Chrysalis Bridal Salon filled with new beginnings

Owner Kris Mars said she offers the bridal gowns in the Allure, Mori Lee, Casa Blanca and Allyce lines, with prices starting at $450.

For prom, there’s the Flirt, Jovani and Dave and Johnny lines, starting at $170.

“There really isn’t a bridal shop around,” Mars said. “Even the girls here have to travel to Sioux Falls. We have many of the same brands here, with better prices and better service.”

Chrysalis is all about beginnings, Mars said. The name itself refers to the cocoon from which a butterfly emerges, signifying “a new beginning,” the salon’s tag line.

The shop is full of new beginnings for Mars: she had always kicked the idea of starting a bridal salon around in her head and is finally doing it; she had never worked in retail, but quit her office manager’s job to open the store; her daughters Allison - a newly minted Northwestern College grad with a degree in business – and Erin, a freshman at Northwestern, both work with her, starting a new kind of relationship between them.

And her customers are beginning something new in their lives as well.

Mars opened the salon on New Year’s Day: 1-1-11, another new beginning. She said the open house was well attended, and the store stayed busy, thanks to Christmas engagements.

“That has been surprising,” she said, “how fast they come after they get the ring.”

Mars said she hasn’t had any problems dealing with emotional girls and women. “I’m a specialist in girls,” she said. “I have only girls and I grew up in an all-girl home and don’t have any brothers.”

Chrysalis is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and stays open until 8 p.m. each Thursday.