also felt like it might be too common, so we kept going. After months of brainstorm sessions with our leadership team, my husband suggested we add a “y” to “Grace”, and after one of our leaders found the perfect font, we knew “Grayce” was it!

Because family is so important to me, and because my sisters live there, we decided our fourth store would be in Chattanooga, TN. When researching the area, it was so clear that the city was ready for the Grayce experience! We found a building that seemed like it might be even bigger than our dreams. The former Pier One spot was perfectly positioned & had so much potential… but it was a big leap of faith.

After many prayers, lots of talking, and a healthy dose of soul-searching, I knew we should go for it. We purchased our dream location in a completely different part of the country & began laying the framework for a team and even more life moments to happen in our space.

A curveball came as we prepared Chattanooga for opening. Our leadership in our first store was ready for a change in their lives and we made the difficult decision to close that store rather than training new leadership to replace them. It was the end of an era, but it happened in the most organic, beautiful way and we were able to go out on our best year yet.

Chattanooga was a thrilling project for me creatively and we had the time of our lives introducing the south to Grayce. As I watched the infancy of my fourth “store baby”, I gave birth to my second real baby and welcomed so many new women into our Grayce family.

These days, I am filled with hope for our future. Because to me, we’re so much more than a bridal shop. We are a safe haven for incredible life experiences, breeding confidence and pure joy. We are an opportunity for women to step up to the plate when life tells them they can’t do something and hit it out of the freaking park. We are a family that loves really hard and challenges you to not just do your best, but BE your best. We are a movement. A mission. We are women serving women and changing our little corners of the world.