Ines Di Santo’s Haute Couture bridal designs are breathtakingly innovative, luxurious with contemporary style. Her creations portray a variety of looks and styles, catering to even the most distinct and individual bride and personality.

And great news:  Bridal Reflections‘ beautiful Fifth Avenue showroom is having an Ines Di Santo sample sale May 21st-25th.  Brides-to-be can enjoy 50% off a limited selection of samples. This exclusive event is by appointment only.   The salon is located at 260 Fifth Avenue between 28th and 29th streets on the 4th floor. 

Custom labeled bottles of wine make a unique wedding favor, but once your guest consumes the contents, the bottle might not be something they save. Now, brides and grooms can create their own custom wedding-themed caps to put on the wine they are gifting to their guests or to use at the reception tables. 

The CapaBunga is a re-usable, silicone cap that fits over the mouth of a wine bottle. To use it, simply remove the cork, slip on the CapaBunga and your wine is instantly sealed. Turn it upside down, let a rowdy guest knock the bottle over, store it on its side in the fridge or on a wine rack and never worry about leaks. The CapaBunga caps are available in a variety of colors to match your décor and can be custom printed with your initials or logo.

Nichole and Brian, Hampton Bays

Q:  Hi, me and my fiance are looking for a reception hall on Long Island.  We don’t have a huge amount of money to spend and we do have almost 250 guests. Could you maybe tell me where we should start looking at halls?

A:  Hi Nichole and Brian.  Congratulations on your engagement!  You pose an interesting question — you have a limited budget but a whopping guest list!   We suggest that before you start shopping around for a venue, you need to seriously reassess your overall plan.   Because a huge wedding reception is going to be extremely difficult on a limited budget.   So the first thing you need to do is cut down the guest list.  This may be a challenging task but it’s one almost every couple must tackle before shopping for a hall.

Keep in mind that in an ideal world, you’d invite everyone to share this special event with you.   Unfortunately, reality is not the case.  So make a guest list chart.  It should have two columns:  Must invite (that would include family and close relatives, bridal party, closest friends); Would like to invite (here include other friends, colleagues, coworkers, distant family).   Then do some budget calculations, figuring a good round number per person (say $100 a plate).   Tally up the entire guest list and see if it jives with your budget.  If it doesn’t, start crossing off names.

Caesar, Valley Stream

Q:  Hey Jody.  I want to get married in Long Island. Besides the bride and myself our entire family is coming from Canada or Florida. What I would like to do is rent a huge house and have a wedding slash family bonding type of event. I’ve seen the movie American Wedding and Jumping the Broom and I am looking for an idea similar to that; 150 people. very private and intimate, maybe something by the water. Do you have any recommendations?  We have done so much research and still confused.

A:  Hi, Caesar.  Congratulations!  I understand your frustration, as there are so many venues to choose from on Long Island. You should be concentrating on venues that also offer accommodations; a “one stop shop.”  Oceanbleu in Westhampton Beach, is a gorgeous venue on the water that is connected to the Westhampton Bath & Tennis Hotel. Your family and friends can stay the weekend and enjoy the pool, beach, tennis courts, and spa at the hotel, as well as walk to your wedding reception!  Another good choice would be the Southampton Inn, which offers guest accommodations and wedding receptions at really reasonable rates. If you plan your wedding there off-season, even better.  If a house rental is the way you want to go, look at this recent New York Times article for ideas.

Jazzy, Riverhead

Q:  What are some inexpensive venues on Long Island that fit a vintage theme?

Question of the day:  Would you get married in this?

Yes, it’s completely see-through.  And yes, that’s HBO “Girls” star, Jemima Kirke, modeling.  What a PR coup for trendy and off-beat salon, Stone Fox Bride, at 611 Broadway in New York City.  Stone Fox was voted  “Best Anti-Bridezilla Bridal Boutique”  by Time Out New York in 2012, and their gowns are clearly not your typical sweet/chic “Say Yes to the Dress” kind of collections.

Look at this boho look, which we actually like because if you add a blingy period headpiece by Boutique de Voile, it could easily pass for Gatsby-flapper style:

We also love the simplicity and serenity of this dress:

These aren’t for the traditional bride, but then again, the salon seeks out this type of clientele:

“We’d like to think we have a dress for every batshit bride out there: the hot punk with the shag bangs and skull tatts, the bedraggled bohemian with blue eyes and hair to her ass, the chic minimalist with mellow style who’s indifferent to fashion and couldn’t care less about trends.”

If that’s you, run, don’t walk!

Brides, if you LOVE vintage and who doesn’t — you have to check out Long Island’s very own, The White Cabinet, which offers  merchandise featuring vintage fashion illustrations by Hilda Glasgow.   How cool is this one?

From the 1940′s to the 1960′s, Hilda Glasgow was one of the top fashion illustrators in the industry.  After she passed away, her daughter Liz discovered a white cabinet overflowing with original illustrations, in Hilda’s apartment.  A love for her mother and a desire to keep her artistic legacy alive was inspiration for the business, The White Cabinet, which is based on the North Shore of Long Island.

The latest additions to the product line include paper goods such as tear-off paper placemats, cocktail napkins and party invitations that you can use at your bridal shower, for your bachelorette party or just for a relaxing cocktail party with your BFFs.  The White Cabinet also has a variety of notepads, note cards and rubber stamps, as well as limited edition prints — perfect gifts for your bridal party.

 We’re just mad about these!  

Katie, Medford

Q:  Hi.  I’m looking to get married in June 2014.  I’m not sure if I want both a ceremony and reception, but I do know I want an outdoor ceremony with a butterfly garden type of feel.  I live in Suffolk, so the closer the better but I will travel for the perfect spot.

A:  Hi Katie.  The Bayard Cutting Arboretum in Oakdale is a beautiful spot to hold a ceremony. There are certain restrictions, but small ceremonies and wedding photography are allowed.  Brecknock Hall in Greenport can also be rented for a ceremony or reception. Greenport has so much to offer, including great restaurants for an intimate dinner after the ceremony, and many great photo spots.  You could also take the ferry over to Shelter Island, for an even more intimate & unique experience.  Also, check out the Bailey Arboretum in Lattingtown. It is a small, intimate garden space for a wedding ceremony or reception.

Have you heard about the trend of “man-gagement” rings?  Yeah, it’s a thing.  Michael Buble was spotted wearing one.  In fact, the practice is common in several countries, such as Argentina, where his fiancée was born.  While men in the U.S. don’t traditionally wear an engagement ring, the practice is becoming increasingly common, for a few reasons:

·         Men Marrying Men! As the legalization of gay marriage makes headway, gay couples are adopting traditional marriage practices like formal proposals with a ring.
·         The Margaret Thatcher! There are women who are ahead of the curve and feel that having to wait until a man proposes is a bit outdated. If a woman decides she’s ready to get married, why not propose?
·         Equal rights! Some men think it’s unfair for only a woman to wear an engagement ring, as they should both wear rings as a sign of commitment to each other.

So how to go about purchasing a ring for your guy?  The tricky part of choosing an engagement ring for a man is finding a masculine diamond ring.  One place to go:  James Allen,  offers a large assortment of diamond rings for the men in our lives.  Look at these examples: