JessaKae To Host Garden Ball at La Caille

August 8, 2024, Sandy, Utah

JessaKae, a Draper, Utah-based custom-designed dress brand and e-commerce company, will host "an enchanted garden ball" at upscale French restaurant, La Caille, on September 6 and 7, 2024.

Attendees will be "transported to an evening of elegance and enchantment in the mystical realm of the Enchanted Garden. This event promises an unforgettable night where fairy tales come to life and dreams flourish," say the organizers of the event, JessaKae and Jordan Maddocks, business partners that in 2016 founded wildly popular, crowd-curated, JessaKae line of dresses in a basement in Draper.

The startup merged Jessa's passions for art, design, and storytelling, and combined them with Jessa's extraordinary talents in photography and fashion. Jessa told TechBuzz, "I simply combined all of my interests together. I just told myself 'one day, 'I'm gonna do this...' And so I just did it."

Since high school, Jessa has been attracted to entrepreneurship. She built a successful photography business that included a large portfolio of clients and brands, "shooting many top people in the fashion space, and building a following around her signature, highly styled compositions, Jessa created this phenomenal way of putting together photo shoots that were unique and totally on brand for her," said Jordan Maddocks.

He added, "Brands started sending their products to her to shoot. This was before online influencers were a thing. Jessa could be sent any product—a piece of clothing or an accessory—and she would be able to shoot it in her unique way, with all the right settings and camera angles, natural light, outdoor lifestyle settings (not inside studios), combined with her unmistakable vision and compositions—she could move brand's products beyond their wildest dreams."

Photography is an important aspect of JessaKae's business. Chief Creative Officer and Co-Founder, Jessa Maddocks, remarked about her shooting technique, "When I'm shooting, I'm the one lying on the ground shooting the model. Sometimes models will lie on the ground, and I'm standing above them, either with a wide lens, or on a ladder shooting down. I'll also do a lot of cell phone content. I'll lie on the ground and take a shot of just the bodice of the dress; those pictures always go viral on the internet."

She added, "And there's an important location aspect of all these shoots. Because each of our dress collections tells a story, and they all have a theme, we find a location that goes along with the theme of the dresses and the storyline. It creates this whole magical experience, and that's what we create with our events as well."

Jessa's signature photographs often go viral on social media, typically garnering 30,000, 50,000 and even 100,000 likes. The outsized social media response has enabled Jessa and Jordan to connect with their customers using technology in ways that they hadn't anticipated. And it gives them a constant source of ideas and validation for dress collections that they know their customers will like.

Jordan explained, "Jessa's intention from the beginning was to create this magical world of fashion, fantasy and beautiful photography in natural settings. The impact has been huge. It's amazing how people rave about it. For instance, there's an independent JessaKae Facebook group that has emerged with 27,000 people in it. It's such an awesome place to be, because people are posting their pictures in our dresses, in their own locations. We don't interject very much. For the most part, it's community driven, just customers supporting other customers. It's a very positive space."

"It's not uncommon for customers to buy a dress from each collection we drop." said Jessa. "This year we decided to make it fun for people that do buy dresses from each of our collections. We introduced collectors pins that are themed with the collection. People have loved that."

One of the company's priorities is to offer dresses for a highly diverse customer base, including many options for plus size customers, which is reflected in JessaKae's photography and models. "Growing up I saw the struggles that my plus sized grandmother had in trying to find clothing options. Yes, there are more options now, but still not many. You often have to go to a specific store to get a specific size size. I didn't like that. I felt like everyone should be able to come to one place, get the same dress, in all the sizes. We were one of the first dress brands to offer extra, extra small, all the way up to 6X. Plus sizes do really well for us."

In 2019, with much anticipation, Jessa and Jordan made the decision to offer 100% custom JessaKae dresses for the 2020 season. "In 2020 we almost went out of business because we made that decision at the wrong time," recounted Jordan. "All of our eggs were in one basket. We invested all of our money into custom made JessaKae dresses that were ready to launch in March of 2020. Then Covid hits, and nobody's buying dresses anymore. 2020 is one of those things that you look back and say, 'if I can go through that, I can do anything.' And I think what really makes an entrepreneur have lasting success, is to survive those tests of resilience. Surviving the pandemic's plunge gave us more power than anything, because it showed us that we could get through the toughest of things. And then 2021 came and Jessa was able to breathe life into so many projects. They had always lived within her, but in 2021, she was able to finally get these projects off the ground...to get legs and and fly, and that's what it's been like ever since."

In 2021 the company introduced "capsule launches," small-batch, theme-based 100% custom dresses "encapsulating a specific mood and feeling and shot in a curated location that captures the essence of the capsule theme," said Jordan.

"It really struck a chord with our customers," he added. "People like to know that some things are just one of a kind. The scarcity of small batches (100 to 500 dresses per batch) have been a good thing. There's enough variety and similar options in later batches, just with different takes on it. For instance, we have an all black collection that's coming out right before Halloween, like the Wednesday dress from the Addam's Family. Last year that dress was super popular. We might not be coming out with the exact dress again, but we'll have something that's similar that's equally as nice."

In 2022, the company experienced 150% growth in sales as compared with 2021. Last year, the company grew at about 60% year-over-year from 2022. And so far this year, over year growth is at about 35%.

In 2023, listening to their audience, the company experimented with a new idea— hosting big in-person events "where people have a reason to dress up and do something fun," said Jessa. "Utah is known for its fancy exclusive events for influencers; but we said, 'what if we just do it for everyone? The whole public can come.'"

In 2023, JessaKae hosted a garden party and a masquerade ball at the State Capitol. Both were successful events. This year, the company's second big in-person garden events—a back to back, enchanted garden balls on September 6th and 7th, 2024, will quadruple the size of the similar 2023 event. They are expecting 1000 attendees each evening. "It's like fairy land meets fairy tale, with carriage rides and dancing fairies. People can come, wear their dresses and enjoy a rich, unforgettable experience in a magical location—La Caille (9565 Wasatch Blvd, Sandy, UT 84092).

Guests are encouraged to be "adorned in the most resplendent regal and fantastical costuming. Jessa and Jordan encourage attendees to, "let your imagination soar as you dress in attire befitting royalty and enchantment. Masks and enchanted accessories are welcomed."

Attendees need not wear JessaKae brand dresses, but those who do will be entered into a giveaway to win multiple free JessaKae dresses for a year.

The event will include live music, whimsical games, carriage rides, complimentary valet parking, and small bites, desserts and drinks. A cash bar will be available for ages 21+.

Each attendee requires their own ticket to enter the event. Tickets will NOT be sold at the event. Tickets are limited and available only while supplies last.

Click here to learn more or to buy tickets to the ball ($100). TechBuzz readers may apply the code "TECHBUZZ20" to receive a $20 discount off the ticket price.