Norwich Guidon editor explores bridal fashions during trip to the Big Apple

By Elysha D. Nelson
Norwich Guidon Copy Editor

The weekend was filled with white gowns, pedicures, flowers, and good food. And no, I was not at a wedding.

The Metropolitan Pavilion in New York City has been host to many events, including a Kate Spade sample sale and a Wings 9/11 fundraising event, but from October 4-8 it was the setting for this coming spring's bridal market.

"This is the second time that I have gone to market," said Jesse Whalen, 22, co-owner of As You Wish Wedding and Formal Wear in Littleton, N.H. "We've had the shop for a little over two years, now, and we really want to expand the number of bridal lines that we carry."

Jesse owns the store along with her mother, Karen Whalen.

At market, designers from across the country send representatives to show samples of the next season's new lines. Vendors and store owners can then choose which lines they will carry in their stores and place advance orders.

But before going to market, we headed straight from Grand Central Station to Tiffany and Co. for a little hopeful browsing. After drooling over the six floors of sparkling diamonds, crystal vases, and shining platinum, we took a cab to the Metropolitan Pavilion to begin our weekend of buying for the shop.

Since I work for As You Wish, I tagged along as assistant buyer, along with fellow employee Danielle Mendalka, 24, who is in the process of planning her own wedding.

"Besides helping Jesse choose new dresses and other stuff for the store, I found lots of dresses for myself. I may just have to change five times on my wedding day," said Danielle.

As You Wish currently carries Bridal Originals, Eden Bridals, Jasmine, Ravissant, and Mon Cheri Bridals as their wedding gown lines. After previewing some new lines at market, Jesse has decided to pick up Casablanca Bridals and the Jasmine Couture line for this coming spring.

But As You Wish is not just limited to wedding gown attire.

"We actually do a lot of business for prom and other formal events," said Jesse. "We just ordered a bunch of new prom and ball gowns. The great thing is, we carry just about every size and color, so if you come into our store, you are going to find something that you like and that fits. And if you don't, we can always order it for you."

While I watched all of the various fashion shows, I got to see exactly what trends will be set for next year, both for formal wear and for wedding apparel.

For prom, tie-dye is in. Mon Cheri's prom line, Le Gala, featured at least two prom styles in tie-dyed colors, as did Bridal Originals' prom line Nadine. Another new prom look is one-shoulder gowns.

"I'm glad that the companies are leaning away from the really bare, exposed midriff styles that have been popular these last couple of seasons," said Jesse. "A lot of the high schools in our area have banned those types of styles, which didn't leave much for the girls to choose from."

From what I heard from the prom representatives, that is the main reason that the styles have started to become a little bit more conservative.

Wedding gown styles are also starting to get more traditional.

"After 9/11, everyone in the country seems to want to get back to tradition, to simpler times," said the announcer at the Casablanca Bridals fashion show. "Our new styles are reflecting that."

Once we had finished our first tiring day at market, we decided we needed a little bit of pampering, so we headed to Attractions Nails in Manhattan, then walked the nine blocks to Favia, a "lite-fare" restaurant recommended to us by an employee at the nail salon. We had planned to go to the Marriott-Marquee for dessert, but all three of us were exhausted from the day's work, so we just got in a cab back to our apartment.

On Sunday, we headed back to market to finish up the ordering. As You Wish already carries the flower girl line Us Angels, so we made a quick trip to that booth to place an order for a few new designs. The company is just now releasing flower girl dresses in infant sizes.

"We're finding that a lot of our brides are getting married when they already have young children and babies, so we had to accommodate that," said Us Angels' representative. Jesse ordered two dresses in infant sizes as well as a couple of new styles in bigger sizes.

Since Jesse had to rewrite her huge order for Bridal Originals, Danielle and I went to The Ladybug booth, another flower girl line that As You Wish is picking up for the spring season. We got some adorable ladybug pins from the designer, then set out for our final task of the day: picking out headpieces, tiaras, and jewelry.

We browsed through tables of crystal headbands, rhinestone tiaras, and pearl combs made by companies AA, Ansonia, Dazzle, Tiara Misu, and Jessica McClintock. After a whirlwind ordering spree, it was finally time to head back. And as much as I love the wedding business and New York, I was never happier to see the brick buildings of Norwich as we drove over the hill.

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