Beth (among many other things) designs dresses. Her husband (among many other things) designs mens shirts–shirts, mind you, named after his beloved wife. (The line is called Blake, if you were wondering.) Why, might you ask, are we telling you this, other than it is a charming/ interesting/ inspiring little tidbit of information? Well, here’s why: We have yet to come across a line of mens shirts so perfectly suited (pardon the pun) for summertime wedding festivities. Can’t you just see, say, this blue floral shirt, sleeves casually rolled, G&T in hand, paired with linen pants, on the chillest, happiest groom-to-be on earth? We can.

(Get Blake here. And for a nice little moment of calm and joy and loving summertime-ness, be sure to take a moment to watch the little movie on the landing page.)

Our friend Kelley (you know her! Smocks, remember?) got hitched a few weeks ago at a gorgeous, gorgeous villa in Saratoga, California. (Did we mention it was gorgeous?) One thing that we particularly loved about her wedding was that so many elements boasted a unique, one-of-a-kind twist. Kelley’s achingly elegant wedding gown? That pleated neckline, that soft, tinge-of-grey color? Kelley designed it herself; no standard Veras or Moniques here. (Though we love those, too.) The bridesmaid dresses were custom-designed by Melissa and Kelley; we are just obsessed with how the ever-so-glittery dresses were the same, but different; corresponding but not matchy-matchy. No boring bridesmaids here. And the touch that really won us over was the groom’s floppy seersucker bowtie, charmingly oversized and designed by none other than the groom himself. (And, ahem, made by Thread.) Hard to see here but, trust us. It was adorable.

Congratulations, Thomas and Kelley! (Oh, and fun fact? Thomas’s last name is Kelly, making Kelley’s married name….  Kelley Kelly!)

A few weeks ago Nicole was lucky enough to attend a simply gorgeous wedding in a villa outside of Rome. And yes, she reports, an Italian wedding in June is everything one would hope it would be: a positively bella bride surrounded by white blossoms and green grass and sparkling sun rays (and more cheese and prosciutto and Prosecco on hand than you can shake a stick at). The only teeny tiny downfall of the night? The shoe situation. As in, the extremely beautiful heels Nicole opted to wear did not fare well against the grassy lawn on which the ceremony took place, or, for that matter, the graveled drive on which cocktail hour was held. For two hours Nicole couldn’t properly enjoy the perfect evening, as she was quite focused on balancing on the toes of her five-inch heels, so as to not completely destroy the heels.

There have been far worse problems in the history of the world, yes, but how nice would it have been if she’d only learned about Solemates before the wedding? You see, Solemates (if you haven’t already guessed by the photo above or by the leadup story) are these ingenious little plastic things that go on the bottom of your high heel, and prevent said heel from falling into cracks or, you know, sinking into grass. And while we haven’t tried them yet, we thought we’d quickly spread the word to all of you lovelies to ensure each and every last one of you is prepared, shoe-wise, for your next event. Because no girl should have to be thinking about her shoes when she could be mingling or, er, eating cheese.

(Buy yourself a pair–or three–here. And we are happy to report that Nicole forgot about any shoe problems once the celebration moved indoors, and then, later, after a few glasses of Prosecco.)

Even on our lil blog. But hear us out: Even if you aren’t a diehard Twilight fan, like, er, just a few of us here at Thread, you can’t blame us for jumping at the chance to design bridesmaid dresses for Bella and Edward’s upcoming nuptials. (We know, we sound like a tabloid.) So, that is exactly what we did when our good pal at Joyann over at Instyle asked us to sketch dresses for Alice and Rosalie (Edward’s “sisters” in the series, but you knew that, right?) based on the book’s descriptions. Et voila! Our results, above; thought we’d share with you in honor of today’s opening of The Twilight Saga: Eclipse.

Now, our lovelies, we will respect those of you who just don’t get the whole Twilight thing and be on our merry way with nary a mention of this phenomenon again. And not at all, we swear, because we are trying to finish up this blog posting as soon as humanly possible to catch the 7pm showing.

(Above: Alice wears a shimmering one-shouldered gown of silk chiffon in the first picture, while Rosalie wears a golden silk crepe gown in the second. Check out the rest of the InStyle slideshow here; it is pretty awesome. Reem Acra (!) designed Bella’s gown and Neil Lane, her ring!)

