[female & she/her] Welcome to Aurora Bay, [ALARA BARAK]! I couldn’t help but notice you look an awful lot like [HANDE ERCEL]. You must be the [THIRTY-THREE] year old [BRIDAL CONSULTANT AT CHAPEL BOUTIQUE]. Word is you’re [PASSIONATE] but can also be a bit [OVERCRITICAL] and your favorite song is [NICE ‘N’ EASY BY FRANK SINATRA]. I also heard you’ll be staying in [OCEAN CREST APARTMENTS]. I’m sure you’ll love it! @aurorabayaesthetic
Triggers: parental death
BIOGRAPHY
The Barak family moved to the United States from Turkey when Alara was fourteen years old. This is important because this is truly when Alara saw her life becoming something more than just following in her parent’s footsteps. She didn’t necessarily care to work in architecture like her father or being a seamstress like her mother.
They first ended up in New York due to her father’s latest project. A few years later they were moved to Florida for another project. Then again they landed in Nebraska for something else. Finally, when she turned eighteen, her parents promised their last move would be their final one. They had settled on Aurora Bay due to its proximity to the beach and the booming atmosphere of people.
Her mother had opened up her own alterations shop while her father worked on the newer buildings they were putting up. Alara focused on finishing out her high school diploma before deciding on going to college locally. Mostly because she didn’t necessarily have a plan on what she wanted to do. She very rarely thought about the future unless it involved any talk of husbands.
Alara grew up on the idea of fairytales, princesses, and true love. She watched Four Weddings after school, and even had a wedding ceremony for her Barbies at one point. To her, being in love looked like the best thing in the world. Surely, she knew just from looking at her parents. They were completely infatuated with each other.
With no real plans in mind, she decided on a business degree. Maybe it would help if she were to run a boutique in the future. Her and her mother could open up a business for wedding dresses - with her mother being the one to alter them to fit the bride. It felt more like a pipedream than actually happening the more realistic Alara thought about it, but she still put it up on her vision board every year.
And maybe once upon a time, there was a way where they could open up a store together. A store front in downtown had just been vacated and Alara was on her way to letting that become her new store when her mother had gotten sick. It went completely undetected until it was too late. Alara would give up her store and use the money she saved to go on one more vacation with her parents before it would truly be too late to make new memories. She didn’t want her dream if her mom wasn’t going to be in it.
The years went by fast after her mother’s funeral. She dived too hard into her job at the time - working in the fashion industry. Not entirely anywhere close to weddings, but she liked being a consultant at the Jos A Banks across the Chapel Boutique she had been eyeing for awhile. Surprisingly, like her mother, she had an eye for different fabrics and what looked good on someone. Or at least with men’s suits she did.
Soon enough, time had jumped so far that her friends were off getting married and having babies. Alara had a few steady boyfriends but nothing serious - nothing that felt like the one she wouldn’t mind having for the rest of her life. So, as the saying goes she quickly turned into always the bridesmaid but never the bride.
The girl who was so in love with becoming a princess had almost given up completely on having the life she dreamed about when she was little. After all, she had no prince besides her dog named Prince and she wasn’t in love either. Maybe a damsel in distress from time to time, but no one came rushing to save her. Not until an opportunity knocked on her door. Chapel Boutique was looking for a new bridal consultant. She finally had her way inside and she could only hope this meant her life might be turning around.
PERSONALITY
Short story long, her inspiration is pretty much Charlotte from Princess and the Frog. She is just waiting for her prince to sweep her off her feet.
Alara is a very bubbly person. Almost too sweet that it could easily give people a tooth ache just by being near her. She tries to not let things get her down and is very much a get through it first than panic later kind of person. Though she accepts flaws from everyone else, she holds herself to such a status of perfection that it causes more stress than needed.
CONNECTIONS
She lives in Ocean Crest so a different array of neighbors - the ones who get along with each other, the ones who despise each other, the ones who naturally share food with each other when too much is made, and maybe even a whats your number situation
She works as a bridal consultant since her dream of owning her own shop dwindled into embers. So, anyone in the wedding industry. She does hope that maybe one day she could end up becoming the next owner of the boutique at some point.
A girl group she considers her very best friends. A sort of Sex in the City situation. She has been in Aurora Bay since she was 18. These group of girls go out to eat together, get drinks, and maybe a few different clubs.
A few of her friends have gotten married and have children but she still stays in touch and tries to help out when she can - maybe even being a sitter for when mom and dad want to go out alone. So besides her girlfriends - she does have a few mom friends I want her to keep in touch with.
And of course all of the failed relationships. She is very much 23 dresses situations - not in that she is pinning after her boss, but the fact that she has been to all of these weddings as a bridesmaid but hasn't found the one herself. SO obviously we need the failed relationships to go with that. Totally up to you why its failed, but I would think her perfectionism could have something to do with it.
The blind or double dates her friends sets her up on. They are trying to get her back out in the dating field after her last relationship ended.
She does have a dog named Prince so maybe a few doggy play dates? Maybe even a 101 dalmations moments where her and someone get tangled together?
