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A Caroline Castigliano Bride for a Jewish Wedding in Pink and Gold at Alpine Country Club, Demarest, New Jersey, USA

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Nicki & Ricky, Alpine Country Club, New Jersey, USA

We’re so delighted to be sharing the Jewish wedding of Smashing The Glass Brides Club member Nicki, a life sciences consultant, and Ricky, an options trader! Last year we featured the couple’s fabulous micro wedding – planned in just two weeks! – and it’s such a treat to share their bigger celebration with you now.

By the time the big day rolled around, Nicki and Ricky had already been married for ten months. So they decided to change things up, making this wedding more a celebration of their love than a traditional wedding. Rather than repeating the Jewish ceremony, this time around they had prayers celebrating their love.

Nicki is lucky enough to be the daughter of mega-talented wedding planner and Smashing The Glass Recommended VendorSusie of Pink House Productions, and naturally her mom took charge bringing the day together. Among other things, we’re in love with what Susie did with the table designs, all in the couple’s wedding colors of pink and gold – don’t miss them in the gorgeous photos by Mark S. Kornbluth!

In Nicki’s words, “We were so beyond happy to finally be able to celebrate with our friends and family even if it was a little smaller, ten months later, and in a different place than originally intended.”

Now over to the bride, who looked ever so elegant in Caroline Castigliano…

Nicki & Ricky, Alpine Country Club, New Jersey, USANicki & Ricky, Alpine Country Club, New Jersey, USANicki & Ricky, Alpine Country Club, New Jersey, USANicki & Ricky, Alpine Country Club, New Jersey, USA
How we Met

Nicki, the bride and Ricky, the groom: We were set up by mutual friends in July 2016. Ricky was living in Philly and Nicki was living in NYC and our first date happened when we were both out in the Hamptons for a weekend.Continue ReadingContinue Reading

New York Bridal Market Spring 2020 Recap {and Top Bridal Trends for 2019/20}

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Reem Acra | Photo courtesy of Reem Acra

Hello from New York! Emily here, reporting back from New York Bridal Fashion week on all the hottest Spring/Summer 2020 collections.

Grace Loves Lace | Photo courtesy of Grace Loves Lace

Bridal Market happens twice a year in NYC, in April and October (you can check out my recap of last October’s highlights here).

Yaniv Persy | Photo courtesy of Yaniv Persy

The April show is known for being a little lower-key than October’s, but that doesn’t mean there weren’t tons of fantastic new looks on display.

Halfpenny London | Photo courtesy of Halfpenny London

Because there definitely were.

Phuong My | Photo courtesy of Phuong My

Spring 2020 is looking to be a season of extremes, with clean hyper-minimalist gowns vying with some of the most opulent dresses you could ask for, dainty feminist looks like puffed sleeves and bows neck and neck with androgynous pieces like pants (and even shorts!) and fitted jackets.Continue ReadingContinue Reading

New York Bridal Market Fall 2019 Recap {and Top Bridal Trends for 2019}

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Ines Di Santo’s afterparty at the Baccarat Flagship Photo by JP Yim/Getty Images

5 days, 18 appointments, approximately 57 million Insta stories (if you missed them, you can catch the best bits in our highlights), and countless fantastic dresses later, New York Bridal Fashion week is over for another season. Basically Fashion Week for wedding dresses, Bridal Fashion Week (aka Bridal Market) is easily one of the most fun times of a wedding blogger’s year. 

Some of the collections are presented at full-on runway shows (and Ines Di Santo put on a particularly epic one this Bridal Market, plus the coolest afterparty at the Baccarat Flagship), while others are shown at more intimate appointments for small groups of buyers from bridal boutiques (plus press, of course), sometimes with the designers present. 

