Many retail jewelers joined
in on the royal wedding fever, but the folks at Roberson’s Fine Jewelry in Little
Rock, Ark., took it up a notch with a “Re-Watch” event that coincided with an
Elizabeth Showers Trunk Show.

Joining two billion people
around the world, staffers from Roberson’s watched the royal wedding broadcasts
and recorded news coverage of the “wedding of the century” in the early morning
hours of April 29. The high definition recordings were replayed that evening in
the store as part of the Re-Watch event that kicked off the weekend trunk
show. 

Owner Trish Roberson put
store manager Paris Henderson in charge of the event that she dubbed a must-do
long before the royal couple said “I do.” “We made up our minds in October when
the engagement between Prince William and Kate Middleton was announced that we
had to do something,” Henderson says. “A few months ago the idea of the
Re-Watch Party combined with a jewelry designer trunk show came to mind.”

Staff appraiser and gemologist Bob Herr poses with the life-size
cardboard cutout of Prince William and Kate Middleton.

Henderson seized a
cross-promotional opportunity by partnering on the event with Proposals, a
local wedding boutique that displayed one of its wedding gowns in the store.
Other props included a life-size cutout of the royal couple. Staffers and the 50
or so customers who showed up for the event took pictures with the faux royal
couple, which staffers then uploaded to Facebook.

The fact that jewelery
designer Elizabeth Showers was named after Queen Elizabeth, was just a neat coincidence.
“We’ve wanted to bring Elizabeth to our store for some time,” Henderson says.
“It just so happened that it worked out the way it did. She was honored we
chose her to be part of our royal wedding re-watch event.”

Henderson and the staff at
Roberson’s Fine Jewelry staged the event in true southern style, complete with
big dress hats, tuxedos, dresses, and gowns. To commemorate the 18-carat
sapphire wedding ring, Henderson worked with a local bakery to create
individual petit fours featuring a replica of the ring on top.

JCK