Our friend Vivianna just sent us some photographs from her recent beachy wedding in happy Mexico, and we were so impressed with the use of color (and everything else, of course!) that we just had to immediately share with all you brides-to-be out there. Too often brides stick to the same old palate of tried-and-true colors (which, hey, we don’t blame you!), but let this wedding be a lesson–and inspiration–to you. Turquoise bridesmaid dresses and groomsmen ties to match the turquoise sea? Um, as evidenced by the above pictures: yes, please! Simply genius.

So, we say: Take chances, be bold, and have fun with color. Just go for it.

Congratulations, Vivianna and Daniel!

(Gorgeous images courtesy of Andre Niesing. Bridesmaid dresses [our Michelle dress] and groomsmen ties courtesy of Thread. Naturally.)

Ah, how time flies. Today marks our beloved Beth’s two year wedding anniversary with her (also beloved) husband Corbin. The two are celebrating their special day by relaxing on their little boat out in the sunny Hamptons. Married life: Sounds pretty good to us!

We at Thread LOVE candy. There is no better day here at the office than the day we finally break down and someone makes a “snack run” to Duane Reade and comes back with an armful of Swedish Fish and Twizzlers and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. So it is only natural, then, that Thread’s beloved former bridal manager, Diane, started an entire business devoted to candy after leaving NYC for sunny Los Angeles. (We know: Sounds heavenly.) Sugar Mama’s Candy Bar, which Diane owns and runs along with business partner Shari, specializes in creating custom candy buffets for weddings, showers, and just about any other special event you can think of. Yes, that’s right: Custom candy buffets. Candy necklaces, Good n’ Plentys, Smarties, swirly lollipops, M&Ms– you name it.

We don’t know about you, but that’s about the sweetest thing we’ve heard all day. (Sorry, we couldn’t resist.) And sure to win originality points on the Big Day, no doubt…

(Above: One such candy buffet. For more information on Sugar Mama’s Candy Bar, go here.)

We’ve all seen Thread’s good pal Ally in a wedding gown before. Where, you ask? Why, on the lovely pages of this very website: She’s worn gowns long and short, gowns strapless and one-shouldered. But there is one wedding gown she’s never worn before: Her own. That is, up until a couple of weeks ago when she and brand new hubby Jeremy tied the knot in what looks like an absolutely perfect ceremony on the beach in St. Pete, Florida. And we have to say: She’s never looked more beautiful.

Congratulations to our favorite Thread gal and her new husband!

(The bridesmaids gowns? Our new-ish ethereal collection. We almost died with excitement at how amazing they all looked in the end!)

Fact: If there is ever a time in life to truly pamper yourself, it is your wedding. Well, your wedding, and just before your wedding, of course. Enter Renew, a small spa located on NYC’s Upper East Side, and the obsession of literally every employee here at Thread (and of anyone, really, who has ever visited Renew). We aren’t sure how Carmel, the owner, works her magic exactly, but that is exactly what she performs: Magic. And we aren’t exaggerating here: Jen, our production director, went the other day and came back so glow-y and supermodel-y that Melissa and Daniel, our pattern maker, both followed suit, and soon it looked like the Giseles and the David Beckhams of the world had taken over Thread’s office.

So, yeah: If you are a bride-to-be and live even remotely close to the Tri-State area, we suggest hightailing it to the Upper Side for a sesh with Carmel stat.

(Our apologies to all you non-NYC brides-to-be out there for the sheer unhelpful-to-you-ness of this post. That said, however, if you do need a similar recommendation for someone in your area, please feel free to shoot us an email. We’ve got pals all over the country, and every last one of ‘em enjoys a good facial just as much as we do.)

A couple of weeks ago, we went to one of the New York-iest weddings we’ve ever attended: The ceremony was at St. Ignatius Loyola, an absolutely stunning church located on Park Avenue in the Upper East Side, and the reception was at the Boathouse in Central Park, an NYC icon if there ever was one (and one of the best places in the city to grab a sunny drink on the water, FYI). The funny part about this quintessentially New York wedding? The groom–along with a solid fifty percent of the guest list–is actually Australian. As in, just-moved-here and/ or flew-in-for-the-occasion-from-Down-Under Australian.

And so, we can only imagine the extent to which the lovely festivities must’ve charmed the Aussies on behalf of good ol’ NYC, since even we New Yorkers found ourselves particularly smitten with our beloved city all over again. New York, New York, indeed.

Congratulations, Colleen & Chris!

(Side note: This wedding was also the official Real Wedding debut of the Aubrey dress from our [aptly named] City Collection! If we are going to be honest here, we [unsurprisingly] are quite proud of the results.)