Suzanne Neville

Limor Rosen

Ines Di Santo Photo by FIRSTVIEW

I had some fantastic conversations with designers and PR reps, learned a ton about everything from who actually buys those epic but unwearable-looking designs you see on the runway (answer: often no one, since some designs are purely intended for editorial impact and never even make it to production) to the differences between what American and British brides are looking for in a gown (according to Sassi Holford, it’s half an inch: Americans invariably want deeper sweetheart necklines, while the Brits prefer theirs with less of a dip). The more you know!

There’s so much fantastic bridal fashion in the pipeline for next year, and I’m so excited to share it with you, along with my take on some of the top trends we’ll be seeing (or, in some cases, continuing to see) over the next year. From classic elegance inspired by Meghan Markle’s gown to a burgeoning range of alt coverups from capes to ruffs (perfect for under the chuppah!) to unexpected bursts of color, 2019’s going to be an exciting year for bridal. Pin your favorite looks!

Caroline Castigliano 

Suzanne Neville

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From Sketch to Dress: A Q&A with Master Bridal Designer Caroline Castigliano

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So you’re a newly engaged bride — yaaaaay! What’s the first thing on your mind (after sharing the big news with your family and friends, of course)?

If you’re like us, it just might be the dress. It may even have been on your mind way before you got engaged — how many of us can truly say we’re not guilty of sneaking the occasional peak at a favorite designer’s website, or in their shop window?

Your dress is such a huge component of your wedding style, and we know finding one that’s the right fit for you is of the utmost importance. So what could be better than having a bespoke gown made? And by master wedding dress designer Caroline Castigliano, no less?

One of our absolute favorite designers here at STG, Caroline Castigliano has been working at the forefront of British bridal design for 27 years. She’s known for her ultra-unique bespoke gowns, featuring all kinds of fantastic details from the finest fabrics to the signature hidden corset (designed to define and balance your figure to perfection).

Every Caroline Castigliano gown is a one-of-a-kind piece, and each is handcrafted in the UK, and the dreamy Knightsbridge store is one of the world’s ultimate bridal destinations.

That’s why we’re so thrilled to bring you a Q&A with the Caroline Castigliano team on what you can expect from Caroline Castigliano’s bespoke design process. Read on for some serious bridal fashion inspo.

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Real Blogging Brides – Harlie: Finding My Dream Wedding Dress

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Harlie will be marrying Ben on 19th August 2018 at the Landmark Hotel, London, UK. Click here to read all Harlie’s planning posts to date.

THREE FACTS: Harlie met Ben on an ‘Aish’ trip to Israel during their university years (2) They will be bringing in lots of Spanish influences into their London wedding, for a variety of reasons, not least because that that’s where they got engaged! (3) They will be having a fairly traditional orthodox London wedding, but are including lots of modern twists.


A lone and eventful journey!

Unlike some girls, I never dreamt about my fantasy wedding when I was younger, and I certainly never thought about my dream wedding dress. Even when I got engaged, I still had no idea what sort of wedding dress I would choose as I couldn’t even imagine myself wearing one. Never did I imagine that finding my dress would be the most stressful part of wedding planning, or that it would lead me on a very long and eventful journey!

Caroline Castigliano_0047
In My Dreams by Caroline Castigliano (STG Recommended Vendor)

October 2017

The engagement party was over and the venue was booked, so I set off on my quest to find ‘the one’ (which took just 13 appointments, over 70 dresses and 4 months of searching). I started to gather some ideas on a Pinterest board with my bridesmaids, with a relatively clear idea in mind of what I thought I wanted.

My mum booked a few appointments at some bridal boutiques that she had been recommended, which seemed like a good place to start as it meant I was not limited to just one designer.

Originally, I was looking for quite a particular style: a tightly fitted fishtail shape with a low back and spaghetti straps. The first dress I tried on at The Bride was exactly this; it was a beautiful Suzanne Neville dress in a delicate lace with buttons down the back.

To try on something different, a classic princess-style Sassi Holford gown followed, then an understated, vintage-esque Jenny Packham. I really thought that the first dress was the one for me as it fitted my very fixed brief, but my mum didn’t want me to settle for the first dress I tried — I can only thank you now, mum!

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